Madam Speaker, I too have appreciated spending time with the hon. member for London—Fanshawe on the Standing Committee on Justice, Human Rights, Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness; while his opinion has differed greatly from mine, we have enjoyed the exchange of ideas on this topic and many others.
Indeed, I am familiar with section 33 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. I am speaking personally now, and I would be open to a discussion regarding whether or not it is necessary to have such a section in the charter. I am open to a discussion, absolutely, on that point. There is one case we are interested in, in terms of freedom of religion, and if someone asked me whether the Government of Quebec should once again resort to section 33 of the charter in the case of religious instruction in Quebec—it has to make its decision by June—I would advise Quebec not to do it, so that all minorities and all religious groups will be on the same wavelength and on an equal footing.
The hon. member's second question concerned human rights, and the judgments various courts have made in various cases. One of the cases that was frequently brought up in the committee's work was that of a man who had paid for an advertisement which included a passage from the Bible and two men holding hands, two little stick figures, with a big X over top. This was often used as an example to say that freedom of religion was endangered because a Biblical quotation had been declared hate literature. But that is not true. It was the combination of the Bible passage with the big red circle over top that could lead to the idea that gays were not wanted, and even that they could be killed.
We must be very careful when we select our examples. We have to explain them well because shortcuts can be dangerous, not only in this debate, but it also may weaken the position that those who oppose same sex marriage want to defend.