Madam Speaker, I am asking for rigour in this debate. We cannot, on one hand, ask why so much time is being spent on this subject and complain about it, as the Conservatives are doing, and on the other, ensure that 99 members will not speak just once but rather twice, by using, as they are, a dilatory tactic.
People cannot talk out of both sides of their mouths. In my experience, the Conservative Party, all too often in cases concerning the rights of same sex couples or homosexuals, resorts to such rhetoric.
I want to take this opportunity to recognize the work of my colleague from Hochelaga on this entire debate on same sex marriage. This is not the first debate on the rights of homosexuals. I am convinced that, when this fight to grant homosexuals full equality in our society goes down in history and whenever the debates since the 1990s to present are mentioned, the name of my colleague from Hochelaga will be quite prominent.
In fact, he has been fighting tooth and nail. He has faced not only political obstacles, but personal ones to ensure that gays and lesbians in Montreal, Quebec, Canada have access to full equality. Whether he is fighting for same sex marriage, against hate propaganda, for the recognition of the right to pension benefits and other rights, my colleague from Hochelaga deserves the support and thanks, not only of women and men in the gay community, but also, I believe, of society as a whole.