Mr. Speaker, I have had a number of concerns about this bill myself and I hope to get up later this evening and speak to it as well.
I would like to ask the hon. member how he thinks this bill will affect the number of marriages in the country.
My understanding is that in Holland just a few years ago about 134,000 people would get married in a given year. Holland made same sex marriages about three years ago, and as a result of changes that we are about to embark on, both its homosexual and heterosexual marriages have dropped to around 30,000 per year. That is about a 75% reduction in the number of marriages. Therefore, I imagine it will also result in a drastic drop in the birth rate. Holland already has some issues on that front.
I was wondering how the hon. member feels about that. Does he think that this change to the definition of marriage will drastically affect the number of marriages and the birth rate in this country?