Madam Speaker, I listened very carefully to the comments of the hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice.
I will certainly make the assumption that he is one of the first speakers on behalf of the Liberal Party because of his responsibility in acting in concert with the Minister of Justice, who presumably takes the lead on this as it is within the justice portfolio or the overall responsibility of the Minister of Justice. His parliamentary secretary would, I am sure, be very much involved with the strategy for putting this bill through.
The member talked about what a challenging issue this is, one that touches all members and indeed many Canadians very deeply. In fact, I cannot think of a single question before this Parliament which would so deeply touch the consciences and the beliefs of individual members of Parliament. There are divisions within Canadian society on this. I would suggest that a majority of Canadians probably support the traditional definition of marriage, but nonetheless there are those divisions.
Thus, in any group of individuals brought together, there would be different opinions on this. Certainly it is important for people to be able to express those differences. That is my question for the parliamentary secretary. In putting together the strategy to get this bill through the House, if he was speaking on behalf of the Minister of Justice, what thoughts did they have when they came up with a strategy that does not allow the members of the cabinet a free vote?
The cabinet is a reflection of Canadian society. I am sure it has the same divisions that exist throughout Canadian society. I would ask the parliamentary secretary to tell us how the strategy came about that cabinet would be bound by this. On something that touches and quite frankly divides so many Canadians in such a profound way, why would cabinet members not have been given the complete freedom to vote as they wanted on this bill? What does he think? That is my question.