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Minister may quit
Grit hints at exit over same-sex bill
By KATHLEEN HARRIS, Ottawa Bureau
OTTAWA -- Tears, fears and the spectre of a cabinet minister's resignation marked the dying hours of parliamentary debate on same-sex marriage.
As Conservative Leader Stephen Harper questioned the legitimacy of a bill supported by the separatist Bloc Quebcois, Minister of State Joe Comuzzi hinted he could quit cabinet to vote against his government's contentious bill.
"My final vote on C-38 will be based on the legislation before me and will be clear at the time of the vote," Comuzzi, junior minister in charge of Ontario's northern affairs, said in a statement.
Comuzzi will remain an MP and plans to seek re-election as a Liberal, but his potential resignation from cabinet would be an image blow to the Paul Martin camp.
Emotions were running high on Parliament Hill yesterday with final debate on historic legislation to alter the traditional definition of marriage. Joy Smith, a Conservative MP from Manitoba, broke down in tears as she lashed out in the House of Commons.
"Making a law that will cause marriage to just go away by the stroke of a pen late at night and probably some time this week is wrong. It is wrong to do that," she said. "I am baffled as to why Bill C-38 is in this Parliament."
Conservative MP Maurice Vellacott called it "abhorrent" and "reprehensible" that the PM is cracking the whip on his cabinet, while Bloc Quebcois MP Real Menard said denying same-sex couples the right to marry amounts to "institutionalized homophobia."
Liberal MP Tom Wappel took a swipe at his own party for tabling a "scandalous" piece of legislation. "This entire bill reeks of hypocrisy, political motivation and selective legal reasoning," he fumed.
Outside the Commons, a resigned Harper suggested the Liberals' reliance on the BQ to pass the bill won't sit well with Canadians.
"The truth is most federalist MPs oppose this," he said.
EQUAL WEIGHT
But Martin insisted votes of elected MPs have equal weight in Canada.
"Quebecers in a number of ridings voted for the Bloc, and those MPs represent their constituents," he said. "They have the right to speak in the House of Commons, and they have the right to vote, and their votes count as much as any other member of Parliament."
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Regardless of where you stand on this debate I find the politics of all this amazing... especially given all that has happened through the spring.
This response from a Conservative MP:
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"Making a law that will cause marriage to just go away by the stroke of a pen late at night and probably some time this week is wrong. It is wrong to do that," she said. "I am baffled as to why Bill C-38 is in this Parliament."
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Does she really believe that marriage is just going to go away? If anything, more people will be able to get married thereby increasing the number of "legit" marriages. This should make the family values types crow with satisfaction.
Harper continues to amaze me with zingers like this:
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...a resigned Harper suggested the Liberals' reliance on the BQ to pass the bill won't sit well with Canadians.
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1. let's alienate Quebequois even further by suggesting that they have no voice in the Federal state, 2. let's fan the flames in certain parts of English Canada that believe the Quebequois are not really part of Canada and 3. Wasn't he, just a couple of weeks ago, leaning on BQ support to help bring down the government? So now that they aren't voting his way he get's to say that their vote is some how tainted... How absolutely hypocritical.
I think this is called grasping at straws... or maybe tainting the waters as you go down for the third time.
This is not how you gain trust and support from the rest of the nation.
In the end, the bill has the support of the majority in Parliament and it will pass. And while there are many who will winge and rail against this legislation, generations to come will wonder what all the fuss was about and wonder (much in the same way we wonder about why women weren't allowed to vote) why it took so long to recognize this basic human right.