[CNews]
By ALEXANDER PANETTA
Tories leave caucus retreat believing same-sex fight is a political winner
U.S. Christian leader urges Cdns to oppose same-sex marriage
Justice Minister Irwin Cotler said Wednesday the bill will be introduced as soon as Parliament returns from its winter break Monday. (CP PHOTO/Andrew Vaughan)
FREDERICTON (CP) – The Liberal government will defiantly push ahead with plans to introduce a same-sex marriage bill next week in the face of increasingly vocal opposition from critics outside and inside the party.
Justice Minister Irwin Cotler said Wednesday the bill will be introduced as soon as Parliament returns from its winter break Monday. Then, in a move to silence dissenters in the Liberal caucus, the justice minister offered a legal briefing session to colleagues deeply divided by the politically explosive issue.
“We need to be respectful of the plurality of views on this,” Cotler said before speaking at a three-day Liberal retreat.
“We need to understand that people are divided on this – that people in the same family are divided on this.”
Last month, when divisions in Liberal ranks seemed less serious and when other opposition was more scattered, Cotler had signalled that the bill would likely be introduced in early February.
His announcement Wednesday made it clear Prime Minister Paul Martin is sending a strong signal to Liberal dissenters as well as opposition politicians that he intends to push on with what he has called a matter of constitutional rights.
Stephen Harper, whose Conservative caucus is meeting across the country in Victoria, pushed the issue into the spotlight again when he said last week he would launch an ad campaign against the proposed Liberal bill.
Harper insists that most Canadians support his stand on the issue and argues that Martin is bluffing when he says he’ll call an election if necessary to fight for his position.
“What we’re trying to do here is . . . find a position that I think respects tradition and respects rights at the same time and is one that most Canadians could live with,” he said.
“Most Canadians want to see some kind of middle ground on this issue.”
Polls have shown the country evenly divided over the issue.
Cotler suggested many of those opposed to his bill are speaking out of ignorance and don’t understand it will have no impact on churches, mosques, synagogues and temples.
“I think part of that division is there’s a lack of understanding that what we’re dealing with . . . is civil marriage,” he said.
“It does not touch the issue of religious marriage, it does not touch the conception of marriage that any of our faiths have.”
The legislation stems from lower-court rulings in several provinces – which Ottawa chose not to appeal – that found it unconstitutional for civic officials to deny gays and lesbians the right to marry.
If the legislation passes, it could be largely because Martin has required his 38-member cabinet to vote in favour.
The prime minister has repeatedly rejected calls from opponents of same-sex marriage to let his cabinet vote freely, as Liberal backbenchers will.
One backbench dissenters said he believes the government has enough votes to pass the legislation.
But he lamented the “deconstruction” of the age-old institution of marriage, and dismissed Cotler’s claim churches won’t eventually be affected.
“I just don’t really think people have thought about where this is all going,” said Ontario MP John McKay.
“It’s already happening that anybody who refuses to marry same-sex couples will necessarily lose that protection over time. It’s an untenable position.”
Cotler pointed out, however, that even civic officials can abstain from performing same-sex marriages if such unions violate their religious principles.
But of the roughly 1,000 such marriages so far performed in Ontario, he said not a single public servant has chosen to opt out.
Tags: justice, election, Rights <BR/>