OTTAWA, June 2, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said he will hold a free vote on re-opening the marriage debate in Canada this Fall. Carolyn Stewart-Olson, spokesman for Prime Minister Harper, told LifeSiteNews.com that when she made the announcement the Prime-Minister noted that this was a campaign promise.
Pro-family groups were seeking a delay, at least till the Fall, on the vote to have time to shore up support for the measure to reopen the debate, but homosexual activists were pressing for a vote as soon as possible. Parliamentary sources told LifeSiteNews.com that opposition parties were going to introduce a motion on the matter as early as next Thursday.
Former Liberal MP Pat O'Brien who left the Liberal Party over the first same-sex 'marriage' vote has repeatedly charged that the procedure for the vote and debate was a farce, noting also that former Prime Minister Martin did not permit a free vote on the matter .
(see coverage: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/jun/05060601.html)
O'Brien is actively lobbying his former colleagues on the matter and also pointing to new evidence on the subject. The most salient piece of new evidence is the report by the government of France rejecting homosexual 'marriage' on the basis of the harm it would cause to children.
(see coverage: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/mar/06032004.html)
Should the motion to reopen the debate pass, the Conservative Government is committed to putting forward a bill to restore the traditional definition of marriage.
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