Politics
Thursday June 24, 2004
Canadian Catholic Prime Minister Describes “Evolution” to Supporting Homosexual Marriage
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OTTAWA, June 24, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Speaking on CBC National News yesterday, Prime Minister Paul Martin was pressed on his personal stand on homosexual marriage. CBC’s Peter Mansbridge asked why the redefinition of marriage issue has been personally troubling for Martin.
Martin responded, “Well, because I guess there's…I thought about it for one way for a long time and that it, it took a certain amount of time and the evolution of my own thought to begin thinking of another way. But what tipped the balance was clearly when the courts said this is a Charter right. I really believe that a nation of minorities, which is what we are, that you cannot allow minority rights to be infringed on and the guarantor of that is the Supreme Court of Canada. It is our higher courts ah; in, in the provinces and that you cannot take away a Charter right.”
Martin was then interrupted by audience applause, after which he concluded, “I just think that that's just so fundamental.”
During the June 15 televised leaders debate Martin said that “the Charter is one of the fundamental pillars of our democracy”. The Liberal Party initiated Charter only came into effect on April 17, 1982, 115 years after Canada was founded as a democratic nation.
The inclusion of "sexual orientation" in the Charter was specifically rejected by the Trudeau government. There is therefore no mention of protection for homosexuality in the Charter although in 1995 Supreme Court activist judges read in sexual orientation despite it having been explicitly rejected for inclusion by the drafters of the Charter.
Two weeks ago Calgary Bishop Fred Henry noted that Martin was causing scandal in the Catholic community. "No Catholic can responsibly take a 'pro-choice' stand when the 'choice' in question involves the taking of innocent life. Nor is there a right of couples in same sex unions to marry,” said Bishop Henry in a letter distributed in church bulleting at all parishes in his diocese.
Just after Bishop Henry’s letter made national news, Archbishop Marcel Gervais, Martin’s own bishop, requested a private phone call with Martin over the issue.
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Prime Minister Martin's Catholic Bishop Requests Conversation on Catholicism and Election
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/jun/04061002.html
Bishop Challenges fundamental moral incoherence of Canadian Prime Minister Martin
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/jun/04060805.html
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