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Conservatives say they have “No Plans” to Shorten Marriage Debate

By Hilary White

OTTAWA, Canada, December 5, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Ottawa Citizen reported today that the debate in the House of Commons on the party’s marriage motion may be a short one. Government House leader, Rob Nicholson said that only those more recently elected Members who have not had a chance to be heard on the subject in the past are likely to make speeches.

Genevive Breton, Director of Communications for Rob Nicholson, Government House Leader clarified that there is “no plan to shorten” the debate.

Breton told LifeSiteNews.com that Nicholson is meeting with House leaders today, “We’re evaluating today how many people want to speak.” She added that there is “also a possibility being looked at now to maybe go into the evening” so that as many MP’s as want to can have their say.

Nicholson said he expects the vote will come on Thursday. The motion is widely expected to fail with most of the opposition in the House supporting the change to the definition of marriage installed by the Liberal Party last year.

The motion proposes “to restore the traditional definition of marriage without affecting civil unions and while respecting existing same-sex marriages.” Should the motion pass, the over 12,000 homosexual “marriages” already registered, many from other countries, will not be affected.

“We've promised it in the last election ... and it's just one of the matters I wanted to get to before Christmas,” Nicholson told reporters.

Saying, “You don’t pick and choose rights,” the newly elected leader of the Liberal Party, Stéphane Dion, said Monday that he hopes the entire Liberal caucus votes against the motion. There is no decision on whether the Liberal Members will be allowed a free vote on this activist court imposed and then legislated new “right”.

When Bill C-38 passed, with a 158-133 vote, the traditional definition of marriage was abolished but at least one quarter of the Liberal caucus voted against the change while the entire cabinet was forced to vote for the government motion.

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