Wednesday December 6, 2006
Liberal Leader Dion: Won’t Whip Vote on Marriage Motion But Will Force Liberal MPs to Back Gay ‘Marriage’
Echoes Chretien, Martin line, saying ““We are the party of the Charter”
By Gudrun Schultz
OTTAWA, Canada, December 6, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Members of the Liberal caucus will be free to vote as they choose on the coming motion to re-open the same-sex ‘marriage’ debate in Parliament, new Liberal leader Stephane Dion suggested yesterday, but not on legislation itself if it comes to another vote.
Dion indicated members would not be forced to follow party policy since the motion to re-open debate is procedural, although he said the final decision would be made after today’s caucus meeting.
“Since it is a stratagem (on the part of the Conservatives), we have to think strategy,” Dion said, according to a Montreal Gazette report. “Are we more effective with a free vote or a party vote? That is something we have to discuss in caucus because if we have a whipped vote, he will say, 'he muzzled his MPs who agree with us and if they had let them vote, the vote would have passed.' So perhaps on the strategic level, it is better for us to leave it as a free vote."
However, he said if the government should introduce a motion to restore the traditional definition of marriage, MPs would be forced to vote along party lines.
"[I]t would be a whipped vote,” Dion said. “We are the party of the Charter. There's no way we would accept that, because the charter would be under attack.”
"The first step is a matter of tactics. What is the best way to send a signal that we don't want that at all," he told Jane Taber in an interview with CTV.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper targeted the Liberal leadership over the issue of a free vote in the House Monday, saying he hoped Dion would not force a party vote.
“I know that the new Leader of the Opposition has said he will not allow a free vote by his caucus members,” PM Harper said. “I hope that proves not to be the case because I think the rights of members of Parliament are some of the most important rights we have in this country.”
When the vote on same-sex marriage legislation passed in 2005, Liberal Cabinet ministers and parliamentary secretaries were forced to vote for the bill, while thirty-two Liberal MPs voted against it. The measure passed 158-133.
The Liberal Party holds 102 seats, while the Conservatives have 124. The NDP and Bloc Quebecois hold 80 seats together, and both parties will force their members to vote in line with party policy on this conscience issue, the CTV reported. The parties officially support same-sex “marriage.”
See previous LifeSiteNews coverage:
Prime Minister Harper Goes on the Offensive on Same-Sex “Marriage” Free Vote
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/dec/06120501.html
See related story
Canadian Parliament Gay ‘Marriage’ Debate Begins – “Same-Sex Marriage is Not a Human Right”
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/feb/05021701.html
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