OTTAWA, Mar 1 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Justice Minister Anne McLellan was questioned yesterday by members of the Commons justice committee regarding the government’s omnibus same-sex benefits bill C-23. McLellan rebuffed any suggestions from Reform, PC and even Liberal committee members to include a traditional definition of marriage in the bill or to allow the bill to address all dependent couples rather than only practicing homosexuals.
McLellan clearly indicated that the bill was all about benefits for practicing homosexuals and said that any kind of benefit for dependent couples other than practicing homosexuals could be considered, but in separate legislation. When pressed on the issue of putting a definition of traditional marriage into the bill she answered facetiously, “If Parliament chose, it could include definitions of anything, they could define ‘dog’ or ‘cat’ if they wanted to in this legislation.”
In related news, Focus on the Family Canada (FOFC) held a press conference in Ottawa today to announce the launch of a national media campaign in opposition to Bill C-23. FOFC public policy director Jim Sclater and public policy researcher Derek Rogusky are scheduled to appear before the Justice committee on Thursday, March 2, at 9:00 a.m.
See the CP report in the Ottawa Citizen.