Blogs

OTTAWA, March 21, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – As LifeSiteNews reported yesterday, Canada’s Parliament voted 149-137 to add “gender identity” as a ground for non-discrimination to Canada’s Human Rights Act. It now heads to the Senate, where many expect, unfortunately, that it will pass easily. 

It’s important to note where your MP stood, so to help we’ve got the breakdown here.

As noted yesterday, the Conservative Party, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper and most of cabinet, voted against the bill except for 18 Conservative MPs. And it was supported by all NDP, Liberal, Bloc, and Green MPs who voted, but some in all parties also did not vote.

Image

First the Conservative government.

The 18 Conservatives who voted for the bill, ensuring that it passed: Chris Alexander (Ajax—Pickering), John Baird (Ottawa West—Nepean), Michael Chong (Wellington—Halton Hills), John Duncan (Vancouver Island North), Jim Flaherty (Whitby—Oshawa), Shelly Glover (Saint Boniface), Laurie Hawn (Edmonton Centre), Gerald Keddy (South Shore—St. Margaret's), Kellie Leitch (Simcoe—Grey), Cathy McLeod (Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo), James Moore (Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam), Deepak Obhrai (Calgary East), Erin O'Toole (Durham), Lisa Raitt (Halton), Bruce Stanton (Simcoe North), Bernard Trottier (Etobicoke—Lakeshore), David Wilks (Kootenay—Columbia), Terence Young (Oakville)

The 9 Conservatives who didn’t vote: Eve Adams (Mississauga—Brampton South), Steven Blaney (Lévis—Bellechasse), Garry Breitkreuz (Yorkton—Melville), Julian Fantino (Vaughan), Kerry-Lynne Findlay (Delta—Richmond East), Russ Hiebert (South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale), Greg Kerr (West Nova), Andrew Saxton (North Vancouver), Bernard Valcourt (Madawaska—Restigouche)

Now for the Opposition.

As mentioned, it was supported by all Opposition members except those who did not vote. So here is the list of MPs who did not vote, by party:

New Democratic Party: 99 MPs voted for the bill and one did not vote: Sana Hassainia (Verchères—Les Patriotes)

Liberal Party: 25 MPs voted for the bill and 10 did not vote: Scott Andrews (Avalon), Denis Coderre (Bourassa), Jim Karygiannis (Scarborough—Agincourt), Lawrence MacAulay (Cardigan), John McKay (Scarborough—Guildwood), Judy Sgro (York West), Justin Trudeau (Papineau), Judy Foote (Random—Burin—St. George's), Joyce Murray (Vancouver Quadra), Lise St-Denis (Saint-Maurice—Champlain)

Bloc Quebecois: All five MPs voted for the bill.

Green Party: Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands), the lone Green MP, voted for the bill.

There are also two independent MPs: Peter Goldring (Edmonton East) voted against the bill, and Bruce Hyer (Thunder Bay—Superior North) voted for it.

A final note: In many cases if an MP does not vote it is simply because they were not in the House that day. But in some cases they may deliberately abstain or leave the chamber because they support/oppose a piece of legislation in conscience, but do not wish to do so publicly, often for fear of political backlash. See Campaign Life Coalition's candidate evaluations for context on your MP's stand.

Contact info for MPs

Update: It's worth noting that at least some of the 18 Conservatives who voted YES on the bill had actually told constituents they would vote NO. The two we've heard of so far are Laurie Hawn and Michael Chong.