Alliance Tries Again With Private Members Bill To Protect Marriage Definition

OTTAWA, September 18, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Globe and Mail reported Thursday afternoon that the Alliance party has taken another go at protecting the definition of marriage and is supporting a private member’s bill that would reaffirm the traditional definition of marriage as being a union between a man and a woman. The bill, titled Bill C-447, received first reading in the Commons on Thursday.  The bill was introduced by Alberta MP Grant Hill and seconded by Alliance leader Stephen Harper. Harper said, “The definition of marriage needs to be clarified, and this bill (C-447) does that. … Our party is trying to make sure that democracy isn’t thrown out the window on an important issue of social policy.”  The text of the bill and its preamble is as follows:  “Whereas marriage has from time immemorial been recognized as the union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others;  Whereas, because of certain court decisions, it is now necessary to clarify the meaning of marriage;  Whereas the Parliament of Canada, representing all Canadians, must be the final authority with respect to social policy decisions;  Whereas it is within the constitutional jurisdiction of the provinces to provide appropriate legal recognition to relationships other than marriage;  And Whereas the protection of marriage as an institution is a matter of great public concern;  Now, Therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:  1. This Act may be cited as the Marriage Act.  2. Marriage is the lawful union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others.”  Private Members Bills are rarely passed and are usually allotted very limited time for debate. An extraordinary exception to the norm has been NDP MP Svend Robinson’s Bill C-250, adding sexual orientation to Canada’s hate crimes law, which has been treated by the Liberal government as a government bill.  See the official hansard first reading of C-447