OTTAWA, Feb 18 (LifeSiteNews) – Official Opposition Critic for Families, Reform MP Eric Lowther, accused the Liberal government Wednesday of breaking parliamentary law by providing a copy of Bill C-23, the same-sex partner benefits legislation, to a homosexual activist group prior to introducing it in the House of Commons. Lowther notes that while the Bill was tabled in the House at noon on Feb. 11, he possesses an email sent out by John Fisher, president of Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere (EGALE), with an analysis of the bill, which was distributed over an hour prior to the bill’s first reading in the House. A very similar scenario occurred with the recent fast-tracking of Ontario’s Bill 5 which also altered numerous provincial statutes in one bill. Homosexual activists were in on the government’s strategy and present in the legislature for the extraordinarily swift passage of the Ontario Bill.
Derek Lee, Parliamentary Secretary to Leader of the Government, responded to the charge by suggesting that Fisher might have made an educated guess on the legislation since his was one of the groups the government consulted while preparing it. Lowther retorted that the in-depth analysis provided in the email, including “comments on the terminology used in the bill” and “comments on sections of the bill that were included and parts that were omitted,” showed clearly that Fisher had a copy of the bill.
Lowther asked for the email to be tabled in the House of Commons as evidence for his case. The Speaker of the House must receive unanimous consent to do so from those Members present at the time; some Members rejected the request, preventing the document from being accepted by the House. The Speaker said she would consider accepting the document and get back to Lowther at a later date.
(a copy of EGALE’s analysis is available from LifeSite News on request)
See the exchange in the Hansard.