TORONTO, Oct 29 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The historic Ontario legislative session which passed into law the right for practicing homosexuals to adopt children and be given all rights and privileges accorded to common-law spouses contained not one voice against the legislation. Several speakers noted that the Ontario law went further than the Supreme Court demanded and noted that the government had intentionally set the bill for radically fast passage giving warning to the opposition parties as to what was coming. Attorney General Jim Flaherty (PC, Whitby-Ajax) announced the bill for the government and thanked his staff for assisting in drawing up the legislation and offered them “congratulations for a job well done.” Flaherty also thought it important to note that “Marriage is not affected by this bill” even though marriage is a federal issue which the provincial government could not destroy.
George Smitherman (Lib, Toronto Centre-Rosedale) the openly homosexual activist MPP was given first opportunity to speak to the bill after Flaherty’s introduction. Smitherman recognized the presence in the galleries of homosexual activist groups who were watching their triumph. Smitherman’s comments reveal that while pro-family forces along with the rest of the province were kept unaware of the date of the bill’s passage, homosexual activist groups were made aware. Later, Michael Bryant (Lib, St Paul’s) noted the source of the leaked timing of the proceedings as he said “I thank the Attorney General also for consulting with us and letting us know the timing of what was happening and also the substance of the act. Among the activists in the gallery was Jaime Watt, formerly one of Premier Harris’s inner circle “wiz kids”.
Tellingly, Rosario Marchese (NDP, Trinity-Spadina) spoke of the Ontario Tories saying “I congratulate them for what they have done and for having done more than what was required by the law. Indeed, the court required Ontario to amend only one law, the Family Law Act, and he and his government went further and changed 67 other acts. That’s a good thing”.
Other than those MPP’s already mentioned, Peter Kormos (NDP, Niagara Centre), Frances Lankin (NDP, Beaches- East York), Richard Patten, (Lib, Ottawa-Centre), David Caplan, (Lib, Don Valley East), Marilyn Churley (NDP, Broadview-Greenwood), Gerard Kennedy (Lib, Parkdale-High Park), Gilles Bisson, (NDP Timmins-James Bay), Mike Gravelle, (Lib,Thunder Bay-Superior North), David Christopherson, (NDP, Hamilton West), Dwight Duncan, (Lib, Windsor-St. Clair), Dominic Agostino, (Lib, Hamilton East), Howard Hampton, (NDP, Kenora-Rainy River), and Dalton McGuinty (Lib, Ottawa South) spoke in favour of the legislation.
With files from the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.