OTTAWA, April 14, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Liberal MP Pat O’Brien’s stated today that he has agreed to remain with the Liberal Party since Prime Minister Paul Martin agreed that there would be public hearings on the homosexual ‘marriage’ Bill C-38. However, the legislative committee studying Bill C-38 is restricted to hearing only technical evidence. Moreover, Paul Macklin, Parliamentary Secretary to the Justice Minister, has indicated that there will be no travel across Canada for public hearings on the bill.
Conservative Justice Critic Vic Toews is challenging Prime Minister Martin to follow through with his commitments to hear Canadians’ views on this matter. “What specific assurances can the Prime Minister give when there is no authority for the committee to hear anything but technical evidence?” asked Toews. “It appears to me that Paul Martin is just fooling with O’Brien in a desperate attempt to keep him in the Liberal caucus.”
According to the Standing Orders of the House of Commons, special legislative committees can hear witnesses only on “technical matters,” and as such, the committee itself has no jurisdiction to change its mandate. Toews pointed out that the Liberal decision to refer Bill C-38 to such a committee is part of a broader Liberal pattern to ignore Canadians’ views on this legislation, referring to the previous committee that studied same-sex marriage in 2003 which was shut down before it had a chance to report.
“To date, no member of the committee, other than Conservatives, has indicated support for Canadians having their say on this issue. The Liberals, the Bloc Quebecois, and the NDP are all opposed to people being heard on a fundamental matter of social policy,” said Toews. The Tory Justice Critic has vowed to keep alive the debate on C-38 until the Liberal government agrees not to limit the powers of the committee studying this bill.
“Paul Martin must spell out what specific initiatives he and the justice minister are taking to allow this committee to hear from Canadians in every part of the country,” said Toews. “Until he does so, he is holding out false hope to Mr. O’Brien and to the Canadian people who want to be heard on this matter.”