OTTAWA, October 15, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A senior Liberal cabinet minister has said for the first time that same-sex marriage raises “profoundly difficult” issues—issues that could damage the Liberals’ electoral prospects in Western Canada. Ralph Goodale, Minister of Agriculture and a Paul Martin supporter, said: “On same sex it’s a profoundly difficult set of issues. No doubt there’s some [seats] it would cost and others it might gain, it depends on what part of Western Canada you’re talking about. Finding the appropriate balance between those two very vital sets of values [referring to equality and religion] is what this current discussion is all about.”
Goodale also talked about Western alienation: “About the feelings of my fellow Western Canadians that they are not sufficiently respected within Confederation, that they are not plugged in to national decision-making. I see it on energy issues, I see it on agricultural issues, I see it on transportation issues, I see it on natural resources issues, where the going-in assumption on the part of Western Canadians is the system won’t be fair, the deck is stacked against us.” For CP coverage: https://www.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2003/10/13/225149-cp.html