The traditional marriage lobby intends to launch a "15-point lobbying campaign" this month costing "tens of thousands of dollars." They will lobby MPs of all parties on the divisive issue of same-sex marriage, encouraging a vote to reopen the debate.
"We will launch a campaign this fall. The campaign will kick into gear on Sept. 18," said Charles McVety, senior director of the Defend Marriage coalition, an alliance of 13 traditional marriage, family and religious advocacy groups.
"We're going to have a day [in the fall] when we bring leaders, religious leaders, local leaders, political leaders in [Ottawa and] from across the country to meet with their respective MPs. We're also going to have prayer rallies in front of Member of Parliament [constituency] offices across the country. We feel that all the Members need prayer on this issue for or against. We will certainly focus on those who are against marriage, anti-marriage members of Parliament, that's how we phrase it."
Mr. McVety, who is also president of the Canada Christian College in Toronto, refused to reveal other elements of the campaign, but said the coalition is also playing an active role in the ongoing nomination meetings of the Conservative and Liberal parties across the country. He said that they are targeting the ridings of incumbent MPs who are in favour of same-sex marriage and in unheld ridings, they're supporting candidates who are against same-sex marriage.
"We're very active, we believe it's very important. Ninety-nine per cent of Canadians do not participate in the selection of Candidates. We're encouraging people to participate in democracy. If you get more people participating, the less likelihood is there of extremism such as same-sex marriage and prostitution and Euthanasia and legalization of drugs. These issues will not come forward [as problems] if more good people get involved," said Mr. McVety.
"There will be specific ones where we put more effort into it especially where we have anti-marriage sitting Members of Parliament. You need to contrast that, you need to give people an option to vote for an anti-marriage candidate or for a pro-marriage candidate."
In June, Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) announced that the Conservative government will hold a free vote in the fall session, asking MPs whether they wish to reopen the debate on same-sex marriage. Mr. Harper also promised to hold such a vote in the last election campaign.
This vote, however, will not necessarily lead to a repeal of the existing law, which came into effect after the passage of bill C-38 in June 2005, making Canada the fourth country in the world to recognize gay marriage, after the Netherlands (2001), Belgium (2003) and Spain (2005). The Conservative's 2006 election platform promised that if the House adopts a resolution to reopen the debate, "the government will introduce legislation to restore the traditional definition of marriage while respecting existing same-sex marriages."
Gilles Marchildon, executive director of Canadians for Equal Marriage, a pro-same-sex marriage lobby group, said he's not surprised that the traditional marriage lobby group is planning a vigorous campaign in favour of reopening the debate on same-sex marriage. He said his organization is also planning on continuing a "dialogue" with the MPs on this subject. Mr. Marchildon, however, refused to give out details of the dialogue or how much money his organization plans to spend.
"This is something that they [the traditional marriage lobby] have done in the past and I'm not shocked to hear that. We're going to continue our dialogue [with MPs]. We're continually in touch with the MPs. That's our job on this and other pieces of legislation that is of concern to the LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] community," he said.
Mr. Marchildon said he's "cautiously optimistic" that a vote to reopen the debate on same-sex marriage will be defeated. He said that according to his numbers, there are 160 MPs who are opposed to the idea of reopening this divisive debate, 136 for reopening it and 12 undecided.
"There're a number of MPs who, while they're not advocates for equal marriage, they're nonetheless at a point now where they're not convinced to reopen equal marriage. They're in fact believing that it's best to move on to other issues. They realize, first of all, this has been in place for over a year now and the sky hasn't fallen. Secondly, they've been reassured that no one is pushing churches to perform marriages they're not comfortable doing according to their creed. They realize that our equality doesn't take anything away from people who are opposed to equal marriage for same-sex couples."
Without sharing his organization's numbers on MPs for, against, or undecided on the issue, Mr. McVety said the vote is going to be close and it's not a foregone conclusion that the same-sex marriage law as stands will be upheld.
Bill C-38 passed narrowly in the Paul Martin (LaSalle-Émard, Que.) minority government, with 158 members in favour and 133 against. The Liberals, Bloc and NDP caucuses voted overwhelmingly in favour of the bill but five Bloc Québécois, 93 Conservatives, 32 Liberals and one NDP voted against legalizing same-sex marriage. Only three Conservative MPs, James Moore (Port Moody-Westwood-Port Coquitlam, B.C.) Jim Prentice (Calgary Centre-North, Alta.) and Gerald Keddy (South Shore-St. Margaret's, N.S.), voted for the bill.
In the Jan. 23 federal election, 68 new MPs were elected to Parliament, including 38 new Conservatives, eight new Liberals,10 new Bloc Québécois, 11 new NDP and one independent. The Conservatives now have 125 members in the House, the Liberals 102, the Bloc 50, the NDP 29, and there's one Independent. One seat became vacant last week after the death of Bloc MP Beno”t Sauvegeau.
http://www.thehilltimes.ca/html/index.php?display=story&full_path=/2006/september/4/samesex/&c=1
"We will launch a campaign this fall. The campaign will kick into gear on Sept. 18," said Charles McVety, senior director of the Defend Marriage coalition, an alliance of 13 traditional marriage, family and religious advocacy groups.
"We're going to have a day [in the fall] when we bring leaders, religious leaders, local leaders, political leaders in [Ottawa and] from across the country to meet with their respective MPs. We're also going to have prayer rallies in front of Member of Parliament [constituency] offices across the country. We feel that all the Members need prayer on this issue for or against. We will certainly focus on those who are against marriage, anti-marriage members of Parliament, that's how we phrase it."
Mr. McVety, who is also president of the Canada Christian College in Toronto, refused to reveal other elements of the campaign, but said the coalition is also playing an active role in the ongoing nomination meetings of the Conservative and Liberal parties across the country. He said that they are targeting the ridings of incumbent MPs who are in favour of same-sex marriage and in unheld ridings, they're supporting candidates who are against same-sex marriage.
"We're very active, we believe it's very important. Ninety-nine per cent of Canadians do not participate in the selection of Candidates. We're encouraging people to participate in democracy. If you get more people participating, the less likelihood is there of extremism such as same-sex marriage and prostitution and Euthanasia and legalization of drugs. These issues will not come forward [as problems] if more good people get involved," said Mr. McVety.
"There will be specific ones where we put more effort into it especially where we have anti-marriage sitting Members of Parliament. You need to contrast that, you need to give people an option to vote for an anti-marriage candidate or for a pro-marriage candidate."
In June, Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) announced that the Conservative government will hold a free vote in the fall session, asking MPs whether they wish to reopen the debate on same-sex marriage. Mr. Harper also promised to hold such a vote in the last election campaign.
This vote, however, will not necessarily lead to a repeal of the existing law, which came into effect after the passage of bill C-38 in June 2005, making Canada the fourth country in the world to recognize gay marriage, after the Netherlands (2001), Belgium (2003) and Spain (2005). The Conservative's 2006 election platform promised that if the House adopts a resolution to reopen the debate, "the government will introduce legislation to restore the traditional definition of marriage while respecting existing same-sex marriages."
Gilles Marchildon, executive director of Canadians for Equal Marriage, a pro-same-sex marriage lobby group, said he's not surprised that the traditional marriage lobby group is planning a vigorous campaign in favour of reopening the debate on same-sex marriage. He said his organization is also planning on continuing a "dialogue" with the MPs on this subject. Mr. Marchildon, however, refused to give out details of the dialogue or how much money his organization plans to spend.
"This is something that they [the traditional marriage lobby] have done in the past and I'm not shocked to hear that. We're going to continue our dialogue [with MPs]. We're continually in touch with the MPs. That's our job on this and other pieces of legislation that is of concern to the LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] community," he said.
Mr. Marchildon said he's "cautiously optimistic" that a vote to reopen the debate on same-sex marriage will be defeated. He said that according to his numbers, there are 160 MPs who are opposed to the idea of reopening this divisive debate, 136 for reopening it and 12 undecided.
"There're a number of MPs who, while they're not advocates for equal marriage, they're nonetheless at a point now where they're not convinced to reopen equal marriage. They're in fact believing that it's best to move on to other issues. They realize, first of all, this has been in place for over a year now and the sky hasn't fallen. Secondly, they've been reassured that no one is pushing churches to perform marriages they're not comfortable doing according to their creed. They realize that our equality doesn't take anything away from people who are opposed to equal marriage for same-sex couples."
Without sharing his organization's numbers on MPs for, against, or undecided on the issue, Mr. McVety said the vote is going to be close and it's not a foregone conclusion that the same-sex marriage law as stands will be upheld.
Bill C-38 passed narrowly in the Paul Martin (LaSalle-Émard, Que.) minority government, with 158 members in favour and 133 against. The Liberals, Bloc and NDP caucuses voted overwhelmingly in favour of the bill but five Bloc Québécois, 93 Conservatives, 32 Liberals and one NDP voted against legalizing same-sex marriage. Only three Conservative MPs, James Moore (Port Moody-Westwood-Port Coquitlam, B.C.) Jim Prentice (Calgary Centre-North, Alta.) and Gerald Keddy (South Shore-St. Margaret's, N.S.), voted for the bill.
In the Jan. 23 federal election, 68 new MPs were elected to Parliament, including 38 new Conservatives, eight new Liberals,10 new Bloc Québécois, 11 new NDP and one independent. The Conservatives now have 125 members in the House, the Liberals 102, the Bloc 50, the NDP 29, and there's one Independent. One seat became vacant last week after the death of Bloc MP Beno”t Sauvegeau.
http://www.thehilltimes.ca/html/index.php?display=story&full_path=/2006/september/4/samesex/&c=1