Stephen Harper, the leader of the Conservative Party has said if they form the next Government of Canada, he will consider a constitutional override to prevent Same Sex Marriage… Along with a free vote in Parliament on Gay Marriage.
Listen you little fucker, you’ve been trying to portray yourself as the “new” Conservative party, but you’re still just another one of the hate-filled, fundamentalist pieces of shit that used to populate the Reform and Alliance parties.
Your supporters in Guelph showed what fucking turds they are by beating some gay people who came to the meeting to ask your position on gay rights… First they beat them with signs, yelled at them to “shut up” and even punched one in the face…
Suddenly a Liberal minority Government with the support of the NDP or the Bloc doesn’t look so unappealing… Anything to force your smarmy-assed party and supporters back into your caves where you belong.
Huh. I was just crafting an OP concerning this story from the Globe and Mail where Harper asserts that the Supreme Court won’t overturn a bill banning same sex marriages in favour of some sort of civil unions. I had given it the snappy title “Harper develops psychic powers, predicts SC decision.” I guess I’ll post here instead.
No Mr. Harper, you stupid fuck, if you want to deny gays their Charter Rights, you’re going to have to invoke the Notwithstanding Clause. The Supreme Court of Canada isn’t going to look the other way while you try to turn back the clock. Have you actually read any SC decisions from the past 20 years? It’ll be a balmy January day in Saskatchewan before the SC overturns multiple provincial courts to accept your assinine attempt to circumvent equality.
So now I get to choose between homophobic bigots, thieves who loot hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars, and morons who want to regulate gas prices. Where are the Rhinos when you need them?
Why can’t there be one proper political party in Canada. JUST ONE. They all have their semi-good policies, and then there horrible bullshit policies. there is no right answer. Between the Liberals and their SHIT FOR BRAINS on spending millions on WORTHLESS SHIT, and the Conservatives and their HOMOPHOBE opinions i’m really at a loss. And no-one gives a shit about gas prices.
Call me ignorant but, Fuck.
My guess would be that he’d expect half the liberal’s seats to vote the way they did previously to the last vote on same sex marriage. Assuming the Tory policy would pass he’d need the not withstanding clause to avoid a Supreme Court challenge. Now, while it may be a free vote why would the Liberals allow their members to vote with the government? Why not embarrass them severely and so pick up seats/sympathy in Ontario and elsewhere?
Having looked it up, it was one person, not multiple “supporters,” an old man who took a shot at someone named Bob Smith. And Harper then went on record as saying he would allow a free vote on CAPITAL PUNISHMENT, not gay marriage.
Having said that, I’m just not at all satisfied with the Conservative position on this matter, because they do not appear to have one. Here is their official statement:
Okay, great. Now tell me what you’re going to decide, in clear, unambiguous language. Otherwise I’ll assume the worst.
I’m in favor of gay marriage (I was the photographer at the marriage of one of our friends and her girlfriend. It was a lovely wedding, and they’ve been together for years now). And I don’t like the party’s social conservatism, but… Isn’t it a bit of a reach from, “I oppose gay marriage” to being a “homophobic piece of shit”? Three quarters of the politicians in the United States, including many Democrats, oppose gay marriage. Are they all “homophobic pieces of shit”?
There ARE arguments against gay marriage that are not rooted in homophobia, you know.
Actually, I just watched the whole thing on The National… It was definitely NOT just one person… It was one person who punched the person, but there were at least a couple of others who were trying to grab Bob Smith and the person with him and throw them out, AFTER Mr. Smith was being hit with the signs and punched…
Glad there were cameras there… I hope they arrest the idiots for assault…
Yes, that is a tad of a reach. However, it is not a reach to go from “I oppose gay marriage and civil unions” or “I want a permanent (read: Constitutional in the US) ban on gay marriage codified in the highest level of law” to “homophobic piece of shit.” In fact, supporting either of those positions makes one a pretty text book example of a homophobic piece of shit.
Just a point of clarification. Harper is not in favour of amending the Charter to explicitly disallow same sex marriages. (Well, maybe he is, I guess, but he’d never admit to it in public in any event.) This is an absolute non-starter, since there isn’t a ghost of a chance it would ever happen. The constitutional issue at hand is whether Harper would invoke the Notwithstanding Clause if the Supreme Court doesn’t give on the issue. The Notwithstanding Clause is a curious little piece of our Constitution that allows Parliament (or provincial legislatures) to override court decisions and deny rights guaranteed by the Charter. Such legislation isn’t apt to be very popular, and must be renewed every 5 (?) years. The only case in which it’s ever been used is with regards to Quebec’s somewhat draconian language laws, which were successfully challenged on grounds of freedom of expression. The PQ invoked the NC to maintain the laws.
Harper has been somewhat evasive in addressing the question whether he’d use the NC. It’s probably a moot point, as at best he’d have a minority govt, and while he might find a small majority to support civil unions instead of marriage in a free vote in parliament, I don’t think he has a ghost of a chance of finding a majority of votes if the Supreme Court doesn’t back down and the only way to prevent same sex marriages is the NC. I strongly suspect that he’d lose a free vote on that matter, and I kind of doubt whether the other parties would even allow one - I think they’d probably require party discipline in such a vote.
All that said, I’m not voting for the Conservatives, and this is a part of the reason.
The only one I’m aware of springs from a general opposition to marriage as a government sanctioned institution for everyone, regardless of orientation.