NEWS RELEASE
April 12, 2000
For Immediate Release
THE DEATH OF MARRIAGE ACT
PASSES WITH HELP OF NDP AND THE BLOC"Bill C-23 extends benefits to same-sex couples based on a person’s private sexual activity.
The people of Saskatchewan will not forget what the NDP and Liberals have done."
Ottawa
– Garry Breitkreuz, M.P. for Yorkton-Melville, was clearly disappointed with the loss of yet another hard fought battle to the Liberals over Bill C-23 which Breitkreuz had renamed, The Death of Marriage Act. "Last night was very depressing in the House when the Liberals, the NDP and the Bloc joined forces to vote (176-72) against the Official Opposition’s last ditch attempt to have the definition of marriage appear in all 68 Acts being amended by the bill. Legal experts advised us that this was the only way to provide binding legal protection for the definition of marriage in Canadian law. The government put confusing terms such as ‘conjugal relationship’ and ‘common law partner’ in 68 Acts of Parliament but refused to put in the legal definition of marriage," reported Breitkreuz."With the passage of Bill C-23 the Liberals have extended benefits to same-sex couples based on a person’s private sexual activity. This is a ridiculous reason to extend public benefits! The passage of Bill C-23 is the last step in the Liberal and NDP objective of legal recognition of same-sex marriages," predicted Breitkreuz. "Yesterday, the death knell for the special recognition of marriage sounded in the House of Commons. The next round of court cases will slide society all the way down to the bottom of the slippery slope the Conservative government of Brian Mulroney and Joe Clark started us down in 1988 when they passed laws treating common law relationships the same as legally married couples."
"I admire the 17 Liberal MPs who stood up to Jean Chretien’s social engineering and voted against Bill C-23. The Official Opposition proposed a hundred amendments to add, the definition of marriage as ‘the lawful union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others’ to the 68 Acts. The majority of Liberals, NDP and Bloc voted against our amendments to protect the institution of marriage in Canadian law.
Only a change in government can change this legislation now. In the interests of democracy, I think everyone should know how Saskatchewan MPs voted on this important issue."
MPs who Voted Against Marriage: Goodale, Nystrom, Gruending, Laliberte
MPS who Voted For Marriage: Breitkreuz, Bailey, Konrad, Morrison, Pankiw, Ritz, Vellacott
"When I spoke against Bill C-23 in the House of Commons on Monday, I warned the Liberals and provided statistical evidence of the very negative effects that common law relationships have on children," said Breitkreuz. "If the state is to provide any incentives, it must consider the most vulnerable in our society, our children. Those incentives should promote stable family relationships where children are nurtured and developed." Breitkreuz concluded, "A government with any common sense should be promoting legal marriages and strong families with a commitment to raising the next generation - not handing out government benefits as a reward to couples just because they are living together and having sex. The people of Saskatchewan will not forget what the NDP and Liberals have done. They are clearly not friends of the family."
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For more information please call:
Yorkton: (306) 782-3309
Ottawa: (613) 992-4394
e-mail:
breitg0@parl.gc.ca