Same-Sex Marriage Vote

Well finally Stephen Harper fulfills his ridiculous promise of re-opening SSM. Thankfully it has absolutely no chance at passing when considering the Bloc and NDP and possibly the Liberals will have whipped votes while for the Tories it will be a free vote. Although the party has been united in the past, I believe this time from what I am hearing you will see a strong split in the Conservatives between the former Progressive Conservatives who may have been uneasy about the issue, but want it put to rest as opposed to those from the Reform/Alliance wing who will never accept SSM even when everyone else has. In the case of the Liberals, Stephane Dion has yet to decide whether to make it a whipped vote or not. While I will respect whatever decision he makes, if it were up to me, I would make it a whipped vote. Any Liberal who broke party ranks would be able to remain a member of the party and run in the next election, but would be stripped from the shadow cabinet if currently a critic and barred from being in the next shadow cabinet as well as being a cabinet minister or parliamentary secretary in the next Liberal government. Some will say this is being unreasonable, but I disagree. The issue here is not whether one supports same-sex marriage or not, the issue is whether one believes in respecting the Charter of Rights and Freedoms or not. And despite what Harper claims same-sex marriage cannot be repealed nationally without using the notwithstanding clause. With the exception of PEI, Alberta, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut, every other provincial court has declared the traditional definition of marriage unconstitutional so it would have no effect in those provinces. The issue would almost certainly land before the Supreme Court who would likely strike down the law. The reality is the sky hasn't fallen as some opponents claim and for most Canadians who are not part of the religious right, it is a non-issue. Issues such as lower taxes, shorter wait times, a cleaner environment, a more prosperous and competitive economy, reducing poverty, and strengthening Canada's role in the World are far more important and pressing issues than Same-sex marriage. Although some will say it is good Harper kept his promise, I have often argued and will say again, I am all for politicians breaking bad promises. In fact I have even at times encouraged politicians to break their promises if I thought they were bad ones to begin with. That is not to say politicians should make a habit of breaking promises, but they should be flexible enough to change their position if conditions warrant. I also noticed the Conservative webpage is making a big issue how the Liberals may make it a whipped vote. All I can say, is go ahead, I don't think it will impress the majority of Canadians who want the whole issue dropped period. Hopefully once this issue is put behind we can deal with more pressing issues. Also now that the Liberals have a leader and could bring down the government at any time, I hope the Harper government drops its right wing agenda and starts taking a more centrist approach as well as a more concillitory approach to other parties. If it does this, I would be all for them staying in office a little longer (although I will still fight hard to have Harper defeated when the next election arrives), but if Harper continues his my way or the highway approach, then I think the Liberals, NDP, and BQ should introduce a non-confidence motion at the earliest date possible and defeat this government ASAP. If the Canadians give them a majority government, I will grudgingly accept their right to push ahead with their agenda, but otherwise I think their right wing agenda needs to be stopped since Canadians didn't give them a mandate to pursue a right wing agenda.