Breathing a sigh of relief
I haven't talked much about politics since the US election, for the most part because I was just too disgusted by the results. (I've made changes in response personally, such as switching out my charitable donations to causes that I've inspected more fully and know do not have agendas that are in any way, shape or form socially right-wing).
Some of you may recall my angst during the last Canadian election, not that long ago, which resulted in a Liberal majority. Well, the last few months in Canadian politics has been beyond surreal, but I've not spoken about it in LJ because I have too few friends who are even aware of Canadian politics, let alone interested in hearing me ramble about it. But the Liberal majority has been severely threatened in the last while (and not entirely without reason), and a vote tonight almost ended it. But they squeaked it out, and will stay alive for at least a few more months, and for that I am thankful.
Not because I think the government deserves it, although I would still prefer this incarnation to any minority Conservative government, by a long shot. But because this temporary reprieve may mean that the same-sex marriage legislation will actually pass into law, and that wouldn't have happened if the Conservatives had been able to bring the government down, force a vote, and then taken a minority government. Technically, same-sex marriage is already legal in Canada, because almost every single court at every single level has repeatedly struck down any interpretation of the relevant laws which would deny gay couples the right to marry as unconstitutional - but it would be much better to positively have our laws rewritten to make it clear. I really do view this as the civil rights issue of my adult life, and I'm fairly certain that any move away from the court rulings would be socially regressive mistake that will not speak well of Canadian society as a whole.
If the Conservatives had won a minority in Parliament they still wouldn't have been able to pass a law that expressly prohibited same-sex marriage (because the combination of all the other parties are in favour), but they would definitely have let the law currently in review die, and there would be no statutory amendment. Now that the Liberals have a few more months, I expect they can get the law passed, and even if they lose an election in the fall or early next year, the Conservatives will not have the ability to pass legislation which would reverse the law (one would hope).
I desperately want Canada to have healthy political alternatives, but until the Conservative party becomes more moderate in its views and stops being beholden to the more extreme "religious" conservative elements out West (sound familiar?), that's not going to happen. But in their most recent policy platform session they have ruled out introducing legislation on abortion (not that some of the Members wouldn't have loved to make abortion illegal, but they are desperate to appeal to the middle of the political spectrum in Ontario), and so the same-sex marriage card was the only one up their sleeves with which to beat and batter on the civil rights of a minority group, and they may not be able to hold that out as a weapon any more. Even if they win an election later this year or the next, there's a limited amount of damage they can do on social issues. And so, on behalf of my Canadian gay and lesbian friends, and also on behalf of civil rights as a whole, I'm thankful and breathing a sigh of relief tonight.
Some of you may recall my angst during the last Canadian election, not that long ago, which resulted in a Liberal majority. Well, the last few months in Canadian politics has been beyond surreal, but I've not spoken about it in LJ because I have too few friends who are even aware of Canadian politics, let alone interested in hearing me ramble about it. But the Liberal majority has been severely threatened in the last while (and not entirely without reason), and a vote tonight almost ended it. But they squeaked it out, and will stay alive for at least a few more months, and for that I am thankful.
Not because I think the government deserves it, although I would still prefer this incarnation to any minority Conservative government, by a long shot. But because this temporary reprieve may mean that the same-sex marriage legislation will actually pass into law, and that wouldn't have happened if the Conservatives had been able to bring the government down, force a vote, and then taken a minority government. Technically, same-sex marriage is already legal in Canada, because almost every single court at every single level has repeatedly struck down any interpretation of the relevant laws which would deny gay couples the right to marry as unconstitutional - but it would be much better to positively have our laws rewritten to make it clear. I really do view this as the civil rights issue of my adult life, and I'm fairly certain that any move away from the court rulings would be socially regressive mistake that will not speak well of Canadian society as a whole.
If the Conservatives had won a minority in Parliament they still wouldn't have been able to pass a law that expressly prohibited same-sex marriage (because the combination of all the other parties are in favour), but they would definitely have let the law currently in review die, and there would be no statutory amendment. Now that the Liberals have a few more months, I expect they can get the law passed, and even if they lose an election in the fall or early next year, the Conservatives will not have the ability to pass legislation which would reverse the law (one would hope).
I desperately want Canada to have healthy political alternatives, but until the Conservative party becomes more moderate in its views and stops being beholden to the more extreme "religious" conservative elements out West (sound familiar?), that's not going to happen. But in their most recent policy platform session they have ruled out introducing legislation on abortion (not that some of the Members wouldn't have loved to make abortion illegal, but they are desperate to appeal to the middle of the political spectrum in Ontario), and so the same-sex marriage card was the only one up their sleeves with which to beat and batter on the civil rights of a minority group, and they may not be able to hold that out as a weapon any more. Even if they win an election later this year or the next, there's a limited amount of damage they can do on social issues. And so, on behalf of my Canadian gay and lesbian friends, and also on behalf of civil rights as a whole, I'm thankful and breathing a sigh of relief tonight.