Citizens' Ballot Could Be Canada's Best Hope for Repealing Same-Sex 'Marriage'
by Chad Groening
February 6, 2006
(AgapePress) - - Canadian pro-family activist Brian Rushfeldt says he agrees with a recent survey that shows, despite the recent election of a new Conservative government, a vote to revoke the legalization of same-sex "marriage" would be a close one in Parliament.
Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper reports that a narrow majority of the current Members of Parliament (MPs) would agree to retain same-sex marriage, based on a tabulation of how returning members voted on the issue last June. Rushfeldt, co-founder and executive director of the Canada Family Action Coalition (CFAC), does not doubt the accuracy of the paper's predictions concerning how the national lawmakers would cast their ballots on homosexual marriage.
"If we leave it up to our Members of Parliament, I think we're going to have a fairly tight vote on it," the pro-family activist says. "We've got a number of new ones that we don't know where they stand. Certainly, of the ones that are already there, we know that there's 101 Liberals and 29 Nds [New Democrats] that definitely are all in support of homosexual marriage."
Because of this, Rushfeldt believes a people's referendum on same-sex marriage would be a better course of action. "Forget about the members of Parliament deciding on such a crucial issue," he urges. "Let's have a referendum of the voices of the Canadian people on this; because, if the members of Parliament voted in line with what the people of Canada wanted, I don't think this would be a close vote."
Unlike outgoing Prime Minister Paul Martin, Canada's incoming national leader Stephen Harper would support the idea of a people's referendum, Rushfeldt contends. The current prime minister is more likely to understand that "politically, on this issue the right thing to do would be to let the Canadian people have a say, a free say," the pro-family activist insists.
"Steven Harper has promised a free vote, and that is one step in the right direction," Rushfeldt points out. "But a free vote does no good when you've got members of Parliament who are going to vote the way they want to vote, not the way their constituents want them to vote," he says.
The CFAC executive director notes, "With many of the Liberals, we know that if the people in that [elected official's district] had a say, they would choose to not have had homosexual marriage." That is why the pro-family advocate believes the decision on same-sex marriage needs to be put directly before the citizens of Canada.
However, such a vote is unlikely to happen in 2006, Rushfeldt notes. He believes any referendum to repeal legalized same-sex marriage in Canada probably will not take place until spring of next year.
Chad Groening, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
