Election 97—Where the Parties Stand

EGALE is non-partisan and does not endorse any particular party. It is, however, our role to provide accurate information on where the parties stand so that the voting public can make its own informed choices based upon each party’s voting records and public statements.

The Liberal Party

The Liberal Government’s commitment to lesbian and gay equality issues has been varied. Important progress has been achieved with the passage of two government Bills—Bill C-41, which increases penalties for crimes motivated by hatred on certain grounds, including sexual orientation, and Bill C-33, which fulfilled the Liberal Party’s commitment to add sexual orientation to the Canadian Human Rights Act as a prohibited ground of discrimination. In addition, a number of employment benefits previously restricted to heterosexuals have now been extended by the government to federal employees in same-sex relationships.

At the same time, however, the Liberal Government consistently opposes same-sex equality claims before the Courts, and has only extended same-sex benefits when required to do so. No action has been taken to extend equal pension benefits and the Government refuses to register for income tax advantages any pension plan of a private employer which treats same-sex and opposite-sex couples equally. At no time has the Liberal Government expressed any commitment to recognizing those in same-sex relationships equally, and the Prime Minister has stated publicly that he is "not very comfortable with that". 80% of Liberal MPs who voted opposed motion M-264, an opposition motion in favour of equal relationship recognition.

In addition, the Prime Minister broke his promise and allowed a free vote on the Canadian Human Rights Act amendments and has still not confirmed whether or not the National AIDS Strategy will be renewed. Despite a caucus of 175 members, no gay or lesbian Liberal MP has yet been willing to publicly acknowledge his or her sexual orientation. A small number of backbench MPs, particularly Roseanne Skoke, MP, and Tom Wappel, MP have consistently called homosexuality "unnatural", "abnormal", "immoral" and a "perversion". The only response by the Prime Minister to these extremist comments by members of his caucus has been: "We give our members the freedom to express themselves."

In summary, significant gains have been made under the Liberal Government, but the party still has no coherent policy on same-sex relationship recognition and continues to oppose equality claims before the Courts.

The Bloc Québécois

The Bloc has supported each of the three key votes before the House of Commons. No MP from the Bloc Québécois opposed either the hate crimes legislation or the Human Rights Act amendments. In addition, the Bloc Québécois treated the vote on the Canadian Human Rights Act as party policy and whipped the vote. A majority of Bloc MPs voting (76%) supported the motion of gay Bloc MP Réal Ménard in favour of same-sex relationship recognition. Support for equal recognition of same-sex relationships is not unanimous in the Bloc, however, as demonstrated by the fact that 10 Bloc MPs (24% of those voting) voted against motion M-264.

Réal Ménard is the only openly-gay MP in the Bloc Québécois to date, and has been very active in raising lesbian and gay equality issues and issues relating to HIV/AIDS.

The Reform Party

The Reform Party has recently started claiming that they are unfairly victimized by media "witch-hunts" which portray Reform candidates as rednecks and bigots. In EGALE’s view, the voting record of the Reform Party speaks for itself.

• No Reform MP voted in favour of the hate crimes legislation. 100% of Reform MPs who voted opposed the legislation.
• No Reform MP voted in favour of motion M-264 in favour of equal relationship recognition. 100% of Reform MPs voting opposed the motion.
• Only one Reform MP voted in favour of prohibiting discrimination against gays and lesbians. 98% of Reform MPs who voted opposed the legislation.

At last year’s Reform Party policy convention, a motion affirming the right of Canadians to equality was explicitly amended to remove any reference to the right of Canadians to be protected from discrimination. The Reform Party is the only party which has issued policy statements explicitly opposing equality for those in same-sex relationships. The Reform Party was also the only party which failed to send a speaker to EGALE’s Annual Gala on Parliament Hill earlier this year, and gave no explanation for its failure to attend.

In addition, numerous Reform MPs have made their attitude towards equality rights abundantly clear. Mr. Bob Ringma MP was perhaps most notorious in saying that an employer ought to be able to fire a lesbian or gay employee, or move that person to the back of the shop. Mississauga Reform candidate Janice Lim recently indicated support for Mr. Ringma’s comments. The most telling reflection of the attitudes of Reform Party members is the fact that Mr. Ringma received a standing ovation for his comments at last year’s Reform Party convention.

Nor did Mr. Ringma’s comments reflect an isolated incident. Other comments by Reform MPs include:

Mr. Preston Manning MP, Reform Party leader:

"Homosexuality is destructive to the individual and, in the long run, to society."

Mr. Art Hanger, MP:

"Homosexuality is unnatural. It is a repudiation of nature. ... Homosexuality is nihilistic. It protects nothing, it defends nothing, it continues nothing, and it sustains nothing."

Mr. Myron Thompson, MP:

"I want the whole world to know that I do not condone homosexuals. I do not condone their activity. I do not like what they do. I think it is wrong. I think it is unnatural and I think it is totally immoral. I will object to it forever whenever they attack the good, traditional Canadian family unit that built the country."

Mr. John Williams, MP:

"That is why I find it repulsive. It is not only the fact that sexual orientation is in here which I find repulsive but that a few Canadians are being told that they are entitled to special treatment."

Mr. Philip Mayfield, MP:

"... committed same sex couples are more the exception than the norm by far within the homosexual community. Before the House even considers making the kinds of changes advocated by the hon. member, we as members of Parliament have to see proof that committed relationships are the ideal majority preference, not the abnormality in the homosexual context."

Mr. David Chatters, MP:

"When you go into the issue of homosexuals and lesbians, I think it’s in the interests of society to have the right to discriminate against that group of people. ... I think society has a right on that basis to discriminate against them".

Mr. Paul Forseth, MP:

Mr. Forseth responded to the hate crimes legislation by saying that gay men themselves are responsible for anti-gay violence: "There’s a lot of jealously, they have a lot of short-term relationships, they are vengeful."

Mr. Jake Hoeppner, MP suggested that protecting lesbians and gays from discrimination could lead to civil war, and Dr. Grant Hill, MP claimed that "any" medical text could describe the previously unknown disease "gay bowel syndrome" (although he failed to provide any particulars of this mysterious ailment).

The Reform Party’s comments are not limited to the lesbian, gay and bisexual communities. For example, Jack Frazer MP said "I did not see what I consider to be racist overtones" in relation to an Airborne video in Somalia which showed one soldier saying "We ain’t killed enough niggers yet" while a black soldier was being walked like a dog with "I love the Ku Klux Klan" painted on his back. MP Jack Ramsay admitted he asks job applicants about their marital status, showing no appreciation that this is prohibited by law. MP Philip Mayfield compared the flogging of Muslim women for not wearing a veil with the requirement that men wear jackets in the Parliamentary restaurant, and MP Herb Grubel characterized Native Canadians as "spoiled children", comparing Native reservations with "south sea island" resorts. Numerous other examples could be cited.

NDP

Every NDP MP who has voted on each of the three key votes in the House of Commons has voted in favour of lesbian and gay equality rights. No NDP MP has voted against any of these measures. A fairly high degree of absenteeism is attributable to the small size of the party representation in the House. Out gay MP Svend Robinson has been a consistent spokesperson on lesbian and gay equality issues. Leader Alexa McDonough has spoken twice at EGALE Galas and has demonstrated strong support for lesbian and gay equality.

Progressive Conservative Party

With only two MPs in the House of Commons, little is known about the Conservative position on lesbian and gay rights. Under the previous Conservative government, successive Justice Ministers failed to deliver on their commitment to add "sexual orientation" to the Canadian Human Rights Act, and when legislation was finally introduced, an attempt was made to restrict the definition of "marital status" to opposite-sex couples only.

In the current mandate, Conservative leader Jean Charest MP voted in favour of the amendments to the Canadian Human Rights Act, but was absent for the other two votes. Ms. Elsie Wayne MP voted against all three measures, and has consistently made public statements opposing equality for gays and lesbians. The response of Mr. Charest to EGALE’s Election Questionnaire will be particularly revealing in clarifying his party’s position.

Egale Canada ©2011

Canada's LGBT human rights organization: advancing equality, diversity, education, and justice.