A
speech Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer gave as a young MP in 2005
opposing same-sex marriage has returned to haunt him, courtesy of the
Liberals. (Michael Bell)
The question of same-sex marriage is effectively settled in Canada.
As a result of successive court rulings and the passage of the Civil Marriage Act in 2005, same-sex marriage is legal and recognized in all provinces and territories. Parliament has not been asked to consider the question in nearly 13 years. There is no serious push to revisit the issue or repeal the law.
So there is no small amount of politics at play in the Liberals' decision to resurface video of a speech Andrew Scheer gave in 2005 in which he explained, somewhat awkwardly, his opposition to same-sex marriage.
But
the presence of politics does not always mean there aren't legitimate
questions to be asked. Scheer, perhaps with his own political interests
in mind, has yet to publicly reckon with the words he spoke in 2005 or
make the sort of statements that would suggest he has moved past the
views he once espoused.
In 2015, the Liberals benefited from a
wave of progressive voters who were not only excited to support Justin
Trudeau, but also eager to be rid of Stephen Harper. Four years later,
Justin Trudeau has governed imperfectly and the urgency some voters felt
in 2015 likely has dissipated.
Setting up a binary ballot question
For
the Liberals, one possible way to re-energize that electorate and
rally it behind them is to tell voters that this election is a choice,
one that is most likely to produce either a Liberal government led by
Trudeau or a Conservative government led by Scheer. Part of clarifying
that choice is warning voters about what they might be getting
with Scheer.
That would explain why, on an otherwise
unremarkable morning in mid-August, video of Scheer speaking in the
House of Commons in 2005 appeared on Twitter. After Ralph Goodale (or
whoever runs Goodale's Twitter account) posted the clip, a succession of
Liberals piled on, reposting it and adding their own comments.
To be a leader for all Canadians, the Conservative Party leader should now end his lifelong boycott of Pride events and explain whether he would still deny same-sex couples the right to marry, as he said in Parliament.
Within two and a half hours, Scheer's spokesperson had posted
an official response, reminding Liberals that some in their own ranks
also once voted against recognizing same-sex marriage.
In 2005,
Scheer was speaking in the House of Commons against the Civil Marriage
Act, as it was then being proposed by Paul Martin's government. Scheer
argued, in part, that legally recognizing same-sex marriage could lead
to infringements upon the religious liberty of those who object to such
marriages.
But his primary contention was that
same-sex marriage was a contradiction in terms — that marriage was
designed for the "natural procreation" of children, something that could
not be accomplished in a marriage of two men or two women.
The Liberals weren't all on the same page in 2005
Setting
aside the significant hole in that argument (lots of heterosexual
marriages don't result in the "natural procreation" of children), Scheer
was hardly alone in opposing the Civil Marriage Act: at third reading,
the legislation passed by a vote of 158-133. Those who voted against the
bill included 93 Conservative MPs, 32 Liberals and one New Democrat.
(The Conservatives, at the time, were proposing that same-sex couples
could instead be covered by "civil unions.")
On the day he announced his candidacy for the Conservative leadership, Scheer appeared on CBC's Power & Politics and was asked about his position on same-sex marriage. At that time, he said he had no interest in revisiting the issue. But he also avoided explaining his own views.
In
his response on Tuesday, Scheer's spokesperson said that the
Conservative leader "supports same-sex marriage as defined in law and as
prime minister will, of course, uphold it."
If Scheer supports
same-sex marriage now, it would be interesting to hear him explain how
his thinking has evolved and what he thinks now of that speech he gave
14 years ago. There is no statute of limitation for questions about
where one stood on major questions of public policy.
But
Scheer's views in 2005 are also relevant now because of where he stands
on participating in Pride parades. It was that lack of participation
that the Liberals were noting in posting the 2005 video on Tuesday.
As
the Conservatives quickly pointed out, the Liberal Party of Canada has
not always been on the leading edge of LGBTQ rights. Goodale, for
instance, voted against a motion to recognize same-sex marriages in 1999
before voting in favour of the Civil Marriage Act in 2005. But
Trudeau's Liberals have embraced the ideal of equality. In 2016, he
became the first prime minister to march in a Pride parade when he
joined Toronto's celebration. Goodale has marched in Pride parades as
well.
Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau, right, waves to the crowd while waiting to
march in the Vancouver Pride Parade with Green Party Leader Elizabeth
May, left, and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, centre, in Vancouver on Sunday,
Aug. 4, 2019. (Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press)
Scheer's absence from such events has since become conspicuous. In Vancouver earlier this month, three of the four major national parties were represented when Trudeau marched alongside the NDP's Jagmeet Singh and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May.
Singh
joined the Liberals in jumping on the Scheer video on Tuesday, taking
the opportunity to pledge that New Democrats would not prop up a
Conservative minority government after this fall's election. But Singh
also chastised the Liberals on their own record — accusing them of not
moving fast enough to eliminate the ban on blood donations from gay men,
for instance, or to institute a ban on conversion therapy.
On
Tuesday, Pride flags were flying from the building in downtown Ottawa
that houses the Prime Minister's Office — another gesture that a Scheer
government could be asked to match.
For now, Scheer presumably
has calculated that there are few, if any, votes to be gained by
marching in a Pride parade. Conservative party delegates voted in 2016
to drop the party's official position
that marriage should be defined as the union of one man and one woman.
But 462 Conservative delegates still voted against the move.
By
shunning Pride events, Scheer might avoid alienating those
Conservatives. But if marching has become a barometer for leadership or
values, Scheer's absence can be weaponized by his political opponents
and used as an excuse to revive his statements from 2005.
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