Go Andy Scott!

[c9]

Canadians for Equal Marriage, the newish lobby group for equal marriage rights in Canada, has started a new campaign which lists specific candidates to support or defeat in the upcoming federal election. There's only three people so far, but they are planning to add more MPs as they continue their research.

Andy Scott, Liberal MP in Fredericton, and (straight) victim of gay-related-issues bashing, is on the good list! Fun.

Why should you care?

• I'm gay, and getting married. leapfish and I have to travel to do it legally. Maybe you don't want to get married, but everybody should get to make the choice themselves, instead of having the government decide for you.
• Conservative groups like Focus on the Family are going to spend millions of dollars on this one issue, trying to prevent equality from gaining ground in Canada.

Fun links:

• Halifax Candidates' Equal Marriage Ratings
• Check your riding based on postal code

Comments

Re: Interesting website...

[c9.livejournal.com]

>Is this website run by the NDP?

No. Though there are many common members.

>Candidates from other parties who have not made their opinion public gets a rating of NYR ("not yet rated").

This is because the *party* has decided (not Jack Layton, but the party caucus and party governing members) that human rights are not negotiable, and not a popularity contest. The Liberal Party has decided to sit on the fence by allowing a free vote, and the Conservative Party is pretending to allow a free vote while courting far-right anti-equality supporters and allowing them to infer anti-equality guarantees.

>I now have more respect for the Liberals and Paul Martin, as he seems ready to put aside his personal views and govern based on the will of the courts and people.

Martin wants to be Prime Minister. If he thought that rushing through the equal marriage legislation would win him a majority, he would do it in a second. But he doesn't. So when he took office, he immediately put it on the back burner, and forced the Supreme Court to take longer to answer the reference. The last thing he wants is an election fought on this -- which would, logically, be closer to figuring out "the will of the people," right?

I don't think Jack Layton is God or anything, but he's far more open about his intentions than Paul Martin and Stephen Harper, and he's more consistent about them than Martin too. Finally, he can't be judged based on governing since he hasn't governed federally, but he has in fact announced more action plans and concrete ideas than Martin has in the past six months.