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BILL C-250 - THE BATTLE FINALLY OVER

At no time since Confederation has one bill - especially a private member's bill - raised such a furor. This private member's Bill C-250, introduced, by NDP MP Svend Robinson, in November 2000 to amend the hate propaganda section of the Criminal Code to give special protection on the grounds of sexual orientation, has made its way through the House of Commons and now the Senate, at all times, protected by the Liberal government. The latter ordered its members to vote for the bill as though it were a government bill. By giving official protection to this private member's bill, the Liberals acquiesced to the wishes of homosexual activists, whom the government supports, without having to be accountable for the bill's negative impact on the public. One of the effects of this bill will be to restrict the freedoms of religion and speech in Canada.

This bill was designed to serve as a tool in the hands of homosexual activists to close down debate on the homosexual issue on the pretext that any objections to the homosexual agenda are "hateful". Much evidence of this approach by the homosexuals is apparent, including the actions of the sponsor of the bill, Mr. Robinson, who labels any opposition to his views as "hateful". (See Reality, "NDP MP Svend Robinson", Jan./Feb. 2004, p.4.)

Religious leaders will also be compromised by this bill, as arguments based on religion will be considered "hateful". There are already several court decisions to this effect. (See Reality, "Project Justice", May/June, 2003, p.1.) There can be no more powerful a weapon in the hands of militant homosexuals than Bill C-250.

Significantly, however, there was no need for this bill at all. Even Mr. Robinson's main witness in support of the bill, Inspector David Jones of the Vancouver Police Department, admitted in his testimony before the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee on March 11, 2004, that Bill C-250 was not necessary to protect homosexuals from harm (there is already protection for wrongful acts against them, as well as against all others in the Criminal Code), but was sought in order to obtain social recognition of homosexuals.

The stakes were high. Through successive prorogations of Parliament from November 2000 until April 2004, the bill kept reappearing on the Parliamentary Order Paper. In the Senate, the bill was delayed, first by the masterly Parliamentary competence of Senator Anne Cools, whose efforts were eventually assisted by the Tory Senators. The latter initially supported the bill, but via the intervention of Conservative leader, Stephen Harper (whose previous party, the Alliance Party, had opposed the bill in the House of Commons), most, but not all, Conservative Senators reversed their position and opposed the bill.

Meanwhile, on April 16, 2004, MP Svend Robinson, the sponsor of this bill to amend the Criminal Code, admitted in a high profile press conference, that he himself had violated the Criminal Code by stealing a $50,000 diamond ring, apparently meant as an engagement ring for his homosexual partner. Mr. Robinson explained that he stole the ring because he was under stress, which he refused to discuss. Even the most naïve found his press conference "over the top" and a bid to garner sympathy to get off the charges. The Globe and Mail (a newspaper slavishly supportive of the homosexual cause) found, according to its poll on April 21, 2004, that 57% of the respondents believed Mr. Robinson should be charged. An Ipsos-Reid poll found that 63% of respondents believed charges should be laid against Mr. Robinson. Obviously, if Mr. Robinson's claim of stress was genuine and this caused him to commit a major crime, then it seems he might not have been in a position to fully grasp and understand the impact of legislation, especially the draconian legislation Bill C-250.

However, democracy is not much respected these days, and the Liberals continued to push Bill C-250 forward. To offset this pressure, amendment after amendment was put forward by Conservative Senators, and some of Liberal Senators, hoping to delay the final vote on the bill until an election call was called, which would cause the bill to finally die.

This extended debate on Bill C-250 apparently annoyed at least one Senator. Progressive Conservative Senator Lowell Murray decided on April 22 to bring in a guillotine motion of closure to stop the debate and to call for an immediate vote. Such a motion is rarely used, and always only for a government bill - never for a private member's bill. In short, the closure motion is a very complex one, to be used only under extraordinary circumstances, and initiated only by a Minister of the Crown.

However, Deputy Speaker, Lucie Pépin (Shawinegan, Quebec), a pro-abortion, pro-homosexual supporter, dumbfounded everyone by allowing the motion. Lucie Pépin is a former vice chairperson of the Canadian Advisory Committee on the Status of Women and also a former Liberal MP. She was a protégé of Trudeau's right-hand man, Cabinet Minister, Marc Lalonde, who pushed her up through the Liberal ranks. After her defeat as an MP, Ms. Pépin received a number of patronage appointments. She was appointed to the Senate in 1997. Over her years in politics, Ms. Pépin has never been noted for her intelligence, but rather for her absolute obedience to instructions from her Liberal puppet masters, which appears to be the case here.

Senator Lowell Murray, for his part, strongly rejected the Alliance/Progressive Conservative merger and, therefore, by his extraordinary motion, was able to hit back at Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, who had instructed Conservative Senators to oppose the bill. It is of interest that Senator Murray was appointed to the Senate in 1979 by Joe Clark during the latter's tenure as Prime Minister. Both are very much red Tories who have championed "progressive" homosexual legislation.

Certainly, a Liberal Senator such as Senator Serge Joyal, a self-acknowledged homosexual and the bill's sponsor in the Senate, could not have put forward the guillotine motion proposed by Senator Murray. This would have been inappropriate for him, as a member of the government. There can be little doubt, however, that Senator Joyal worked closely with Senator Murray to present the motion, as Senator Joyal was instantly on his feet supporting Senator Murray's right to present the motion. Such are the machinations of our so-called Senate of "sober second thought".

On April 28, 2004, the final vote on Bill C-250 based on Senator Murray's motion to shut down debate was held, and the bill was passed once and for all, 59-11.

Homosexual activists will be very careful, at least for a while, having this law enforced. They do not want to take chances that it will be overturned by the courts, which nearly occurred in the Keegstra (1990) hate propaganda case. The court upheld the law in that case in a tight 5-4 decision. Madam Justice Beverley McLachlin, in her decision in the case, wrote fervently against the legislation declaring it restricted freedom of speech.

However, even if charges are not immediately laid on a complaint of propagating hate by a homosexual activist, the latter will nonetheless try to use this recently passed provision in the Criminal Code as a tool to intimidate and to shut down debate on the homosexual issue. We must not bend to these threats and intimation, but must continue to speak firmly and truthfully on the issue. You can count on REAL Women to do just that.

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