The Angry Fag

News and Views from a Man Who Likes Men

Canadian Prime Minister Issues Gag Order to Party Members over Marriage of Gay Mounties

Posted on | May 26, 2006

Constables Jason Tree (left) and David Connors (right) of the Royal Canadian Mounted Patrol who will be legally married on June 30th

It seems that Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister of Canada, does not trust his fellow members of the Conservative Party of Canada to keep their mouths shut on the topic of the upcoming wedding between two members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Patrol. Constables Jason Tree and David Connors, who have been a couple for eight years since meeting at the University of New Brunswick, will be married on June 30th. Word of the marriage has gotten much attention on both sides of the border. In order to head off any comments that might be embarrassing for the Prime Minister and the party in general, Harper issued a gag order to all Conservative Party members in Parliament ordering them to keep quiet.

I agree fully with the statements made by opposition members from both the Liberal and New Democratic Parties on the issue of the gag order. It does seem like Harper does not trust his own caucus to be socially progressive as Canadians generally are. If that is the case, then why should Canada trust the Conservative Party either when the next election cycle occurs? Harper has already gone contrary to the polls in re-opening the debate on same-sex marriage. The majority of Canadians feel the issue has long been settled after the court decisions in several provinces and the Liberal’s passing legislation legalizing same-sex marriage nation-wide.

I think the comment from NDP MP Libby Davies was a bit more scathing though. She basically calls them out on not being able to wish the officers, who serve Canada, happiness:

"What I would hope the (party) message would be is to congratulate these two officers who are obviously in love and want to get married."

Those who do go against Harper’s gag face sanctions up to and including their removal from cabinet positions. Conservative MP Garth Turner got nailed by Harper after he publicly criticized the defection of David Emerson from the Liberal party to accept Stephen Harper’s offer to become Minister of International Trade. Echoing Conservative Party comments about the defection of Conservative MP Belinda Stronach to the Liberal party in 2005, Turner stated that Emerson needed to go back to the people who voted him into office and get the party changed approved by the electorate. He was called into Harper’s office for a dressing down and on his blog wrote:

"I’m expecting the Whip will be assigning me a renovated washroom somewhere in a forgotten corner of a vermin-infested dank basement in Ottawa. That should go well with my seat in the House of Commons that will be visible only during lunar eclipses."

One thing that I find hypocritical is that one of the criticisms of Paul Martin’s introduction of Bill C-38, the bill that legalized same-sex marriage, was that he "whipped" his cabinet members and that they were forced to vote in favor of the measure. Some of Martin’s cabinet members did resign and voted against the bill. In one of his campaign pledges, Harper said that if he became Prime Minister, he would re-open the same-sex marriage debate with a "genuine free vote" on the issue. But if Harper routinely gags his party members with threats of humiliation and dismissal, how can the vote truly be a "genuine free vote" on the issue, or any other issue for that matter?

Filed Under International, Politics |

Comments

2 Responses to “Canadian Prime Minister Issues Gag Order to Party Members over Marriage of Gay Mounties”

  1. The_Gay_Dude
    May 26th, 2006 @ 11:53 am

    I love what ya have done with this blog….it’s been a while….since you switched to this new site….but I haven’t had a chance to get to ya…..I just linked you on a multi-authored blog that we created called Gay Men Rule……and Gay Dudes and their str8 friends is now called, Voyeur Nation!…..anyways…..have a great Memorial Day…..and I’ll be back soon!

    Marc

  2. The Angry Fag
    May 26th, 2006 @ 1:08 pm

    Thank you. I dediced after a month that this blog could use its own domain as opposed to piggy-backing off of Google’s Blogger.

    Not to mention I have had several issues with Blogger both in the coding department and technical department.

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