Anyone still confused on this point?
The Harper government has served notice that thousands of same-sex couples who flocked to Canada from abroad since 2004 to get married are not legally wed.
The reversal of federal policy is revealed in a document filed in a Toronto test case launched recently by a lesbian couple seeking a divorce. Wed in Toronto in 2005, the couple have been told they cannot divorce because they were never really married – a Department of Justice lawyer says their marriage is not legal in Canada since they could not have lawfully wed in Florida or where the two partners reside.
Said Toronto lawyer Martha McCarthy:
“It is appalling and outrageous that two levels of government would be taking this position without ever having raised it before, telling anybody it was an issue or doing anything pro-active about it….All the while, they were handing out licences to perform marriages across the country to non-resident people.”
The lives of literally thousands of couples have suddenly been thrown into chaos by Harper’s homophobic decree. Still think Jean Chrétien’s warning just before Christmas was “over-the-top,” Canadian Press?
With this vicious move, Harper has now cemented Canada’s international reputation as a state run by and for bigots. And the year, folks, is still young.
UPDATE: “[S]peaking in Halifax Thursday, the Prime Minister said the issue was not on the agenda for his majority Conservatives. “We have no intention of further re-opening or opening this issue,” Stephen Harper told reporters when asked about The Globe and Mail’s report.
Pull the other one, Harpo. Just as there will be no reopening of the abortion debate? How many cakes can you have and eat at the same time?
UPPERDATE: Reports Kady O’Malley: “[Harper] admitted that he was unfamiliar with the specifics of the case in question, and as such, unable to comment on the position taken by justice department lawyers….”
Good grief, something with this capacity to cause a firestorm somehow evaded Harper’s legendary micromanagement skills? Colour me sceptical, to say the least. The word “admitted,” with the greatest respect to Kady, is an unwarranted inference. How about “ducked the question?”