“Canada is the World’s Most Post-Modern Country”
That’s what our (tremendously unphotogenic, but that’s becoming a tradition) Prime Minister said today, when announcing that the Liberals will introduce legislation to legalize same-sex marriage when Parliament resumes sitting in January. I’m not exactly sure how our post-modernity applies to gay weddings, but thanks for the sentiment. It’s about frickin’ time.
I must credit Conservative leader Stephen Harper, who confirmed that his party’s MPs would be able to vote their conscience in January. That was his party-line on moral issues during the election. At least publicly, he’s sticking to his guns.
This isn’t supposed to be Disparage Alberta Week, but that province needs to catch up with the rest of the country:
Alberta’s Justice Minister said his government, which opposes same sex marriage, will have to weigh its options in the wake of the ruling. But Ron Stevens said they need to be realistic, adding that the decision has restricted their ability to defend marriage.Four years ago, Alberta passed a law stating marriage is the union between a man and a woman. Stevens said despite the Supreme Court ruling that law stands and marriage licenses will not be granted to same-sex couples.
Ah, well, we’ll drag them kicking and screaming into the twenty-first century.
Would someone please invite me to a same-sex wedding? In fifty years, I’ll need that experience as part of the narrative with which I’ll bore the neighbourhood kids: “Back in twenty ought four, this country finally decided that it was time to let gay people get married. I was headed over to Port Moody. I wore an onion on belt, which was the style at the time…”
Bonus link: A mini photo essay about how fruits can now get married. One of the comments on that entry points to Canadians For Equal Marriage, a site that enables you to contact MPs to express your support for same-sex marriages. Just don’t, you know, abuse it. I won’t have to, as I’m guessing that my MP is in the bag.
UPDATE: Here’s an interesting legal opinion on the Supreme Court decision from a Scottish lawyer. He’s found a nice quote about our Constitution in the decision, that the Charter is “a living tree which, by way of progressive interpretation, accommodates and addresses the realities of modern life.”
Devon 
