June 14th, 2005

Filed under:
Canada
11 Comments »

Referendum on Same-Sex Marriage

My colleague Rahel sent along this site running an e-referendum on same-sex marriage in Canada. Currently, the No vote is way out in front. This is no surprise, given that it’s run by Defend Marriage Project of United Families Canada. I do applaud the page itself–it appears to be bias-free:

Opinion polls show that a large majority of Canadians think this issue is so important that they want to vote on it directly. The Referendum Act of 1992 authorizes the Government to hold such a referendum. Even though tens of thousands of Canadians have personally appealed directly to the Prime Minister to hold a referendum on this question, he refuses.

I’m not sure this is an issue of enough importance to merit a referendum. I need to go consult the guidelines on the subject.

Comments: 11 Responses so far

Jen
June 14th, 2005
5:01 pm

The only issue I have with putting these things to a referendum, is that they’re a matter of civil rights. Should people have been allowed to vote for/against slavery? Women’s rights? Freedom of speech?

Not that I don’t trust the Canadian public, but I don’t want to let people vote on a Human Rights issue based on emotion (which is where I believe a lot of people are coming from on this issue).

[Reply]

Rob
June 14th, 2005
5:13 pm

I completely agree with Jen (except I don’t trust the Canadian public).

[Reply]

Stephen Pierzchala
June 14th, 2005
5:32 pm

How about the military same-sex marriage in Nova Scotia!

smp

[Reply]

donna
June 14th, 2005
5:50 pm

I think same-sex marriage should not only be legal, but mandatory!

Er, wait, that’s not right.

Yeah, I agree with Jen as well. The general public has never been known for being particularly willing to help stop oppression.

[Reply]

Chris
June 14th, 2005
8:26 pm

Still, we could probably raise a few eyebrows at their poll results seeing as how Fred Flintstone was able to vote 5 different times.

[Reply]

Jason
June 15th, 2005
7:09 am

It’s not surprising that the No vote is dominant, because people are most interested in referendums when they want to reverse the status quo, or in this case, the political momentum, which favours the adoption of gay marriage.

[Reply]

Imo
June 15th, 2005
9:05 am

you know another Rahel?? That’s weird.

[Reply]

Derek
June 17th, 2005
11:05 am

Representative governments are supposed to make difficult and sometimes controversial decisions. We could, I suppose, have a referendum about every bill in every parliament, legislature, and city council chamber, but it would make for a busy time for voters—maybe we’d need to vote every morning before going to work.

Referenda seem best suited to changing the mechanics of the political system: voting procedures (the recent BC-STV system), constitutional matters (Meech Lake), joining or leaving a federation (Quebec separatism, Newfoundland’s joining Canada). Of course, they often fail to make any change too. I’ve often wondered why Canada’s constitution in 1982 didn’t require a referendum.

Then again, it might have failed then too, and we’d still be stuck with the BNA Act. Politicians, with all their failings, do seem to get things done, and often enough when we’re asked to vote on change, the public sticks with the status quo. Is that so useful?

[Reply]

nevermind
June 19th, 2005
11:16 am

On the one hand, I’m not sure who decides that “Yes” votes were “fraudulent” (or “fradulent” for that matter). On the other, anyone can fake out these bogus online things.

“Because those voting ‘Yes’ began flooding this site with fradulent votes, voting on the National Marriage Referendum has been temporarily suspended.”

[Reply]

Grant Bray
June 20th, 2005
4:34 pm

A referendum on an issue dealing with minority rights is always a bad idea. If similar referendums had been held in the past … women would still be in the kitchen unable to vote. The aboriginals would have no right to vote. And the African population of North America would still be in the fields picking cotton for us nice white folk.

[Reply]

Michelle
June 21st, 2005
1:50 pm

Is there a legit place where I can vote YES YES YES to same sex marriage !
I am a “STRAIGHT” 41 year old woman who believes that two people in love should have the RIGHT to be married.
Let me know where I can place my vote.

[Reply]

Add a comment