Canada Urged to Hold Referendum on Gay Marriage

[Khephra]

Canada Urged to Hold Referendum on Gay Marriage

By REUTERS


Filed at 4:42 p.m. ET

NORTH BAY, Ontario (Reuters) - In a bid to limit the political fallout from the Canadian government's intention to legalize gay marriage, some legislators suggested on Wednesday that the issue be put to a national referendum.

more...............................

http://nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-canada-gay.html

[silverweb]

1. Bad idea.

That re-entrenches the issue of fundamental civil rights as a political football, subject to the whims of the dominant party.

If equal civil rights for everyone is a basic tenet of the Canadian constitution, then gay marriage (or civil union, whatever - let's not quibble about semantics here) has to be and remain fully legal.

The United States claims that equal rights for all is a keystone of its existence, but one look at my countrymen proves to me that we still have a lonnnnnnng way to go before we walk the walk instead of just talking the talk. (Nightmarish visions of a certain simian's flapping lips spring immediately to mind.)

I hope our Canadian neighbors see through to the real issue at stake and reaffirm their open and tolerant nature.

[TrogL]

2. Chretien said this was nonsense

Minority rights are not decided by the majority.

[Maple]

3. Yup

Already ruled out.

No referendums on minority rights.

Ain't happenin'

[Lisa]

4. we didn't get rid of the death penalty with a referendum ...

It came down to a free vote in the House of Commons. (At the time, the polls showed a majority in favour of keeping capital punishment ... over the past few decades, after abolition, support for reinstating it has dropped.)

If the MPs voted today, it would probably be close (given the last set of numbers I saw in the Globe and Mail) but I suspect same-sex marriage would go through ... the Justice Minister is firmly behind it, and the PM is supposed to do a speech on this soon. When he gets fired up, he can get really passionate.

BC had a referendum to decide on minority rights (First Nations treaties) -- it turned into a total fiasco, with large numbers of voters abstaining in protest.

[xchrom]

5. referendum = mob rule

i live in cali and have learned to hate direct democracy.
it's not possible to feed to the voters the necessary info to make reasoned decisions. it's all based on short synopsis and propaganda.
plus only the truly motivated turn out for elections like these -- it's never a realistic version of the ''will of the people''.
and i don't believe in strict ''majority rule'' -- i don't even much believe in democracy anymore.