Most Canadians are Christian. Why can't Andrew Scheer be？
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Summary
Andrew Scheer's comments on gay marriage in the House of Commons 15 years ago have been taken as evidence that he is unfit to be prime minister. Why is a politician who has a religious or spiritual opinion on a controversial issue such as gay marriage not fit to be in politics?
Transcript
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I come with breaking news that will shock you to your very core and rattle the heart of the country.
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Nearly 15 years ago, Andrew Scheer delivered a speech in the House of Commons in which
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he defended a traditional definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman.
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Okay, well, maybe it's not all that shocking that 15 years ago someone stood up and shared a belief
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that millions of Canadians share. Regardless of what you think about marriage, regardless of what
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Andrew Scheer thinks about marriage, it shouldn't be radical that in 2005 when Parliament voted on
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this and that vote was very close that a Conservative MP at the time who voted against legalizing gay
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marriage in Canada had a position that was against gay marriage in Canada. But the problem is that
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this is now coming up as though it's revolutionary and more importantly coming up now as though it's
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relevant. Liberal MP Ralph Goodale posted a video of this speech by Andrew Scheer, at the time a young
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Conservative member of Parliament, and the media ran with this basically making the point that Andrew
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Scheer is unfit to be Prime Minister because he made this proclamation in 2005. Now I'm not here to
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litigate or legislate the idea of gay marriage. I support legalized marriage equality in Canada. I
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don't think that a religious or spiritual definition of marriage should be the law of the land. But the
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point is this was an issue that was vigorously debated in Canada and there were people that came
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down on both sides of it. There were Conservatives that supported gay marriage, there were Liberals that
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opposed gay marriage, and that's why that vote in 2005 was a close one. Moreover, Ralph Goodale,
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himself, voted twice against legalizing gay marriage when it came up in 1999 and a few years
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prior to that as well. Two votes where a Liberal dominated Parliament voted against legalizing gay
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marriage. This is an issue in Canada that came up a number of times before it ultimately became
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the law of the land. But let's look at the facts here. According to Statistics Canada and more recently
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a Pew Research study, the number of people in this country who identify as Christian specifically
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is the majority. According to census data, there are about 22 million people in Canada,
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so just about two-thirds of the country who identify as Christian. And when you look at the
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denominational breakdowns of that and you take out the Anglican Church, which has a mixed position
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on gay marriage, and the United Church, which is pro-gay marriage, you're left with just shy of 20
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million Christian Canadians that are part of denominations that oppose gay marriage. When you
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look at other religions in Canada, Jews, Muslims, the Abrahamic faiths, by and large, oppose gay
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marriage. You have to assume that not everyone who's in one of these faiths has the same position on
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the issue, but regardless, you're left with at least half of the country that is part of a religion
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that has the same view of marriage that Andrew Scheer expressed in 2005. So why is a politician who has
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that view unworthy of being a politician? The problem is that the Liberal Party of Canada and
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the mainstream media want to have 100% unanimity on their positions. They don't think there should
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be any debate on any issue in this country that they view as being too contentious. Justin Trudeau not
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just said that the Liberal Party is a pro-choice party, but said that no single person who is pro-life
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is worthy or deserving or allowed to be a member of the Liberal Caucus, a Liberal candidate.
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And what the Liberals are trying to do now is basically say that no one who believes in the
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definition of marriage that Andrew Scheer espoused in 2005, despite his repeated claims that he is not
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going to do anything about this issue, should be allowed to be in politics. This type of viewpoint is
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not just insulting to Canadians of faith, but it should be to all Canadians because the Liberals
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are saying that their belief is the only one that deserves to be in the public square. And the fact
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that they're doing this to a devout Catholic is relevant because I don't think they would ever dare
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to say this to a Muslim who most likely would adhere to the same position. The Liberals don't take aim at
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pro-life or anti-gay marriage Muslims in the same way they do at white Christians espousing these views,
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because it's politically saleable to attack Christians and Christian Orthodoxy in a way that
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it isn't with other faiths. Religion may be on the decline in the West, and traditional religious
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orthodoxy may well be under a new level of scrutiny that it hasn't before. But that doesn't mean that
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people that have traditional religious views should be shoved out of the public sphere.
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Remember, the Liberals are the party that says that government needs to reflect the diversity
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of the country it represents. Why not the diversity of ideas?
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This is precisely why True North is going to be aggressively covering this election, covering the
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stories the mainstream media isn't, covering perspectives the mainstream media isn't. But we also
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are doing this without the money the mainstream media has. If you can chip in to support our election
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coverage fund, please do. There's a link in the description box. All donations are tax deductible.