A 14-year-old video of Andrew Scheer is making the rounds online today.
It shows the Conservative Party leader speaking out against same-sex marriage during a debate in the House of Commons back in 2005.
The video was tweeted out by Ralph Goodale, Canada’s public safety minister.
To be a leader for all Canadians, the Conservative Party leader should now end his lifelong boycott of Pride events and explain whether he would still deny same-sex couples the right to marry, as he said in Parliament. pic.twitter.com/5WEyja6Ov5
— Ralph Goodale (@RalphGoodale) August 22, 2019
“To be a leader for all Canadians, (Scheer) should now end his lifelong boycott of Pride events and explain whether he would still deny same-sex couples the right to marry,” wrote Goodale.
Goodale challenged him to set the record straight at Pride in Ottawa this weekend, which is Scheer’s hometown.
Mr. Scheer has been an MP for 5,533 days, but hasn't found a single day to celebrate Pride, and thus defend EVERY Canadian's human rights. Where better to begin than this weekend at his very own hometown Pride in Ottawa?
— Ralph Goodale (@RalphGoodale) August 22, 2019
In the video, Scheer says same-sex partners can live together, love each other and have a monogamous relationship, but claims that they couldn’t be considered married.
“In that sense, they have many of the collateral features of marriage, but they do not have its inherent feature, as they cannot commit to the natural procreation of children,” he said.
“They cannot, therefore, be married.”
His speech was opposing the Civil Marriage Act, which the majority of Conservative MPs and a number of Liberal MPs voted against in 2005.
Since then, Scheer has softened his stance on the issue, supporting a move to erase the traditional definition of marriage from the Conservative Party of Canada’s policy book.
