Like his predecessor, Scheer has tried to avoid major social conservative issues like abortion and same-sex marriage. Harper said at the time a Conservative government would revisit the law if elected, but avoided reigniting the debate in almost a decade as prime minister. Scheer voted against the Civil Marriages Act in 2005, as did the vast majority of then-leader Stephen Harper’s Conservative caucus. The Conservatives also released a list of Liberals - including Goodale - who either opposed same-sex marriage or had voted against it in the past.īut the Scheer campaign did not say whether his personal beliefs on same-sex marriage had evolved, nor did they respond to the question of Scheer’s continued refusal to participate in Pride parades.Įarlier this month, a Conservative spokesman told the Canadian Press that the party has a “proud history of fighting for the rights and protection of all Canadians, including those in the LGBTQ community, at home and abroad.” In the speech, Scheer said the most important thing to society is raising children because society’s “very survival requires it.”īrock Harrison, the campaign’s communications director, said Scheer “supports same-sex marriage as defined in law and as prime minister will, of course, uphold it.” If Bill C-38 passes, governments and individual Canadians will be forced to call a tail a leg, nothing more, but that is not inconsequential, for its effect on marriage, such an integral building block of our society, would have far-reaching effects.” “Just because a tail is called a leg does not make it a leg. “How many legs would a dog have if you counted the tail as a leg? The answer is just four,” Scheer said, paraphrasing a quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln. Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale released a video of the speech Thursday that shows Scheer, then 25, explaining why he opposed the Civil Marriage Act, which legalized same-sex unions in Canada. OTTAWA-The Liberals are challenging Andrew Scheer to end his “boycott” of gay pride events after unearthing a 2005 speech the Conservative leader made suggesting same-sex marriage cannot be considered marriage at all.