MPs against gay marriage

Curious about your local candidate’s stance on the issue? Check out this site, highlighted today in the Globe and Mail for “endorsing” candidates who are strongly opposed to gay marriage and who – presumably – would vote to overturn it, given the opportunity.

Lists like this one creep up from time to time. When they have a witch-hunt quality to them (in other words, when a group opposed to something publishes a list of MPs who support it, or vice-versa, in order to attack them), they make me very, very uncomfortable. For instance, the CIC’s infamous grading of federal MPs is merely a list giving high scores to anti-Israel MPs and attacking any Jewish or pro-Israel MPs. (For those who are interested, the CJC has published an issues guide that contains an overview of key issues for the Jewish community and a list of questions to put to local candidates, but doesn’t actually endorse any candidate or party).

Attacking MPs is one thing. Promoting them, however, is another. When candidates or MPs declare themselves to be in favour or opposed to something, then I don’t have a problem with that.

But this anti-gay marriage site is sort of a grey area: The coalition is endorsing certain candidates, but it’s hard to tell whether the candidates have given their endorsement to the coalition. Furthermore, many of us will view the site as a sort of “who not to vote for” guide – precisely the opposite intention of its creators. Nonetheless, if you’re concerned about equal rights for all Canadian citizens, I suppose it’s worth a look.