I want a relevant Canada that has a strong military so that we can participate in Peace MAKING in areas like Darfur.

And I want a strong justice system where criminals and young offenders get the punishments that they deserve and stay off the streets.
If some punks commit a gay bashing I would be more comfortable with them behind bars for 15-25 years or labeled dangerous offenders rather than getting house arrest for a year because they were minors.

I also do not want a government that spends money on ineptly or down right steals it. (Sponsorship Scandal,Gun Registry)

As for the relevance this has for LGBT voters concerned about Same Sex Marriage — the spectrum runs from the NDP (who went so far as to expel the sole MP in their ranks who voted against SSM), the Greens (whose policy documents are totally supportive – but who have no voting record), Bloc Quebecois (strong majority vote in favour of SSM), Liberal (majority voted in favour of SSM) leaving only the Conservative party (with a couple of honourable exceptions) voting against SSM. The spectrum is pretty much the same when it comes to votes on hate crimes / hate speech votes.

There is, and will probably always be, a sizable minority of the Canadian population who are “socially conservative”, but I see few, if any, indications that that minority is growing. If there was any significant growth potential there I am certain Mr. Harper’s own personal social conservatism would be front and center in the election campaign. That his biases in this area are completely hidden during the campaign, with muzzle orders out on his most paleo-conservative caucus members, is a pretty good indication that Canadians are NOT becoming more conservative.

But here in my own US state of Maryland, there are committed gay couples in long-term relationships who are severely disadvantaged by the lack of legal gay marriage in our state. I am excited for the gay cuuples in Massachusetts and California who have achieved the vital protections of marriage.

The only currency employers, corporations, insurance companies understand here in America (as evidenced by the lack of recognition of say New Jer
sey civil unions which the state of New Jersey expects all to abide by even
national US companies and US insurance companies doing business in New Jersey
using gay New Jersey employees in NJ civil unions)is that called Marriage.

Sorry, but even civil unions are ignored by them as niceties to be ignored. Full legal marriage cannot be lawfully ignored in the 2 states to get gay marriage.

In Maryland we have had to make up in a piecemeal fashion legislative requirements and protections that all straight marriads get immediately by law such as uninterfered with hospital visitation, medical decision making, we gays have had to fight for those things that are the automatic rights of straight marrieds.
Gay couples cannot leave property to surviving partner named in will. if one dies The surviving partner has to pay high taxes if Maryland real property going to survivor(land and house oo it) is valued over say I believe the current tax obligation is for over $650,000 and many properties in our state now very easily exceed that. Surviving husband or wife are of course exempt from any taxation in my state and can continue to dwell in their in the same house with no interference from tax authorities, Not so for gay couples.

Gay couples in my stste suffer in other ways, challenges from doctor’s offices if the non-biological mom or dad in a gay couple brings in the couples’ child. That parent is not recognized and can be barred from bringing the child in for doctor office visits.

Birth family of deceased partner can swoop down like vultures and kick the survivor out of house that was shared with partner and deceases family can cart off the dead person’s stuff even if it were shared between them when alive.

Then there is the horrible saga of a grieving survivor caught up in years of acrimmny and expensive litigation trying to stop his dead partner’s partner from relocation his partner’s body to another cemetery. All of these incidents and many more in my non-gay marriage state of Maryland.

Fully legal gay marriage on the both the state and federal level would make a huge pile of legal problems for US and foreign gay couples solvable or preventable (on federal level you gay Canadians who legally married to each other in Canada are not family to US customs agents and may not stand together as family and must be process separately on separate forms US Government recognizes no gay marriage from the 2 state where it is legal nor from any foreign country be it Canada, from Europe or from South Africa).

Even gay marriage is not on list of priorities or you don’t believe in it, I believe in it if the US gay couple is to adequately protect itself in ways that wills and piecemeal legislation cannot. Wills cannot provide for social secuity payments to surviving partner, cannot stop a nursing home or retirement home from barring a gay couple from rooming together and the list goes on and on for gay couples in the USA not legally permitted to marry each other.

Civil marriage as opposed to religious marriage is not cute or funny, it is serious business, it is not about social approval as it about myriad vital legal protections that can be attested to by any public official duly authorized by a state anywhere and anytime that meets the requirements of a particular US state.

_______________________________

… Last week I was enjoying Sarah Palin: Until she voiced her unschooled opinion on the medical matter of abortion procedures.

As a gay man with no children [a lot of gay people do have children] I nonetheless found *that* – moreso than her religiosity (and I am atheistically-inclined person)- troublesome. Mrs. Palin is not a qualified health professional [and, as such, has no business practising malpractise].

– end of segue —

As a Canadian, it terrifies me to imagine a Harper majority government elected in October followed by a McCain/Palin win in November. This concatenation of events will send North America into a ‘far-right’-wing spiral that will not abate for at least four(4) years [for the American readers who are unaware, current PM Mr. Harper enacted a law which entails a necessary fixed election date in the event of a majority government 'win' (and yes, with the other posters on this topic, I do concur that Mr. Harper violated the spirit of that law his government introduced in calling this election).

About me: I am a Moderate who does not approve of sanctioning gay marriage in either country [the gov't should stay outa the marriage business]. However, I am seriously worried that social policies affecting the Canadian social safety net (something important to many more Canadians than is gay marriage) will be aborted.

And watch out for anyone who claims the ‘military’ is a source of ‘pride’ that’s just pseudo-patriotic bullshit.

That said, our friends south of the border should take note, Canadians do not practice American conservatism, except for those few in the west and to a degree Mr. Harper. It is for this reason he continues to hover near a majority of the electorate but has yet to make it a reality in parliament.

Most Canadians feel the social issues such as abortion, capitol punishment or same sex marriage are now dealt with and any attempt to re-open them would bode ill for anyone trying to do so.