Christian Heritage Party helps pass gay marriage

The Christian Heritage Party is a very right wing and socially conservative party that strongly opposes same-sex marriage. Yet ironically at least two of the parties candidates in the 2004 federal election helped ensure that same sex marriage would become law in Canada. I will point to two ridings. In Skeena-Bulkley Valley, NDPer Nathan Cullen won by 1272 votes, or 3.45% of the vote. The Christian Heritage Party candidate received 1408 votes or 3.82% of the vote. Had the Christian Heritage Party candidate not been in the race, the Tory incumbent clearly would have won by about 100 votes. The result was that ironically the presence of the Christian Heritage Party allowed for the election of a pro-gay marriage NDPer and the defeat of an anti-gay marriage Tory. This paved the way for one extra vote for gay marriage that would not have been there otherwise. It also would give the future Liberal-NDP coalition one extra vote without which the government would have fallen in May 2005 prior to the passing of the gay marriage bill, thus causing it to die on the order paper.

In Middlesex—Kent—Lambton Liberal incumbent Rose-Marie Ur won by 164 votes over Conservative Bev Shipley. The Christian Heritage Party candidate received 1,015 votes. Without the Christian Heritage Party, Tory Bev Shipley would have won by about 800 votes. Although Ur strongly opposes same-sex marriage, she (along with all Liberal gay marriage opponents who were still in the Liberal caucus) voted to support the government in May 2005 in the tied confidence vote that was broken in the government’s favour by Speaker Peter Milliken. Had Shipley been elected, he would have voted against the government and the government would have fallen and the same-sex marriage bill would have died on the order paper. Thus also in this riding the Christian Heritage Party helped ensure that same-sex marriage would become law in Canada.