The Tories go into reruns

Stephane Dion, in his first savvy move as Liberal leader, is giving the Liberal party a free vote on same-sex marraige.

By allowing a free vote on this ridiculous motion to reopen debate, Dion allows his social conservatives to air their troglodytic consciences while affirming his intention to whip any subsequent vote if by some mischance this bloody thing passes. He treads lightly for now, while forthrightly affirming his support for equal marraige when it counts.

One of things that has driven me batty about this whole debate since it started, incidentally, has been the insistence of more or less everyone to debate the damn thing in terms of abstractions. Every now and again, though, someone slips and we get a picture of what the definition of marraige means in concrete terms to them. Charles McVety, president of the "Canada Family Action Coalition" gives us just such a picture about two-thirds of the way through the article:

Charles McVety, president of the Canada Family Action Coalition, said he opposes the third part of the motion that respects existing gay marriages but understands that it was added for legal reasons.

Let us be clear about this. A man who heads an organization calling itself a Family Action Coalition is arguing for the break-up of more than 12000 families. The parliament of Canada, if we are to take Mr. McVety at his word, ought to be issuing divorce decrees by the gross to people who don't want them. And the man has the gall to call himself "pro-family."

So good for Stephane Dion for avoiding the obvious pitfall for him in this moronic rerun of a debate. With any luck, it will be behind us for good by the end of the day.