More whipped cabinet ministers

Pat O’Brien, God bless his Irish soul, is now reporting that up to six whipped cabinet ministers have doubts about the upcoming vote on same-sex marriage.

Four more Cabinet ministers to struggle with same-sex bill

“Government backbencher Pat O’Brien, who is pushing for national referendum on same-sex marriage, says at least four other Cabinet ministers, along with Natural Resources Minister John Efford and junior Cabinet minister for Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario Joe Comuzzi, have serious reservations about supporting the upcoming same-sex marriage legislation and would vote against it if it were a truly free vote.”

The article also has a list of Liberal MPs who supported a three-year-old Alliance motion which re-affirmed the traditional definition of marriage.

The story also contains this laugh:

“Meanwhile, Nova Scotia Liberal Senator Terry Mercer described the idea of holding a national referendum as “silly,” adding that MPs are elected by Canadians and that they should take a clear stand on this issue.

“The referendum is a silly idea. Being elected to Parliament and government’s, being selected by the people, is all about leadership and leadership is all about making decisions and decisions aren’t always easy,” said Sen. Mercer who was appointed to the Senate by former prime minister Jean Chretien last year.”

Is it just me, or is the Hill Times reporter being more than a little coy in referring to Mercer’s appointment directly after quoting his little rant about being elected and selected by the people? Either way, well done Mr. F. Abbas Rana.

We also have the honourable Senator, a devout devout “practising Catholic,” delivering a stern lecture to the Pope:

“I’m a practising Catholic. I know how my church stands on this and, quite frankly, I don’t care how they stand on this because they’re wrong. It’s a question of human rights. The God I know, the Christ I follow doesn’t discriminate against people because of their sexual orientation and a number of the churches, including my own, should be very careful about criticizing. They should clean out their own houses first.”

Will someone please deny this guy communion? Where is Bishop Henry when you need him?