Delegates to the this convention overwhelming approved policy resolution 92 or P-92. It reads:
“A Conservative Government will support legislation defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.”
Leader Stephen Harper said in his speech last night he would introduce legislation to achieve that effect if Conservatives form a government.
Electronic voting counters measured 74 % of delegates in favour of such a motion while 25 per cent were opposed.
The organizers flashed up a regional breakdown but it was up there too briefly for me to make notes. I was only able to note that 41.6 per cent of Quebec delegates voted against this motion but just 26.7 per cent of Ontario delegates voted against this motion.
Traditional political calculus in Canada holds that a party must win Ontario and/or Quebec to have any chance of forming a government.
Conservative MPs Belinda Stronach and Gerald Keddy — two of four MPs among the 90 plus member Tory caucus who support extending same-sex marriage rights — spoke to the plenary arguing that this issue was dividing Canadians and not uniting them. They suggested that Conservative electoral success is being hurt by adopting this position.
Craig Chandler, a delegate from the riding of Calgary Southeast, spoke in favour of the motion saying, “We are Conservatives. We have have values. We have to communicate to Canadians that we have integrity. It’s right and wrong, not right and popular.”