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TAXPAYERS FUND SAME-SEX MARRIAGE COURT CHALLENGES
The notorious
federally-funded Court Challenges Program has generously provided
monies to the homosexual lobby group EGALE in its court interventions
in support of same-sex marriages in the provinces of Quebec,
Ontario and BC.
As if
this were not enough abuse of taxpayers' money, Mr. Justice
Harry LaForme of the Ontario Divisional Court (recently re-named
the Ontario Superior Court of Justice), who wrote the majority
decision in that case in support of same-sex marriages, was
apparently of the opinion that the homosexual activists challenging
traditional marriage should be financially rewarded by the
taxpayer for their efforts.
It is
not widely known that at the end of his judgment, Mr. Justice
LaForme ordered the Department of Justice to pay the legal
costs, on a "partial indemnity" basis, of the eight
homosexual/lesbian couples who launched the Court challenge.
Customarily, this would amount to awarding approximately two
thirds of their costs for the week-long hearing. This order
may result in the federal government being required to pay
anywhere from several hundred thousand dollars to as much
as $1 million in legal costs and expenses to the homosexual
activists.
The shrieks
of outrage by the homosexual activists and their lawyers when
Minister of Justice Cauchon announced he would appeal the
case on July 29, 2002, was certainly due in part to the fact
that they could see all this money flying out the window.
John Fisher, Executive Director of EGALE, complained, "This
announcement [of the appeal] means that these costly and time-consuming
proceedings must continue." (See Capital Xtra,
August 2, 2002.) The same-sex couples themselves complained
vociferously that the protracted legal battle will cost the
federal government possibly tens of millions of dollars and
years to settle, if the case goes to the Supreme Court of
Canada. It would not be cynical to assume it is not the taxpayers
the litigants are worried about! Rather, it is the possibility
that they might lose some, if not all, of their newly-found
wealth should a higher court decides against Mr. Justice LaForme's
order for costs.
To avoid
just such a calamity, on August 26, 2002, the same-sex couples
filed leave to cross-appeal on the federal government's appeal,
demanding that the federal government be required to pay their
substantial legal costs on the appeal. That is, they demanded
in their application that, if the Court grants the Attorney
General of Canada (Department of Justice) leave to appeal,
it must grant the appeal on the condition that the legal
costs of the applicants be paid by the Department.
Apparently
it is not only the Ontario same-sex challenge that is being
funded by the taxpayers. According to the Montreal Gazette
(Sept. 8, 2002), the Court Challenges program has also paid
$62,000 of the $180,000 fees incurred by the homosexual applicants
for their lawyers in the Quebec court challenge case. A further
$8,000 was raised by donations. So far the homosexual applicants
have paid only $20,000 from their own pockets with their lawyers
writing off the remainder of their fees.
If there
is any injustice in this case, it is directed at the Canadian
taxpayer, who is experiencing the indignity of being forced
to pay and pay and pay for court cases which seek to define
marriage as a union of same-sex couples. That is, the definition
of marriage as a union of a man and a woman, which is the
law in every nation of the world - with the single exception
of the Netherlands - and is supported by the beliefs of all
the major religions of the world is being challenged by activists
at our expense. Where do these homosexual activists find the
gall to demand that they be paid in their efforts to destroy
the fabric of Canadian society? This is just another example
of how they expect society to dance to their discordant tune.
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