Introduction

This is an updated version of a list printed in the April edition of C.I. on page 18. The central idea we are putting forward is that in an election, Catholics should not vote for a party, but for or against candidates who present themselves in individual ridings. In this case, we urge you to vote for a candidate who upholds traditional marriage, whether he or she is Liberal or Conservative. If your sitting MP supports same-sex "marriage" (SSM), vote against him or her. This is the only way to overthrow anti-life, anti-family MPs.

The list of 89 (out of 308 MPs in the House of Commons) names below are those of Catholic Members of Parliament (MPs), together with their stands for (Yes) or against (No) the government's same-sex marriage legislation, Bill C-38.

Note about the 89 members

The number 89 is incomplete. The reason is Quebec. Out of 75 Quebec MPs, five are not Catholic. Out of the remaining 70, we have traced 16 MPs as being Catholics. That leaves 44 MPs. Of these, it may well be that all would acknowledge being baptized Catholics, but we have not been able to verify this. If we add 44 of them to our 89 MPs already designated as Catholic, the total would be 133 Catholic MPs. All 44 have to be added to the pro-SSM partisans.

The division would be as follows:

Against SSM (No) In favour Question mark

37 51 2

April 12 vote 37 (40%) 53 (60%) -

(The two with question marks voted yes.)

Add Remaining

Quebec MPs - 44 - ___

37 (27.6%) 97 (72.4%) -

April 12, 2005 vote

The column "April 12" refers to a proposed amendment to Bill C-38 put forward by the Conservative party on that date, which specified that marriage must continue to be defined as a union between a man and a woman, to the exclusion of all others. A checkmark (Ö) indicates that the MP voted for the amendment, and thus, is in support of traditional marriage. An X-mark indicates that the MP voted against the amendment, and thus, is in favour of same-sex "marriage."

There may still be a few inaccuracies, either because of omission (more Catholic MPs) or because of wrong information. We request that our readers send us any corrections they see necessary . Two changes have become necessary as of June 17, 2005. First: we had included Bev Deslardais (NDP -Churchill) as a Catholic MP. Ms. Desjarlais is not Catholic, though she is opposed to changing the definition of marriage; she abstained from both votes. Also, on June 6 2005, Pat O'Brien (London-Fanshawe) switched affiliations, leaving the Liberal Party to sit as an Independent.

May 4, 2005 vote

The column "May 4" refers to Second Reading of Bill C-38, which wound up passing by a margin of 164-137. In this column, a checkmark (Ö) indicates the MP voted against Bill C-38 and thus, is in favour of traditional marriage. Conversely, an X-mark indicates the MP voted for Bill C-38, and thus, is in favour of same-sex "marriage." One can see that in every case where an MP voted on April 12, he or she voted the same way on May 4. A bit of good news was among those MPs who were absent or abstained from voting on April 12. In those cases, the MPs either abstained again (Bev Desjarlais) or voted in favour of traditional marriage (Paul Zed, Robert Bouchard, Odina Desrochers and Carolyn Parrish). This may point out the importance and effectiveness of lobbying efforts aimed at those MPs "sitting on the fence."

Grave offence

SSM is a grave offence against God, yet many Catholic MPs intend to vote for it, thereby cutting themselves off from the Catholic community. Mr. Paul Martin has foolishly said, "If I have to choose between the Church and the Charter, I'll choose the Charter."

That is why this chart is unsettling. If we exclude Quebec altogether, we reduce the number of Catholic MPs (after April 12) as follows:

Against SSM (No) In favour

29 42

In other words, 60 per cent of Canadian Catholic MPs outside Quebec reject Catholic teaching.

Within Quebec, the number of dissenting MPs is 93%.

For Ontario, the division is as follows:

Opposed to SSM In favour

17 (36%) 30 (64%)

We want to encourage all our readers to write or fax the MPs who are our fellow Catholics. Our bishops from coast to coast have written pastoral letters; Catholic Insight has published many articles - see our SSM Index in the May edition.

Let your MP know that if he/she chooses same-sex "marriage" over the Church, you will choose someone else over him or her in the next election.

Encourage those now opposed to stand fast.

Pray for them.

Conclusion

It seems unlikely that current MPs are about to change their minds. The only solution, therefore, is for Catholics to exercise their ballots at election time. If you have an MP who supports traditional marriage, vote for him or her; if you have an MP who supports SSM, vote against that candidate. Ω

CATHOLIC MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT

AND Same-Sex "Marriage"

NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR: SSM APRIL 12 MAY 4

Doyle, Norman (C - Saint John's East) NO Ö Ö

Hearn, Loyola (C - St. John's South) NO Ö Ö

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND:

MacAulay, Lawrence (L - Cardigan) NO Ö Ö

McGuire, Joe (L - Egmont) YES X X

Murphy, Shawn (L - Charlottetown) YES X X

NOVA SCOTIA:

Casey, Bill (C - Cumberland) NO Ö Ö

Regan, Geoff (L - Halifax West) YES X X

Savage, Michael (L - Dartmouth) YES X X

Thibault, Robert (L - West Nova) YES X X

NEW BRUNSWICK:

Bradshaw, Claudette (L - Moncton) YES X X

LeBlanc, Dominic (L - Beauséjour) ? X X

Zed, Paul (L - Saint John) NO ABSENT Ö

QUEBEC:

Andre, Guy (BQ - Berthier) YES X X

Asselin, Gerard (BQ - Manicougan) NO Ö Ö

Bachand, Claude (BQ - Saint-Jean) YES X X

Bellavance, Andre (BQ - Richmond) YES X X

Bonsant, France (BQ - Compton) YES X X

Bouchard, Robert (BQ - Chicoutimi) NO ABSENT Ö

Boulianne, Marc (BQ - Megantic) YES X X

Cardin, Serge (BQ - Sherbrooke) NO Ö Ö

Desrochers, Odina (BQ - Lotbinière) NO ABSENT Ö

Dion, Stephane (L - Saint Laurent) YES X X

Frulla, Liza (L - Jeanne-Le Ber) YES X X

Gaudet, Roger (BQ - Montcalm) NO Ö Ö

Lapierre, Jean C. (L - Outremont) YES X X

Martin, Paul (L - La Salle-Emard) YES X X

Pacetti, Massimo (L - Saint Leonard .) NO Ö Ö

Pettigrew, Pierre (L - Papineau) YES X X

Robillard, Lucienne (L - Westmount) YES X X

Scarpaleggia, Francis (L - Lac-Saint-Louis) NO Ö Ö

ONTARIO:

Angus, Charlie (NDP - Timmins) YES X X

Augustine, Jean (L - Etobicoke-Lakeshore) YES X X

Belanger, Mauril (L - Ottawa-Vanier) YES X X

Bevilacqua, Maurizio (L - Vaughan) YES X X

Bonin, Raymond (L - Nickel Belt) NO Ö Ö

Boschoff, Ken (L -Thunder Bay) NO Ö Ö

Boudria, Don (L - Glengarry-Prescott) YES X X

Brown, Bonnie (L - Oakville) YES X X

Bulte, Sarmite (L - Parkdale-High Park) YES X X

Carrie, Colin (C - Oshawa) NO Ö Ö

Carroll, Aileen (L - Barrie) YES X X

Catterall, Marlene (L - Ottawa, W-Nepean) YES X X

Comartin, Joe (NDP - Windsor-Tecumseh) YES X X

Comuzzi, Joe (L - Thunder Bay) YES X X

Cullen, Roy (L - Etobicoke North) NO Ö Ö

DeVillers, Paul (L - Simcoe North) YES X X

Fontana, Joe (L - London North Centre) YES X X

Gallant, Cheryl (C-Renfrew-Pembroke) NO Ö Ö

Godbout, Marcel (L-Ottawa-Orleans) YES X X

Guarnieri, Albina (L - Mississauga E) YES X X

Ianno, Tony (L - Trinity-Spadina) YES X X

Lastewka, Walt (L - St. Catharines) NO Ö Ö

Lauzon, Guy (C - Stormont-Dundas .) NO Ö Ö

Lee, Derek (L - Scarborough-Rouge River) NO Ö Ö

Longfield, Judi (L - Whitby-Oshawa) NO Ö Ö

Maloney, John (L - Welland) NO Ö Ö

Marleau, Diane (L - Sudbury) YES X X

Martin, Tony (NDP - Sault Ste. Marie) YES X X

McGuinty, David (L - Ottawa-South) YES X X

McTeague, Dan (L - Pickering-Scarb-E) NO Ö Ö

Minna, Maria (L - Beaches - East York) YES X X

Nicholson, Rob (C-Niagara Falls) NO Ö Ö

O'Brien, Pat (Ind.- London-Fanshawe) NO Ö Ö

Parrish, Carolyn (Ind - Miss-Erindale) NO ABSENT Ö

Poilievre, Pierre (C - Nepean-Carleton) NO Ö Ö

Rota, Anthony (L - Nip-Timiskaming) YES X X

St. Amand, Lloyd (L - Brant) YES X X

St. Denis, Brent (L - Algoma-Manitoulin) YES X X

Sgro, Judy (L - York West) YES X X

Silva, Mario (L - Davenport) YES X X

Szabo, Paul (L - Misssissauga South) NO Ö Ö

Telegdi, Andrew (L - Kitchener-Waterloo) YES X X

Torsney, Paddy (L - Burlington) YES X X

Valeri, Tony (L - Hamilton-Stoney Creek) YES X X

Volpe, Joseph (L - Eglinton-Lawrence) YES X X

Wappel, Tom (L - Scarborough SW) NO Ö Ö

Wrzesnewskyj, Borys (L- Etobicoke Ctr) YES X X

MANITOBA:

Martin, Pat (NDP - Winnipeg Centre) YES X X

Simard, Raymond (L - Saint Boniface) NO Ö Ö

SASKATCHEWAN:

Goodale, Ralph (L - Wascana) YES X X

Scheer, Andrew (C - Regina-Qu'Appelle) NO Ö Ö

ALBERTA:

Anders, Rob (C - Calgary West) NO Ö Ö

Benoit, Leon (C - Vegreville-Wainwright) NO Ö Ö

Kenney, Jason (C - Calgary Southeast) NO Ö Ö

Rajotte, James (C - Edmonton-Leduc) NO Ö Ö

BRITISH COLUMBIA:

Cummins, John (C - Delta-Richmond-East) NO Ö Ö

Fry, Hedy (L - Vancouver Centre) YES X X

Martin, Keith (L-Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca) YES X X

NWT, YUKON AND NUNAVUT:

Blondin-Andrew, Ethel (L - W. Arctic) YES X X