[Stephen Dame]

Nice Right hook.... But why does gay rights always become a issue...? Just let people do what they want...

Agreed. Preventing gays from getting married and pledging to remove a Supreme Court question on constitutionality, while also claiming to not recognize rulings that read gay rights into The Charter is not letting people do what they want. It's preventing them from doing what they want.

I don't think Harper is avoiding social issues, I think he is concentrating on the ones that matter, like health care.

Gay rights IMO is among the most important issues facing us right now. It's one thing to crow about being a country that recognizes and cherishes plurality, tolerance and acceptance, and it's another to actually go about doing it.

Enshrining in legislation the tolerance of ALL people, no matter what race, colour, ethnicity, or sexual orientation would further establish Canada as the type of nation we so proudly claim to be. Limiting gay rights, continuing with oxy-moronic "seperate but equal" charter rights, makes us hypocritical.

I don't think Harper is a intolerant monster. I've met him a few times and he's actually been more charming than his cardboard exterior suggested. However, I truly believe that Martin Luther King's quote applies to him:

"And while he may eventually realize the error of his way, an intolerant man believes everyone should have their place in society. And that they should stay in it."