Andy Scott

For the past 15 years, Andy Scott has been a Liberal MP from Fredericton. He chose not to run in this last election. Rather, he is now heading up the Social Policy Research Network at UNB. His office is around the corner from mine. We met for the first time this morning. I had known that he once did graduate work here. I knew he was retiring from Parliament. I knew he was a Liberal. What I didn't know was his role in the issue of same-sex marriage. Read on.

While casually chatting about what brought me/us here, etc. I discovered that he, in fact, had at one time been the chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights. It was to this committee that, in 2002, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada directed the question of same-sex marriage. It was as chair of this committee that he broke a tie in a vote on the issue:

"The first signs of movement in Ottawa came on June 12 when the Standing Committee for Justice and Human Rights barely voted to recommend that Parliament accept the Ontario decision. The tie-breaking vote for equal marriage came from the chair of the committee, Liberal MP Andy Scott, in a process that included the replacement of opponents to same-sex marriage with more agreeable M.P.s.

While we watched Mr. Scott on live television, we applauded the New Brunswick Member of Parliament as he spoke about being "informed" by the recent court decisions and the testimony about marriage heard by the committee. Mr. Scott's public support was an important and significant step forward. Since Mr. Scott's lead, other M.P.s have been listening and learning, building consensus for the final approval of same-sex marriage in Parliament." Source

So, we're chatting away - talking about immigration, same-sex marriage, the fact that he was once attacked in his F'ton office over the issue, religion, the Charter, Section 2, Section 15... and he goes over to a stack of framed materials. He is just getting settled in his office and they were not yet hanging. Then, he pulls out a framed copy of the Charter and gives it to me. To keep. I had a copy on my chalkboard in Saint Paul. It's in a box somewhere. But, it isn't framed and it wasn't from Andy Scott. I am so tickled.

Then, I told him that I'd like to talk with him about the war resisters sometime. He responded by telling me that for a while he was sending one post card a day on the issue. He said there was a time that he thought, "Why should I keep doing this?" And, he realized that if, as a member of Parliament, he wasn't willing, why should someone not in Parliament do so.

This has been a very cool morning!