OTTAWA—The Liberals are challenging Andrew Scheer to end his “boycott” of gay pride events after unearthing a 2005 speech the Conservative leader made suggesting same-sex marriage cannot be considered marriage at all.Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale released a video of the speech Thursday that shows Scheer, then 25, explaining why he opposed the Civil Marriage Act, which legalized same-sex unions in Canada.“How many legs would a dog have if you counted the tail as a leg? The answer is just four,” Scheer said, paraphrasing a quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln.“Just because a tail is called a leg does not make it a leg. If Bill C-38 passes, governments and individual Canadians will be forced to call a tail a leg, nothing more, but that is not inconsequential, for its effect on marriage, such an integral building block of our society, would have far-reaching effects.”In the speech, Scheer said the most important thing to society is raising children because society’s “very survival requires it.”“Homosexual unions are by nature contradictory to this … Two members of the same sex may use their God-given free will to engage in acts, to cohabit and to own property together,” Scheer continued.“In that sense, they have many of the collateral features of marriage, but they do not have its inherent feature, as they cannot commit to the natural procreation of children. They cannot therefore be married.”In response, the Conservative campaign accused the Liberals of “desperation” and attempting to distract from their government’s record by dredging up Scheer’s comments from 2005. Brock Harrison, the campaign’s communications director, said Scheer “supports same-sex marriage as defined in law and as prime minister will, of course, uphold it.”The Conservatives also released a list of Liberals — including Goodale — who either opposed ...
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