15-point lobbying campaign” this month costing “tens of thousands of dollars

Charles McVetym president of Canadian Christian College has told the Hill Times ‘we’ will start a 15 point campaign starting September 18th, targeting every MP in regards to Stephen Harper’s decision to put the re-opening of Bill C-38 up for a vote in the fall session of parliament.

This vote, however, will not necessarily lead to a repeal of the existing law, which came into effect after the passage of bill C-38 in June 2005, making Canada the fourth country in the world to recognize gay marriage, after the Netherlands (2001), Belgium (2003) and Spain (2005). The Conservative’s 2006 election platform promised that if the House adopts a resolution to reopen the debate, “the government will introduce legislation to restore the traditional definition of marriage while respecting existing same-sex marriages.”

‘We’ are the Defend Marriage Coalition, a group of 13 religious advocacy groups who cannot let this go.

So, who are the 13 groups?

And where did they get 10′s of thousands of dollars?

And why aren’t they concerned with other ethical issues like 450 million Canadian dollars going into a White House slush fund as part of the Softwood Lumber Deal? Health care waits?

Softwood lumber, waiting and trade ethics aren’t sexy.

While I find myself weary that the media gives Mr. McVety the attention, the reality is he makes great copy and if we are going to have our own home grown religious right, we want them in the open. And that is what Mr. McVety plans – prayer meetings in front of every MP constituency office in the country.

I think someone should keep track of that claim.
I think someone should keep track of how many media gigs Mr. McVety manages to snag.
When Charles McVety chose to challenge four ridings in August with sitting Conservative MP’s that did not share his beliefs on this issue he told the media he had 4 hundred thousand voter names.

I ask again.
Where did he get them?

Here is the list of the 13 groups Mr. McVety is setting lose on this issue. Again. You’ll notice a few key groups that are respected in Canada as able to speak clearly for concerned people of faith are not on the list. They had their say before Bill C-38 passed, made their peace and moved on to other ethical issues that need to be addressed in Canada.

At least MP’s are warned. They know what is going to be thrown at them regarding this issue. Hopefully they’ll be able to withstand the onslaught and get about the business of governing.

REAL Women of Canada – formed in 1983, modelled after Phyllis Schlafy’s Eagle Forum in the US. REAL stands for Realistic, Equal, Active, for Life. Membership is 25.00/yr. Every minister, priest, rabbi and religious leader in Canada will (or has) received this letter in their inbox or mail. (.pdf)

Campaign Life -took me to Lifesite News, a Conservative Catholic news site in New York state. The interview with leader Jim Hughes says he has been active in the pro-life movement for 25 years. The organization has been accused of using entryism and supports the Family Coalition Party of Ontario.

Canada Family Action Coalition – formed in 1997, this group believes Canada needs Judeo-Christian Values restored. The vice president is Charles McVety, and it is headed by Brian Rushfeldt in Calgary. The Coalition is best known for it’s boycott call of Famous Players theatres in 2005, after the chain ran a 10 second ad urging viewers to contact their MP’s in support of Bill C-38, paid for by Canadians for Equal Marriage and  a boycott of Royal Bank of Canada ‘s Rainbow sticker program in 2004. 
Mr. Rushfeldt’s bio states he was a dean of a bible college.
Does anyone known when and where?

Catholic Civil Rights League founded in 1985. A lay organization with a membership fee of 25.00/yr, formed to promote the faithful expression of the Catholic Church in public affairs for the renewal of Canada.
Question: Is this group associated or affiliated with the US Catholic League?

Institute for Canadian Values was founded in March 2005 at Canadian Christian College and hosted disgraced former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed Jr. at a Toronto conference in 2005. The head of this neo-conservative think tank is Joseph C. Ben-Ami,  a former Director of Government Relations and Diplomatic Affairs for the Jewish human rights organization, B’nai Brith Canada and is on the advisory board of Jews against anti-Christian Defamation, founded in March of 2005 and headed by Don Feder in the US. Membership in the Institute for Canadian Values is 35.00/yr and is based in Ottawa.

Enshrine Marriage Canada set up in 2004, and appears to be based in Toronto. The group calls itself secular, and states it’s concern that a change in the definition of traditional marriage will weaken Canadian society. The group is best known for it’s Nordic poll in 2004. The groups media contact is listed as William D. Gairdner.

United Families Canada The Canadian branch of United Families International. based in Aetna Alberta. This group appears to be  affiliated with The Family Action Council, and the World Family Alliance.
United Families International is an abstinence group based in the US. All the petition websites for each country are the same. Jill Cahoon is listed as the Canadian President of United Families Canada.
Question: The World Family Policy Centre in Switzerland is an offshoot of Brigham Young University – (Mormon) Is this the group mentioned in this January 2005 Guardian article?

Marriage Canada - A Yahoo  French discussion board. Marriage Canada was founded by David Mainse of 100 Huntley Street, Crossroads Centre based in Burlington Ontario. Rev. Mainse also formed the Crossroads Television System.   CTS runs original programming as well as bought media from US televangelists, similar to Vision TV and Miracle Channel. David Mainse is a Pentecostal minister.

Equipping Christians for the Public Square founded by Tristan Emmanuel. Ron Dart, of  Vive le Canada has done an excellent job of tying in many of the groups that have aligned in Canada, and Emmanuel’s ties to hard core identity, Republican and Zionist groups in the US. I have highlighted Tristan Emmanuel before, even a cursory look at his site’s language indicate his alignment with religious culture warriors in the US. Emmanuel has left the Presbyterian Church and joined the umbrella evangelical organization of Canadian Christian College. 

Preserve Marriage Canada (English and French) states it is not affiliated with a political or religious group, but links to Enshrine Marriage Canada and Focus on the Family (Canadian affiliate of Jame’s Dobson – US) Americans United to Preserve Marriage is in affiliation with Focus on the Family. Preserve Marriage Canada lists Louis DeSerres in Montreal as National Director. 

United Mothers and Fathers is a one click lobbyist website with about five petitions, at least one of which that comes from Restore Marriage Canada.
It appears to be based in Lethbridge, Alberta, claims the goal is to send out 6 hundred thousand letters by year’s end. Michele Dow as is listed  as the director on one of the petitions found at The Black Kettle, an Alberta evangelical blog. United Mothers and Fathers also has a one click lobby website called Child Safe. One of the sponsors is the Miracle Channel, the Canadian equivalent of TBN.
Morton is an American who became a Canadian citizen in 1991, he was a member of the Reform Party and is now the sitting  Conservative MLA for Foothills-Rocky View. The Alert is regarding his private members bill, Bill 208 – Protection of Freedoms.

Equiteé-Famille was formed in April 2003 and is run by Michel Lizotte. The website states it is not a religious site. It links up to United Mothers and Fathers, Preserve Marraige Canada, and The World Family Alliance of United Families International.

Association des parents catholiques du Québec This one is a bit odd, it’s under reconstruction, but has some archives. Jean Morse-Chevrier is listed as the provincial director. The Catholic Parents Association was formed in 1996. My French isn’t good enough to dig without a translator.

Mr. McVety has been known to push the limits, and my first question is:

1) Are these sites currently listed at DefendMarriage aware they are being listed as part of the current re-vote campaign? A couple of these sites have not been updated in quite awhile.

Which leads to:

2) This one click petition site – United Mothers and Fathers out of Alberta is puzzling. Is this where a lot of the email MP’s received during the vote on Bill C-38 came from? 
I wasn’t able to complete a whois search on this site. A tech friend did, but he is not able to say whether this is the registrar information or the company.

Strategic Industries                              
8665 W. Flamingo Road,  Suite 2000                
Las Vegas NV 89147 United States 

3) Where are the Exclusive Brethren?
The Vancouver Sun broke the story of their involvement just over a year ago, launching a massive campaign of lobbying MP’s.  They are currently under investigation in Australia and New Zealand for similar tactics.

4) Why have so many of the named leaders of these sites been listed at Proud to be Canadian? 
It is entirely possible the owner of Proud to be Canadian added them to his forum without their knowledge, it is a private site out of BC and that happens a lot, none of them have made entries with the exception of an article from William D. Gairdner of Enshrine Marraige and Joseph Ben-Ami of the Institute for Canadian Values. Given the list of Canadian and US columnists, was this their decision?