LGBTQ minister Pascale St-Onge to make history with parental leave

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She and her pregnant spouse might be quickly welcoming a child in “an unbelievable expertise that many people undergo and that some take as a right.”

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The Canadian Press

Michel Saba

Printed Sep 28, 2024  •  3 minute learn

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OTTAWA — Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge is ready to make historical past by turning into the primary brazenly lesbian cupboard minister to take parental depart when her spouse provides delivery within the coming weeks.

“I’m not somebody who actually likes to speak about myself or my private life, both,” St-Onge mentioned in an interview with The Canadian Press.

The Quebec MP mentioned she determined to talk publicly about her parental depart as a result of she has “a accountability to proceed the battle” for LGBTQ rights.

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St-Onge smiled as she described “the enjoyment” of quickly welcoming a child into her life, which she described as “an unbelievable expertise that many people undergo and that some take as a right.”

Her spouse’s being pregnant goes very properly, St-Onge mentioned, with a due date in November. The timing, although unplanned, is nearly excellent because the Home of Commons will rise for the vacations in mid-December, she added.

St-Onge plans to depart Ottawa and work nearly beginning in early November. She is going to be capable of attend debates within the Home of Commons and vote remotely, in addition to participate in cupboard and ministerial committee conferences, and make selections as a minister.

“After the delivery, I’ll positively be lowering my public presence for a number of weeks, however I’ll nonetheless be voting till the Home rises,” she mentioned.

St-Onge will not be naming her spouse with a purpose to shield her privateness and spare her associate from the hateful feedback and emails the minister receives from individuals she says are “attempting to silence us.” She pointed to a rise in hate crimes towards LGBTQ individuals in Canada in recent times.

A union chief for a few years, St-Onge was first elected in 2021 within the using of Brome — Missisquoi in Quebec’s Jap Townships. She mentioned she’s dedicated to battle for individuals who really feel deserted, and mentioned the Liberals need “to see our society progress and be extra respectful of variations.”

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St-Onge claimed Liberal governments have been liable for many advances within the rights of LGBTQ individuals in Canada, beginning with the decriminalization of homosexuality in 1969 by the federal government of then-Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau. On the time, Trudeau famously quipped “there’s no place for the state within the bedrooms of the nation.”

In 2005, then-Prime Minister Paul Martin’s Liberal authorities legalized homosexual marriage. “I received married that summer time,” St-Onge mentioned.

Since forming authorities in 2015, the Liberals beneath Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have banned conversion remedy and eliminated the ban on blood donations from homosexual males.

St-Onge accused Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives of being “probably the most retrograde” occasion in Canada, claiming they’re “very targeted on non secular values … and need to see the nation transfer backward” on social points, together with abortion.

In response, the Opposition chief’s workplace mentioned St-Onge’s “outrageous claims reveal the deep desperation of Justin Trudeau and his struggling Liberals,” and mentioned the Liberals are “mendacity to divert consideration from the distress they’ve inflicted on Canadians by their disastrous insurance policies.”

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“Progress means accepting that individuals’s — and events’ — views can change,” spokesperson Marion Ringuette mentioned in an e mail.

She pointed to Poilievre’s first speech as Conservative chief, through which he mentioned Canada is a rustic “the place it doesn’t matter who you like.”

In June 2023, he mentioned throughout a press convention he needed to make Canada “the freest nation on the earth … for everyone, together with gays and lesbians.”

Conservative MP Melissa Lantsman is the one different brazenly lesbian member of Parliament. Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault is the one different cupboard minister from the LGBTQ neighborhood.

In response to the Hill Instances, different LGBTQ MPs embrace New Democrats Blake Desjarlais and Randall Garrison, Liberals Rob Oliphant and Seamus O’Regan, and Conservative Eric Duncan.

In March 1987, former deputy prime minister Sheila Copps was the primary MP within the nation’s historical past to provide delivery whereas in workplace.

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