Justice Minister votes against s. 13

I learn from Stephen Taylor that Rob Nicholson, the Justice Minister, voted "yes" on P-203. You can see video of it on Stephen's website, here.

This is incredible. The Justice Minister voted to repeal section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act -- a section that his department's lawyers (and the Canadian Human Rights Commission) are enforcing as we speak.

Yesterday, I said that the impact of the party's vote would be salutary, in that party activists would telegraph their intentions to MPs. Who knew that one of those activists would have been the minister himself! I would think that, as a matter of protocol, his office should start preparing legislation to match his publicly stated intentions, and all s. 13 cases should be stayed.

Another cabinet minister e-mailed to tell me that, after P-203 passed, there was a spontaneous standing ovation in the hall. Again, amazing. How often does that sort of enthusiastic unity greet any policy idea?