Last Thursday, the House of Commons Subcommittee on Private Members’ Business turfed Bill C-268, which called for a vote to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others. Conservative MP Rob Moore introduced the bill. The subcommittee’s decision will allow the bill to be debated in Parliament; it was however ruled non-votable. This is most likely because it would be unconstitutional.

Mr. Moore’s bill comes as the federal government, which holds jurisdiction over the definition of marriage, is poised to hear a ruling from the Supreme Court on whether or not the traditional definition of marriage is a violation of Canada’s Charter of Rights.

The Honourable Member from Fundy, New Brunswick may be feeling stymied, but the fact that he blames “elitist” and “undemocratic” forces in the House of Commons for the failure of his private member’s bill is hallmark. “I wanted to put forward this bill so there can be a democratic debate on it,” Mr. Moore said in an interview with the Ottawa Citizen.

But debate there will be. There just won’t be any voting, at least not until the Supreme Court reports back. We can imagine that’s the really scary part for Mr. Moore. Court-rulings in Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, and most recently in Saskatchewan have made same-sex marriage legal in those provinces. Ditto for the Yukon. If the Supreme Court follows suit, it looks good for nuptially-inclined homos. In the end, the Charter guides our lawmakers, not the other way around.

It is a part of our tolerant way that Canadians love a good debate. But our House of Commons is rightly wary of bringing every trifling bill that squeaks its way into Parliament to a vote. Any goofball MP (and God knows there are no shortage of those) could table a bill to rescind women’s suffrage. No one would think of letting it go to a vote.

We must think of the Charter of Rights as a guiding principle. Laws that run aground of Charter violations are not really lawful in the first place. That is precisely how the lower courts have been able to overturn the traditional definition of marriage. Women can vote. Men and women can marry whomever they like. It’s not a question of morality. It’s a question of rights, the rights extended equally to every person. In Canada, the equality of our rights is a value even more central than democratic debate.