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The Equality Rights Statute Amendment Act,〔Ruth Colker, ''American Law in the Age of Hypercapitalism: The Worker, the Family and the State''. New York University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-8147-1562-1.〕 also known as An Act to Amend Ontario Statutes to Provide for the Equal Treatment of Persons in Spousal Relationships or as Bill 167, was a proposed law in the Canadian province of Ontario, introduced by the government of Bob Rae in 1994, which would have provided same-sex couples with rights and obligations mostly equal to those of opposite-sex common law couples by amending the definition of “spouse” in 79 provincial statutes. Despite the changes, the bill did not formally confer same-sex marriage rights in the province, as the definition of marriage in Canada is under federal jurisdiction; instead, the bill proposed civil union status for same-sex couples, although it was not explicitly labelled as such since the term was not yet in widespread international use.〔 The bill was first introduced in the legislature on May 17, 1994, by Attorney General Marion Boyd.〔("Thanks, Bob, for nothing" ). ''Xtra!'', April 30, 2007.〕 The bill passed first reading by a handful of votes, with the most vocal opposition emerging between first and second reading as public reaction to the bill began to mount.〔 In an attempt to salvage the bill on second reading, Boyd dropped the most controversial provisions, including adoption rights, but the move did not win the support of any MPP who was not already supporting the bill in its original form.〔 The bill was defeated by a recorded vote of 68 to 59 on second reading on June 9, 1994.〔(Debate ) and vote at second reading.〕 ==Victoria—Haliburton by-election== Liberal leader Lyn McLeod had long pledged her party's support for legislation extending civil rights to same-sex couples; Liberal MPP Tim Murphy, who represented the riding that included Toronto's Church and Wellesley gay village, had even drafted and presented a similar albeit less sweeping private member's bill, Bill 45, which passed first reading in the legislature in June 1993 but was delayed as the government prepared Bill 167.〔 However, the party's response to the issue was dramatically altered by a provincial by-election in Victoria—Haliburton on March 17, 1994, following the resignation of Dennis Drainville. With the Liberals holding a strong lead in provincewide polling at the time, Liberal candidate Sharon McCrae had been widely expected to win the resulting by-election, but the tide changed when the local Progressive Conservative riding association ran a campaign ad: The ad resulted in Progressive Conservative candidate Chris Hodgson quickly gaining support at the expense of McCrae, and ultimately winning the by-election. Bill 167 consequently came to be seen by the Liberal party as an electoral liability, causing "great panic" in the caucus and leading several Liberal MPPs to switch sides on the issue.〔 As a result, McLeod chose to withdraw the party's support of the bill,〔 and just three Liberal MPPs — including Murphy, who remained the bill's single most vocal supporter〔 — continued to support it.〔 While the withdrawal of Liberal support did not kill the bill by itself, as the New Democrats still had enough votes to pass it if their caucus had been united, twelve New Democratic MPPs were also opposed to the legislation.〔 Rae ultimately permitted a free vote on the bill within his caucus, albeit with the warning that he would not support the dissenting MPPs if they ran for re-election in the 1995 election.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Equality Rights Statute Amendment Act」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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