Beyond The Commons

Aaron Wherry covers all the goings-on in and around Parliament Hill. Follow Aaron on Twitter: @aaronwherry

Categories: Beyond The Commons, Capital Read

Au revoir, Mr. Siksay

by Aaron Wherry on Friday, December 17, 2010 1:48pm - 9 Comments

After the House adjourned yesterday, the NDP’s Bill Siksay quietly announced he won’t be seeking reelection.

This does not mean that I am abandoning Bill C389 and the struggle for full and explicit human rights for transsexual and transgender Canadians. I will continue to work hard to get the Bill through the House and off to the Senate before an election … One of the highlights of my time as an MP will always be my work with the transsexual and transgender communities. You’ve taught me so much about our humanity for which I am very thankful.

An astute reader notes below that Mr. Siksay was apparently the first openly gay man elected to the House of Commons as a non-incumbent.

Tags: Bill Siksay, house of commons, Parliament, transgendered, transsexual

More by Aaron Wherry

WDM

A great guy. Politics will be partisan, obviously, and certainly on the issues of same sex and transgender rights he took the government to task. However, I remember when the infamous video of Tom Lukiwski came out, and Lukiwski apologized, that Siksay, among others, was incredibly gracious in accepting the apology and acknowledging it as being sincere.

Sigh

Up until a couple of years ago, Bill Siksay was my Member of Parliament. He is a true gentleman.

Emily

Backbencher in a third party, and yet he managed to make a difference.

Mike R

Fourth party actually, but yes, he is a nice man and an effective parliamentarian. Many others could learn from him.

Crit_Reasoning

Interesting tidbit from wiki:

With his election, Siksay became the first openly gay non-incumbent man to be elected to Canada's House of Commons. All of the previous MPs to come out as gay (Robinson, Libby Davies, Réal Ménard and Scott Brison) came out after they were elected, and Mario Silva came out in a Toronto Star profile shortly after the 2004 election.

Truth Monger

Very astute!

Crit_Reasoning

Another tidbit: The riding of Burnaby—Douglas will be very much in play in the next election. Bill Siksay won in 2008 by a slim margin of 1.7% over Conservative challenger Ronald Leung; the Liberal candidate finished a distant third.

Sigh

They say that about Burnaby-Douglas every election.

Mike R

Perhaps because it's true? Any riding in which the Tories were that close is in play, especially when the incumbent is gone. Perhaps the NDP can persuade Svend to come back? That might help. Otherwise the Tory work within the Chinese community will be the key in this particular riding.