Priorities, priorities

From today's Metro headings, it would seem that in Vancouver the priorities are straight. Never mind the same-sex marriage law went through today, but VIRGIN MEGASTORE IS CLOSING!

That was my initial reaction anyway - but it's not quite bad as it sounds. Although the same-sex bill has now become the law of the land (voting went 158-133), in most provinces this has been the case already for some time. In British Columbia for example, the courts recognised the gay couples' right to marriage two years ago, and most other provinces and territories that has been the practice - but now the Alberta, Price Edward Island, Nunavut and Northwest Territories have to follow suit.

So what's in the bill? Bill C-38 amends the definition of civil marriage from "lawful union of man and a woman to the exclusion of all others" to "lawful union of two persons". In the same way ameds are made to other laws relating to divorce, spousal benefits and income tax act among others. There are also protections aimed at protecting religious groups that refuse to perform same-sex unions - this means in practice that no religious organisation will lose their charitable status over the question of same-sex unions.

And in case someone is pining after the loss of Canada's only Virgin Megastore from Vancouver, worry not, as HMV has bought the retail space and will be making it into Canada's biggest music and DVD store.