Candidates - do not bear false witness

By DEBORAH GYAPONG
Canadian Catholic News
Ottawa

Calgary Bishop Fred Henry urges all election candidates to meditate on the eighth commandment about not bearing false witness.

"Such an examination becomes all the more important as we enter the second phase of the campaign which will in all-likelihood lead to a wave of negative advertising," Henry said.

Henry also expressed concern about biased and incomplete reporting in the mainstream media. Following the Dec. 15 and 16 debates, he pointed out few journalists challenged the contention that same-sex marriage was a charter right.

"The Supreme Court of Canada did not state in the reference case that opposite sex marriage was discriminatory against same-sex couples," he said. "It merely stated that the government may, as a matter of policy, extend marriage to same-sex couples, but it did not require the government to do so on the basis that it was an equality or human right issue. . . . We need a huge dose of honesty and truth telling."

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