As a former railroad employee, I'm well aware of the significance of the railroad switch. When two trains meet, they cannot both proceed along the same track in opposite directions at the same time. One train has to take a siding and wait while the other train sails through. A switch can also send your train in a different direction altogether. Throwing a switch in Edmonton can mean the difference between heading to Calgary or Vancouver. Of course, the passengers never have to bother about throwing the switch; they leave that up to the dispatchers and the train crews. They trust that their ticket will take them to the destination promised. That's why a lot of passengers, having purchased a ticket on the Conservative Express and expecting to arrive at their promised destination with lower taxes, smaller government and strong family values, may be surprised--even disappointed and upset--when they discover themselves standing on a strange platform in a strange country. When they look around, they may notice that the deficits are larger, the bureaucracy is more complex and intrusive, and as for family values, they are just a distant memory. Many people have never heard of Bill C-389, sometimes called the "Bathroom Bill." C-389 is a bill enshrining the "rights" of transsexual and transgendered people to act out their feelings with no possibility of being criticised or questioned. Opponents of the Bill say that, taken to its logical conclusion, this would include the "right" of a sexually-confused male to enter a bathroom designated for girls. If an 8-year-old girl complains, or her mother objects, they could become the victims of a human-rights tribunal. The Bill is patently absurd, but we have grown accustomed to the absurd being enshrined in law. Its proponent, MP Bill Siksay, is a homosexual, and it should surprise nobody that he and the entire NDP caucus would take up valuable House time tearing down the barriers of protection which common sense and decency have erected. The shocking part of this is the Government's quiet acquiescence. C-389 was supported at 2nd reading in June 2010 with little opposition from the government side and flew through the committee process in 15 minutes with no amendments. MP Bob Dechert, parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Justice Rob Nicholson, offered no resistance in committee. When the committee report came back for concurrence on December 8, 2010, five Conservatives actually voted for the bill and ten Conservatives did not bother to show up for the vote, including the Prime Minister himself and several of his hand-picked elite. One can only deduce that the issue of protecting young girls from cross-dressing perverts is not that important to Mr. Harper. Bill C-389 adds "gender identity and gender expression" to the growing list of protected categories under the criminal code. The list already includes "sexual orientation" added in 2004 by an irresponsible Parliament which passed Bill C-250 thereby criminalizing speech about sexual orientation. By the time self-serving MPs complete their wish list, Canadians may be as confused as that tiny segment of our population who can't figure out which gender they are. Canadians deserve to know where this Government is taking them. They deserve to know who threw the switch, sending them towards a destination they did not choose. No government business is as important as protecting our vulnerable young people; the cynical manipulations of the government in power are no substitute for principled and ethical leadership. CHP Canada stands unequivocally opposed to Bill C-389, and we call on Prime Minister Harper to rally his troops to defeat it at third reading; lead, follow or take a siding. See our Better Solutions at [url=http://www.chp.ca]http://www.chp.ca[/url]