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The Canadian government has been increasingly critical of Uganda’s efforts to pass the legislation, and these programs have fit into the Harper government’s mission to battle the bill.

The legislation came back in the spotlight in November after Mr. Baird harshly criticized Uganda over the bill and its record on gay rights, at the Inter-Parliamentary Union conference in Quebec City. In a speech, Mr. Baird detailed the story of a Ugandan gay-rights advocate who was bludgeoned to death in his own home.

Rebecca Kadaga, the speaker of Uganda’s parliament, repudiated Mr. Baird’s criticism. “I will not stop a private member’s bill from going ahead,” she told the plenary.

But after returning to Uganda, Ms. Kadaga promised to get the bill passed, calling it a “Christmas present” to the country. In an interview, Ms. Kadaga said of Mr. Baird’s push to kill the bill: “He was acting out of ignorance, and he was just being arrogant.”

Both Ms. Kadaga and the private member bill’s backbench sponsor, David Bahati, are MPs for the governing National Resistance Movement. While there has been virtually no opposition to the bill from within Parliament, with some MPs speculating that if it ever came to a vote its passage would be assured, President Yoweri Museveni has recently come out against the bill, after tepidly supporting it for years.

Since the bill’s re-introduction, it has sat on the order paper, moving up and down but never coming before the legislature for a vote. It currently sits at number five on the list of bills to come before legislators.

Last month, the Harper government was criticized for providing $544,813 in funding for Crossroads Christian Communications, which has described homosexuality as a sin and “perversion,” to help dig wells, build latrines and promote hygiene awareness in Uganda through 2014. Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the government considers the efficiency of projects it funds, not the religion of groups promoting them.

National Post