priorities from the campaign. At least four of these would require legislative action: the passage of a Federal Accountability Act in response to the sponsorship scandal; setting longer mandatory sentences; lowering the Goods & Services Tax to 6% (and eventually to 5%); giving $1,200 for parents per child under the age of 6; and negotiating with the provinces to shorten wait-times (this priority was replaced, post-election, with combating crime by creating more police officers). The child allowance and first GST were in place by July 1, 2006. On December 6, 2006, another issue many expected to arise in the first session of parliament did, in fact, come to the fore, when the government introduced a motion calling "on the government to introduce legislation to restore the traditional definition of marriage without affecting civil unions and while respecting existing same-sex marriages." The next day, the House defeated the motion by a vote of 175 to 123, with six cabinet ministers voting against it, and Harper declared the issue settled. (See Members of the 39th Canadian Parliament and same-sex marriage for more information.) and on January 1, 2008 the second GST reduction came into effect. The Federal Accountability Act received Royal Assent on December 12, 2006 Resignations and by-elections On September 20, 2006 Liberal MP Joe Fontana (London North Centre) resigned to run in the London mayoralty election. Fontana was replaced in the riding by Liberal Glen Pearson after a by-election on November 27, 2006. Liberal MP Jean Lapierre declared on January 11, 2007 that he would resign from the Liberal Party at the end of the month to pursue a career in television. This took place on January 28, leaving the Outremont district vacant. On July 28, Prime Minister Stephen Harper called by-elections for this and two other Quebec ridings, which were held on September 17, 2007. Newcomer NDP candidate Thomas Mulcair won this riding over star Liberal candidate Jocelyn Coulon, only the second-ever time Outremont has not been won by a Liberal candidate. Mulcair was previously a Provincial Liberal Cabinet Minister in Quebec. On February 21, 2007, Yvan Loubier (representing Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot for the Bloc Québécois) resigned in order to run in the 2007 Quebec general election. Loubier was replaced in a by-election on September 17, 2007, by newcomer Bloc candidate Ève-Mary Thaï Thi Lac. One day later, on February 22, veteran Liberal MP and former Liberal Party of Canada interim