No pro-life in the liberal race
http://www.campaignlifecoalition.com/national_news/2006/news_0906.html#4
Bob Rae: As the NDP premier of Ontario from 1990 to 1995, Rae advanced a thoroughly left wing social agenda including an ambitious gay rights bill that was ultimately defeated. The radical legislation was opposed by nearly half his own caucus and it bitterly divided the party as it sought in 1994 – long before the gay agenda hit the political stage elsewhere in Canada – to grant everything short of marriage, including adoption rights, to homosexual couples. Furthermore, in 1994, Rae’s Minister of Justice, the radical feminist Marion Boyd, sought and obtained a “temporary” injunction to prevent pro-life witnessing within 60 feet of locations where abortions were committed; the “temporary” injunction is still in force some 12 years later. Rae is supported in his leadership bid by many of former Prime Minister Jean Chretien’s inner circle, including Rae’s brother John Rae, a top executive in Power Corp., the giant corporation owned by Paul Desmarais. Power Corp. is one of the many corporate homes of one-world government advocate Maurice Strong, and Desmarais has been connected to former prime ministers Pierre Trudeau, Brian Mulroney, Jean Chretien and Paul Martin.
Michael Ignatieff: Often styled as the next Pierre Trudeau, Ignatieff became the MP for Etobicoke-Lakeshore in 2006. During the campaign, he told an all-candidates meeting that “gay marriage is a fundamental issue of human equality and human dignity.” During the Liberal policy convention in March 2005, he praised Canada in general and the Liberal Party specifically for being in the vanguard of gay rights in pushing the redefinition of marriage through Parliament. Although he refused to respond to the CLC questionnaire, he told a CLC activist that abortion should be legal. Ignatieff is rumoured, like Rae (a university room-mate, coincidentally, but more recently on distant terms), to be supported by the Desmarais family.
Joe Volpe: Volpe, the long-time MP for the Toronto riding of Eglinton-Lawrence, has indicated in the past that he was pro-life and pro-marriage, but his record and statements have been inconsistent. During the debate over Bill C-43 in 1989 and 1990, he indicated pro-life sentiments and he voted against the flawed abortion bill, but that he was uncomfortable being associated with the pro-life cause. In a 1998 vote on euthanasia, he was conspicuously absent. In 1999, he voted against using the notwithstanding clause to make the possession of child porn illegal. In 2003 and again during the 2004 election, Volpe spoke against same-sex ‘marriage’ but as a cabinet minister under Paul Martin, he voted for redefining marriage in 2005; he has told supporters that he will not flip-flop on the issue (again). He voted against C-13 (embryonic stem cell research and cloning) and C-250 (Svend Robinson’s hate crimes bill) but was absent on M-83 that would have forced the government to explore the medical necessity of abortion. He refused to respond to the 2006 CLC questionnaire. At the same time, Volpe is the only Liberal candidate to have voted the right way on three pro-life/pro-family bills and motions tracked by CLC.
Carolyn Bennett: A long-time MP from the Toronto riding of St. Paul’s, Bennett, a doctor, is an unceasing advocate of abortion and a supporter of gay rights. She voted for same-sex ‘marriage’ in 2005 and Svend Robinson’s hate crimes bill adding sexual orientation to a list of groups with special rights in law, in 2004. In 2003, she voted for Bill C-13, the Liberal government’s reproductive and experimental technologies bill that was ambiguous enough so as to have opened the door to embryonic stem cell research. Twice she has voted against bills/motions seeking to lower the age of sexual consent. In May of this year, she co-hosted a press conference announcing the creation of a pro-abortion outreach program in conjunction with the American group, the National Abortion Federation.
Gerard Kennedy: When Kennedy ran for the Ontario Liberal leadership in 1996, CLC rated him “opposed to abortion” but supportive of abortion funding through OHIP. At the time, The Interim reported that he preferred to tackle the “root causes” of abortion, namely poverty. Also, in 1996, he voted against Bill 91, which would have provided parental consultation for minors seeking medical treatment (including abortions). At meetings with pro-lifers in the late 1990s he indicated that he was open to conscience protection for healthcare workers and for informed consent for women seeking abortions, but as the Liberal Health critic, he never pressed the issues. At Queen’s Park, he has repeatedly supported gay rights and as early as 1996 he was praised by the homosexualist newspaper, Xtra! for his support of common-law ‘marriage’ and adoption rights for homosexual couples.
Ken Dryden: In 2004, former Montreal Canadiens goaltending great Ken Dryden was a star candidate for the Liberals and easily elected in the Toronto riding of York-Centre. He was promptly made Minister of Social Development, a tailor-made cabinet post where his primary responsibility was the creation of a national daycare scheme. Unable to obtain an agreement for a national program with all the premiers, he worked out a number of deals with individual provinces. He has sent signals that not only does he favour a universal daycare program but, more alarmingly, that such childcare arrangements are superior in terms of child development compared to having a parent stay at home to raise a child or for children to be taken care of by family or close friends. In other words, he is a pro-daycare ideologue and is taking a dangerous anti-family position that he has made a centerpiece of his leadership campaign. In 2005, Dryden voted for same-sex ‘marriage’ and he is believed to support abortion although he has refused to answer the CLC questionnaire.
Scott Brison: Brison is an openly homosexual MP from Kings-Hants (Nova Scotia) who left the Progressive Conservative Party when it merged with the Canadian Alliance citing the “extreme” social conservatism of some of his new colleagues; strangely, he supported the merger but on December 10, 2003, he crossed the floor and on December 12 he was named parliamentary secretary in Paul Martin’s new government and six months later was named to cabinet. He supports same-sex ‘marriage,’ the inclusion of homosexuals under special hate crimes protections, universal daycare and embryonic stem cell research. He has publicly stated he supports abortion and even voted against M-83, a motion that would have forced the government to examine whether abortion is medically necessary. He has also stated he supports euthanasia. Many pro-family advocates are concerned that he will become a more visible advocate of the gay agenda.
Stephan Dion: The MP from Saint-Laurent-Cartierville, Dion is the only candidate from Quebec. He has never responded to a CLC questionnaire but supported the Liberal government’s bills legalizing embryonic stem cell research and same-sex ‘marriage’ and seems to support the Martin-Dryden universal daycare initiative.
Martha Hall Findlay: Considered a fringe candidate, the Toronto lawyer lost as a Liberal candidate against Belinda Stronach when the millionairess ran as a Conservative in Newmarket-Aurora in 2004. Hall Findlay refused to answer the CLC questionnaire in 2004 but sent a letter stating that she was pro-abortion. Hall Findlay was slated to be the Liberal candidate in the last election but was pushed aside when Stronach crossed the floor and joined Martin’s cabinet.
Hedy Fry: A radical feminist from Vancouver Centre, Fry is a long-time advocate of abortion, same-sex ‘marriage’ and other anti-life/anti-family policies. On the seven votes since 2002 that CLC has tracked on life and family issues, Fry has voted the wrong way every time. She also supports the legalization of prostitution.
Conclusion: Considering the dearth of principled leadership from this sorry bunch of candidates and the fact that there is no clear front-runner, a last-minute entry willing to stand up for the sanctity of human life and the defense of real marriage could have a chance to win and lead the party in the next election. Considering, also, that polls show the Canadian population deeply divided on social issues, there is room for a pro-life and pro-family leader and party to capture a significant portion of the electorate. Alas, no candidate seems to be forthcoming. In the meantime, we pray that regardless of who becomes leader, the party abandons its hardline anti-life and anti-family policies of recent years as espoused by its leaders and, for the most part, pliantly followed by the majority within caucus.
We hope that there are more MPs among the Liberals like Tom Wappel, Paul Szabo and Dan McTeague who will stand up for life and family values. Their voices are needed more than ever as the Liberals, whether they are in government or opposition, need a moral compass. Sadly, the direction the ten leadership candidates are set to take will lead the Liberal party further on its downward moral spiral. The party faithful and Canada deserve better.
Bob Rae: As the NDP premier of Ontario from 1990 to 1995, Rae advanced a thoroughly left wing social agenda including an ambitious gay rights bill that was ultimately defeated. The radical legislation was opposed by nearly half his own caucus and it bitterly divided the party as it sought in 1994 – long before the gay agenda hit the political stage elsewhere in Canada – to grant everything short of marriage, including adoption rights, to homosexual couples. Furthermore, in 1994, Rae’s Minister of Justice, the radical feminist Marion Boyd, sought and obtained a “temporary” injunction to prevent pro-life witnessing within 60 feet of locations where abortions were committed; the “temporary” injunction is still in force some 12 years later. Rae is supported in his leadership bid by many of former Prime Minister Jean Chretien’s inner circle, including Rae’s brother John Rae, a top executive in Power Corp., the giant corporation owned by Paul Desmarais. Power Corp. is one of the many corporate homes of one-world government advocate Maurice Strong, and Desmarais has been connected to former prime ministers Pierre Trudeau, Brian Mulroney, Jean Chretien and Paul Martin.
Michael Ignatieff: Often styled as the next Pierre Trudeau, Ignatieff became the MP for Etobicoke-Lakeshore in 2006. During the campaign, he told an all-candidates meeting that “gay marriage is a fundamental issue of human equality and human dignity.” During the Liberal policy convention in March 2005, he praised Canada in general and the Liberal Party specifically for being in the vanguard of gay rights in pushing the redefinition of marriage through Parliament. Although he refused to respond to the CLC questionnaire, he told a CLC activist that abortion should be legal. Ignatieff is rumoured, like Rae (a university room-mate, coincidentally, but more recently on distant terms), to be supported by the Desmarais family.
Joe Volpe: Volpe, the long-time MP for the Toronto riding of Eglinton-Lawrence, has indicated in the past that he was pro-life and pro-marriage, but his record and statements have been inconsistent. During the debate over Bill C-43 in 1989 and 1990, he indicated pro-life sentiments and he voted against the flawed abortion bill, but that he was uncomfortable being associated with the pro-life cause. In a 1998 vote on euthanasia, he was conspicuously absent. In 1999, he voted against using the notwithstanding clause to make the possession of child porn illegal. In 2003 and again during the 2004 election, Volpe spoke against same-sex ‘marriage’ but as a cabinet minister under Paul Martin, he voted for redefining marriage in 2005; he has told supporters that he will not flip-flop on the issue (again). He voted against C-13 (embryonic stem cell research and cloning) and C-250 (Svend Robinson’s hate crimes bill) but was absent on M-83 that would have forced the government to explore the medical necessity of abortion. He refused to respond to the 2006 CLC questionnaire. At the same time, Volpe is the only Liberal candidate to have voted the right way on three pro-life/pro-family bills and motions tracked by CLC.
Carolyn Bennett: A long-time MP from the Toronto riding of St. Paul’s, Bennett, a doctor, is an unceasing advocate of abortion and a supporter of gay rights. She voted for same-sex ‘marriage’ in 2005 and Svend Robinson’s hate crimes bill adding sexual orientation to a list of groups with special rights in law, in 2004. In 2003, she voted for Bill C-13, the Liberal government’s reproductive and experimental technologies bill that was ambiguous enough so as to have opened the door to embryonic stem cell research. Twice she has voted against bills/motions seeking to lower the age of sexual consent. In May of this year, she co-hosted a press conference announcing the creation of a pro-abortion outreach program in conjunction with the American group, the National Abortion Federation.
Gerard Kennedy: When Kennedy ran for the Ontario Liberal leadership in 1996, CLC rated him “opposed to abortion” but supportive of abortion funding through OHIP. At the time, The Interim reported that he preferred to tackle the “root causes” of abortion, namely poverty. Also, in 1996, he voted against Bill 91, which would have provided parental consultation for minors seeking medical treatment (including abortions). At meetings with pro-lifers in the late 1990s he indicated that he was open to conscience protection for healthcare workers and for informed consent for women seeking abortions, but as the Liberal Health critic, he never pressed the issues. At Queen’s Park, he has repeatedly supported gay rights and as early as 1996 he was praised by the homosexualist newspaper, Xtra! for his support of common-law ‘marriage’ and adoption rights for homosexual couples.
Ken Dryden: In 2004, former Montreal Canadiens goaltending great Ken Dryden was a star candidate for the Liberals and easily elected in the Toronto riding of York-Centre. He was promptly made Minister of Social Development, a tailor-made cabinet post where his primary responsibility was the creation of a national daycare scheme. Unable to obtain an agreement for a national program with all the premiers, he worked out a number of deals with individual provinces. He has sent signals that not only does he favour a universal daycare program but, more alarmingly, that such childcare arrangements are superior in terms of child development compared to having a parent stay at home to raise a child or for children to be taken care of by family or close friends. In other words, he is a pro-daycare ideologue and is taking a dangerous anti-family position that he has made a centerpiece of his leadership campaign. In 2005, Dryden voted for same-sex ‘marriage’ and he is believed to support abortion although he has refused to answer the CLC questionnaire.
Scott Brison: Brison is an openly homosexual MP from Kings-Hants (Nova Scotia) who left the Progressive Conservative Party when it merged with the Canadian Alliance citing the “extreme” social conservatism of some of his new colleagues; strangely, he supported the merger but on December 10, 2003, he crossed the floor and on December 12 he was named parliamentary secretary in Paul Martin’s new government and six months later was named to cabinet. He supports same-sex ‘marriage,’ the inclusion of homosexuals under special hate crimes protections, universal daycare and embryonic stem cell research. He has publicly stated he supports abortion and even voted against M-83, a motion that would have forced the government to examine whether abortion is medically necessary. He has also stated he supports euthanasia. Many pro-family advocates are concerned that he will become a more visible advocate of the gay agenda.
Stephan Dion: The MP from Saint-Laurent-Cartierville, Dion is the only candidate from Quebec. He has never responded to a CLC questionnaire but supported the Liberal government’s bills legalizing embryonic stem cell research and same-sex ‘marriage’ and seems to support the Martin-Dryden universal daycare initiative.
Martha Hall Findlay: Considered a fringe candidate, the Toronto lawyer lost as a Liberal candidate against Belinda Stronach when the millionairess ran as a Conservative in Newmarket-Aurora in 2004. Hall Findlay refused to answer the CLC questionnaire in 2004 but sent a letter stating that she was pro-abortion. Hall Findlay was slated to be the Liberal candidate in the last election but was pushed aside when Stronach crossed the floor and joined Martin’s cabinet.
Hedy Fry: A radical feminist from Vancouver Centre, Fry is a long-time advocate of abortion, same-sex ‘marriage’ and other anti-life/anti-family policies. On the seven votes since 2002 that CLC has tracked on life and family issues, Fry has voted the wrong way every time. She also supports the legalization of prostitution.
Conclusion: Considering the dearth of principled leadership from this sorry bunch of candidates and the fact that there is no clear front-runner, a last-minute entry willing to stand up for the sanctity of human life and the defense of real marriage could have a chance to win and lead the party in the next election. Considering, also, that polls show the Canadian population deeply divided on social issues, there is room for a pro-life and pro-family leader and party to capture a significant portion of the electorate. Alas, no candidate seems to be forthcoming. In the meantime, we pray that regardless of who becomes leader, the party abandons its hardline anti-life and anti-family policies of recent years as espoused by its leaders and, for the most part, pliantly followed by the majority within caucus.
We hope that there are more MPs among the Liberals like Tom Wappel, Paul Szabo and Dan McTeague who will stand up for life and family values. Their voices are needed more than ever as the Liberals, whether they are in government or opposition, need a moral compass. Sadly, the direction the ten leadership candidates are set to take will lead the Liberal party further on its downward moral spiral. The party faithful and Canada deserve better.
posted by MissHailey at 7:25 PM
2 Comments:
Sorry if you're disappointed, but you're looking at the wrong party if you're fundamentally opposed to abortion. There's really only one pro-life party in Canada, and even they're too scared to be loud about it.
Bottom line is most Canadians support choice.
The Liberal Party of Canada is not pro-life but they do have individual MP's who are pro-life.
I am sure that you inferring that Mr. Harper and company is pro-life? If that's what you are intending to convey you are quite wrong. Mr. Harper is pro-choice and has made bolder pro-choice assertions in the last year than Mr. Layton or Mr. Graham. There is more pro-life representation in the CPC party but they are fairly silenced by a leader who will do "everything in his power" to stop abortion legislation.
And while I would agree that most Canadians are not pro-life I don't believe that polls will reflect support for abortion on demand. Most Canadians fall somewhere in the middle.
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