Peter Stock The Interim After several high-profile suicides and bankruptcies involving gambling addicts who had been using provincially licensed video lottery terminals, or VLTs, Nova Scotia Premier John Hamm has ordered a quarter of the province’s 3,200 machines removed from bars and restaurants. The move will likely cost the province a substantial portion of the $170 million it annually rakes in from [...]
Dina Kok The Interim Depo-Provera, an injectable method of birth control, has recently received a health warning from Health Canada. According to recent studies, women who use the progesterone injection for more than two years have a significant risk of bone-density loss that can be irreversible. The warning follows the findings of two clinical trials of 12 to 18 year olds and [...]
Proposed legislation attacks vulnerable Canadians who need to be protectedAnalysis by Alex Schadenberg The Interim On June 15, MP Francine Lalonde (Bloc Québécois - La Pointe-de-l’Île) introduced Bill C-407, an act to amend the Criminal Code for the right to “die with dignity.” This bill would amend Sections 222 and 241 of the Criminal Code. Section 222 of concerns homicide. The prohibition [...]
In the month of June, a parliamentary committee held hearings on C-38, the government’s same-sex “marriage” legislation. The House accepted the committee’s report, debated the issue, considered amendments and passed the bill 158-133 on June 28. The next day, the bill received first reading in the Senate, which proceeded to conduct its own hearings, close down debate and pass it by a [...]
When the University of Western Ontario awarded notorious abortionist Henry Morgentaler an honourary doctor of laws degree as part of its spring convocation ceremonies this year, vice-president Greg Moran justified the move by claiming the choice of such a controversial recipient was in keeping with the university’s commitment to “open, courageous, respectful and civil debate,” which leads to “a humane, caring and [...]
Grace Petrasek The Interim Something unusual happened at Toronto’s downtown Aid to Women office last fall, just before Robert retired as a full-time sidewalk and office counsellor. A distraught young father was refused entrance to the next-door abortuary to say a final goodbye to his girlfriend (probably both college or university students). Fortunately, the police came to his rescue within minutes, responding [...]
Paul Tuns The Interm “Once human life is devalued at its core, a chain of devaluation begins that travels outward from the source and cheapens all life. This chain is not visible in any single person's decision. From legalized abortion to child abuse and infanticide, to convenience killing of the disabled, to passive euthanasia, to active euthanasia, to state funding and promotion [...]
Doreen Beagan When the environment in which we live and work and socialize is drenched in sexuality, does “innocence” still have meaning? Is “wholesome” understandable any more? There seems to be a frenzied urgency in the drive to fill even the youngest Maritime minds with unnecessarily explicit sexual information, while simultaneously stripping away their traditional protections. The goal, supposedly, is to give [...]
The annual March for Life, which took place in May, was undoubtedly the most successful we have had so far. According to LifeSite News, it attracted more participants than ever before, with almost 6,000 attending the march on the Hill. But, perhaps the even better news is that it wasmostly made up of youth, who represented 60-70 per cent of the participants. [...]
Rev. Royal Hamel As this column is being written, same-sex “marriage” is still up in the air in Canada. Though legal and available in seven provinces and the Yukon, there is still no national law. Yet, the federal Liberals seem hell bent on imposing it on an unwilling public. And, apart from a miracle, it seems they have the numbers to push [...]
Hospital waiting lists are much in the news lately. I got a call from the federal government in Ottawa to serve on a committee seeking solutions. As a public-spirited citizen, I felt it was my duty to serve and I was also offered a shockingly outrageous stipend, which will make Judge Gomery blanch when he gets around to reviewing it. Well, you [...]
Rory Leishman In the morning of June 16, one of the most impressive pro-life demonstrations in the history of London occurred outside the gates of the University of Western Ontario. It was a peaceful and prayerful gathering of pro-lifers witnessing to the sanctity of all human life and deploring the shameful decision of the university to confer an honourary doctorate on Henry [...]
Tony Gosgnach The Interim Musician David Vogel was diligently preparing for the 2005 edition of the Festival for Life Tour – a pro-life musical event that brings together over 100 Catholic and Christian performers – when a little thing called the Terri Schiavo case got in the way. Learning that there was a plan to starve and dehydrate the disabled woman to [...]
Peter Stock The Interim The truth will set you into a frenzy – at least, that was the case recently with the easily agitated MP Don Boudria (Lib, Glengarry-Prescott-Russell), during a mid-June sitting of the Commons. The hyper-sensitive Boudria launched into a tirade against Dr. Charles McVety of the Defend Marriage Coalition for allegedly “cyber-squatting” a website domain name that Boudria had [...]
John Jalsevac Special to The Interim At a June 14 news conference, a Florida medical examiner released the results of the autopsy performed on Terri Schiavo, after her high-profile court-ordered execution resulted in her death on March 31 of this year. The results of the autopsy were highly anticipated, given many unanswered questions around the controversial case, especially the unknown cause of [...]