First person arrested under Ontario’s bubble zone law dies Cy Winter, the first Ontarian charged under the province's new bubble zone law, passed away. Cyril Winter, 70, passed away March 9 at the Ottawa Heart Center following complications from stenting surgery to fix several coronary arteries. Hours before he passed away, Winter wrote on Facebook: “Stent day but no guarantee [...]
Carved by the Creator Editor’s Note: Erin McKinnon of Airdrie, Alberta won second prize in the Fr. Ted Essay contest sponsored by Niagara Right to Life. The contest asked participants to reflect on a work of art and what it said about life. Erin McKinnon An average afternoon highway drive often brings little excitement, offering nothing more to observe than [...]
A group of African women joined forces with the Holy See and pro-life groups during the United Nations conference on women last month to denounce Western donors for pushing contraception and abortion on African women who don’t want it. “Africa has been picked on,” noted Nigerian-born Obianuju Ekeocha, founder of Culture of Life Africa, during a panel at the two-week UN CSW62, [...]
Editor’s Note: We are experimenting with a new feature this month. “And then there was this,” near the back of the newspaper will replace “Bits ‘n’ pieces.” The idea is to cover news from Canada and abroad in brief, but the tone will change to add more of an editorial slant rather than straight news items. The section will be written by [...]
Pro-life advocates are criticizing a new paper claiming that abortion is so overwhelmingly “safe” that abortion-specific regulations in many states are “unnecessary.” The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine released a 240-page paper, titled “The Safety and Quality of Abortion Care in the United States.” Funded by organizations who have made charitable donations to Planned Parenthood, the report purports to provide [...]
Light is Right Joe Campbell Sociologists tell us that the makeup of the family is changing. My friend Dingwall believes the sociologists are right. He’s seen the changes in his own neighbourhood. There are several different family forms within walking distance of Dingwall’s home. Down the street is a married couple with three cars, two cats, a dog, and a [...]
Talk Turkey Josie Luetke March 10 was quite the emotional roller coaster. The widely-anticipated release of the Ontario PC leadership election results was delayed. Rumours swirled that Tanya Granic Allen had placed in third, and Doug Ford and Christine Elliott were neck and neck and battling it out in the backrooms. Then, out of Saskatchewan: News that Brad Trost had [...]
Law Matters John Carpay On March 19, the University of Alberta held a public event to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Supreme Court of Canada decision in Vriend v. Alberta. In 1998, the court ordered Alberta to add “sexual orientation” to its human rights legislation. When pondering the Vriend ruling, it is important to remember that, during the 1990s, activists across Canada were [...]
National Affairs Rory Leishman On Jan. 31, the Ontario Divisional Court held in The Christian Medical and Dental Society of Canada v. College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, that pro-life physicians have no constitutional right to refuse to collaborate in killing or assisting in the death of a suicidal patient upon request. Who bears primary responsibility for this appalling [...]
In one of Ernest Hemingway’s novels, a character identifies the two ways he went bankrupt: “gradually and then suddenly.” For decades, pro-lifers have been raising the alarm about the gradual, subtle, but ultimately disastrous effects that the legal acceptance of pre-natal infanticide has on culture, all under the spurious banner of “choice.” Pregnant mothers in dire situations are deprived of the ability [...]
Critics say Trudeau government is ideologically pushing women into workforce Finance Minister Bill Morneau focused on gender issues in his budget and a month later said he will begin looking at Canada's competitiveness. Despite facing economic uncertainty from the on-going threat of the United States withdrawing from the North American Free Trade Agreement and competitive pressures from the U.S. after [...]
Helena Karabela The Halton Catholic District School Board (HCDSB) passed a motion on Jan. 16 stating that any organization that receives funds raised within the school system must not directly or indirectly support abortion, euthanasia, contraception, or embryonic stem-cell research. After some students, parents, and the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association (OECTA) complained, the school board reconsidered their decision. However, [...]
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau remains steadfast in enforcing his ideological litmus test for recipients of summer student subsidies. The House of Commons defeated a Conservative Party motion to exempt certain groups from the government’s Summer Jobs program attestation which requires employers to attest that they support so-called Charter rights like abortion and same-sex “marriage.” Only one Liberal and NDP, Green [...]
Doug Ford wins Ontario PC Leadership. On March 10, following a whirlwind six-week leadership campaign during which frontrunner Doug Ford courted pro-life and pro-family voters after Tanya Granic Allen entered the race, Ford was crowned the new Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leader. Ford was declared the winner late on the Saturday evening after party officials kicked out more than [...]
Stephanie Hallihan "Memorial for Unborn Life" by Martin Hudáček" Editor’s Note: Stephanie Hallihan of Tillsonburg, Ont., (St. Mary’s Catholic High School, Woodstock) won third prize in the Fr. Ted Essay contest sponsored by Niagara Right to Life. The contest asked participants to reflect on a work of art and what it said about life. The essays of the first- and [...]