Paul Tuns: After Leslyn Lewis finished third in the party's leadership, pro-life Canadians were eager to see whether she would make newly minted Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre's leadership team or list of critics. Poilievre named his leadership team in early September, days after winning the leadership on the first ballot, with two openly homosexual MPs being named to important positions: Melissa Lantsman [...]
Paul Tuns: On Oct. 5, Kelly Block's private member's bill, Bill C-230, The Protection of Freedom of Conscience Act, was defeated in a 203-115 vote. Every Conservative MP present for the vote, including leader Pierre Poilievre, voted for the bill, along with independent MP Kevin Vuong (Spadina-Fort York). All present Liberal, NDP, Bloc, and Green MPs voted against the bill. During debate [...]
The Quiet Before: On the Unexpected Origins of Radical Ideas Gal Beckerman (Crown, $39, 331 pages): Gal Beckerman’s The Quiet Before examines how radical ideas are born, stir, rise, and eventually influence the general public. Beckerman argues that for ideas to grow in popularity, they must be sustained by a small group of committed believers who share them through smaller circulation media [...]
Interim Staff: Billed as “The world’s largest grassroots movement to end abortion,” 40 Days for Life launched in a record 622 cities around the world, including 20 in Canada, for 40 days of continuous prayer outside abortuaries with the goal of ending abortion. The 40 Days for Life website states “It is a peaceful and educational presence. Those who are called to [...]
Wild Problems: A Guide to Decisions That Define Us by Russ Roberts (Portfolio, $36, 207 pages) Paul Tuns Review: Russ Roberts is the host of the EconTalk podcast, author of numerous books about economics, and president of Shalem College in Jerusalem. After spending most of his life applying the rules of economics as taught at the University of Chicago -- the importance [...]
Chileans reject pro-abortion constitution On Sept. 4, voters in Chile rejected a new constitution that would have legalized abortion-on-demand and strip away unborn babies’ right to life. In a national binding referendum, more than six in ten voters voted against a new “progressive” constitution (38 per cent in favour, 62 per cent against) that was part of socialist President Gabriel Boric’s sweeping [...]
Angelica Vecchiato, Review: Help Her Be Brave by Amy Ford (Moody Publishers, $7.90, 201 pages) Panic, fear and shame gripped 19-year-old Amy Ford. Young and in-love, she found herself facing an unplanned pregnancy. Although a steadfast Christian and pro-lifer, feeling pressured, Ford seriously considered an abortion. Too distressed at the doctor’s office to go through with the procedure, she was sent home by [...]
Margaret Mountain: “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.” These words of St. Paul to Timothy could be uttered by Grace Labbe. It is with great sadness we mourn Grace’s death. She will be remembered in the hearts of the pro-life community especially in Ottawa, but also across Canada. Her courage in the [...]
Rory Leishman: In treating long-known and well-researched mental illnesses such as anxiety, depression, drug addiction, and schizophrenia, psychiatrists can alleviate enormous suffering and spare their most vulnerable patients from an ignominious death by suicide. What a pity, then, that so many of these same psychiatrists are prone to embracing the most absurd psychiatric fads. A case in point is “recovered memory therapy,” [...]
Josie Luetke: Interim writer, Josie Luetke, Talk Turkey Determining right and wrong for themselves, the godless have become their own gods – an aphorism with which I have been long acquainted. Another godly attribute which they seem to have bizarrely assumed: infallibility. Consider: Abortion and euthanasia are matters of life and death. Sex changes, while not quite as fatal, [...]
More than five decades ago, the Club of Rome released its report “The Limits of Growth” which predicted a certain economic and societal collapse that would accompany a rapidly growing global population. In 1970, there were about 3.7 billion inhabitants. Two decades later, in June 1992, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, also known as the Rio de Janeiro Earth [...]
Angela Vecchiato: The fight for preborn life is an all-encompassing, multifaceted battle, materializing on different levels across all social strata. The modern pro-life activist is someone who must battle politically and legally, all the while making sure to keep up a positive, life-affirming outlook. Although the bulk of this half-century battle would seem to fall to Baby Boomers, the generation for whom [...]
Donald DeMarco, Commentary: How does one carry out murder with style and grace? Shakespeare explains how this can be done in his play Julius Caesar. After a sleepless night, Brutus decides that Caesar must be killed to prevent him from becoming a tyrant. He also decides to take charge of the conspiracy against Caesar. The assassination must take on a broad approbation. In this way, [...]
Rick McGinnis: We have been living with Francis Ford Coppola’s film The Godfather for 50 years. Even more than the Mario Puzo book on which it’s based, what book can hope to resonate in what has become an increasingly visual, post-literate society? Coppola’s film has had a profound effect not just on movies, but on how a first world society built on [...]
John Carpay: Since lockdowns were first imposed in March of 2020, Canada’s federal and provincial governments have paid little attention to the harmful effects of their policies. Instead, politicians and government-funded media repeat endlessly that “lockdowns save lives.” We know how propaganda works: when people hear a claim often enough, they come to accept it as true. Public health agencies and most [...]