As noted in our editorial on the opposite page, we are marking 30 years of publishing The Interim this month. I have had the privilege of writing and serving on the editorial board of this paper for 15 years, and as editor for almost 12 years. I consider it an incredible honour to be able to use my journalistic talents to [...]
For years The Interim has carried stories about sex-selective abortions and female feticide. In 1992, we ran an article about a woman who was doing sidewalk counselling in Calgary who was able to talk to a would-be mother of East Indian descent. She did not want to have an abortion but her partner did – after they found out that their child [...]
Growing up, I loved animals, watched television programs about nature (Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom with Marlin Perkins was a favourite), and visited more than a few zoos with my family. I thought of becoming a farmer or zookeeper when I grew up. I still enjoy watching documentaries about wildlife and taking my own family to the zoo. Animals are a source [...]
The May issue could have been 32 pages or more. It was a big month for news since our last issue came out. Our beloved former columnist Fr. Ted Colleton passed away April 26. On May 2, there was transformational federal election. On May 13, Ottawa witnessed the largest-ever National March for Life, and successful regional marches were held coast-to-coast. How to [...]
A social conservative assessment Stephen Harper, the Liberals like to tell us, has a hidden agenda. Deep down in his black heart of hearts he wants to ban abortion. Yet, for nearly two decades, Campaign Life Coalition has rated him as “pro-abortion” or “not pro-life,” based on his public statements, CLC questionnaires he returned, and voting record. I’d like to [...]
Robert Latimer has been granted full parole. I am not surprised by the decision, just ticked off. It sends a terrible signal to society that the life of a person with a disability is less valuable than the life of an able-bodied person. That is sick, perverse and dehumanizing. Canada is better than that. As the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition’s Alex Schadenberg says, “the EPC has [...]
Last month I reviewed Marci McDonald’s hideous book The Armageddon Factor. I chose to focus on the numerous errors throughout the book – author Denyse O’Leary has coined the term ‘marcis’ to describe “errors of fact that fact-checking would have prevented.” On TVO’s The Agenda with Steve Paiken, McDonald pointed out that her critics have merely pointed out the factual errors in [...]
At our website, TheInterim.com, we comment on current news items at our blog Soconvivium (www.viewyourenvoymediasite.ca/soconvivium). During the debate on the Liberal motion to require that abortion and contraception be made part of the government’s maternal health program (see story on page two), we “live-blogged” the proceedings. Here are excerpts of my comments as the debate progressed. 11:09 am: Liberal MP Keith Martin [...]
On Sept. 23, the Madam Justice Sunni Stromberg-Stein of the Supreme Court of British Columbia quashed polygamy charges against Winston Blackmore and James Oler. The legal reasoning is rather technical and narrow – the defense claimed and the justice agreed that former Attorney General Wally Oppal had gone “special prosecutor shopping” – but that doesn’t change the reality that the decision will [...]
Agronomist who helped double agricultural production dies at 95 Norman Borlaug, one of the most important people of the 20th century, has died at the age of 95. Borlaug is often referred to as the “father of the green revolution” – the new processes and techniques in agriculture that brought food to hundreds of millions of starving people and helped lower the [...]
On Sept. 11, a lone gunman shot James Pouillon twice, killing the long-time pro-life activist in front of Owosso High School in Owosso, Mich., near Flint. Pouillon, 63, was holding a sign with a newborn child and the word “Life” embossed on it. The same morning, Mike Fuoss, 61, owner of a local gravel pit was found murdered. Police arrested [...]
In September, the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children held its national conference in conjunction with the annual meeting of the International Right to Life Federation. Conference participants were thus treated to international experts from all corners of the globe who spoke about the challenges to defend human life at all stages. SPUC, which describes itself as the world’s first pro-life [...]
One of Canada’s most committed pro-life politicians, Stanley Haidasz, passed away August 6 at the age of 86. Haidasz, a Liberal, served in Parliament for nearly a half-century. First elected in 1957, he lost his re-election bid the following year, but regained his Parkdale seat in Toronto in 1962 and was then re-elected five times. In 1978, he was appointed [...]
Health care reform bills introduced by Congressional Democrats and backed by the White House include federal taxpayer funding of abortion and open the door to rationing care for the elderly and other vulnerable persons, in order to realize savings in the overall health care system. These controversial measures have led to a backlash against President Barack Obama’s goal of broadly [...]
Last month, the National Post reported that one in five schools in the Toronto public school system is at least 40 per cent empty and that the board hopes to save $10-15 million by consolidating or closing some of those institutions. West Toronto Collegiate cancelled its Grade 9 program this year because there were too few students enrolled in first-year high school. [...]