Josie Luetke: Interim writer, Josie Luetke, Talk Turkey “The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few” (Matthew 9:37). Therefore, the labourers often get asked to do more labour than that for which they have time. In June, I was asked to delegate to the Dufferin Peel Catholic District School Board to request that they cease to fly the Gay [...]
Rory Leishman: Nothing can better illustrate the theological degradation of the mainline Protestant churches than their pathetic twists and turnings in their conceptions of murder and assisted suicide. As originally enacted, Section 14 of the Criminal Code provided that anyone who unlawfully kills another person can be found guilty of murder, even if the victim begged to be killed. However, under the [...]
Interim Staff: A Canadian record of at least 315 communities took part in the 2023 Life [...]
Interim Staff: A Canadian record of at least 315 communities took part in the 2023 [...]
Mary Zwicker: A newborn baby in America has become the fifth child in her state to be safely relinquished by means of a “safe haven baby box” this past year. On the morning of Monday, July 17, firefighters from Station 1 in Kokomo, Indiana discovered a newborn baby girl inside their fire station’s safe haven baby deposit box, the fifth time in [...]
Paul Tuns: John Rustad caused a stir in his first question in the B.C. legislature since being acclaimed leader of the Conservative Party of B.C. in March. On Oct. 3, he questioned the government about its Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) policies in schools – a move condemned by the Premier and the Education Minister. Pointing to recent pro-parental rights protests, [...]
Interim Staff: Marianne Dose, a former Campaign Life Coalition office worker, died on July 12 at the age of 76. Dose worked for CLC from 2000-2006, doing general office work, answering the phone, and inputting names and contact information into the organization’s database. One year, she took part in the Silent No More witness following the National March for Life in Ottawa, [...]
Paul Tuns: On Sept. 28, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a statement affirming his government’s support for abortion both domestically and abroad to mark International Safe Abortion Day and tweeted his support for abortion. Trudeau tweeted, “In Canada, abortions have been a safe and legal part of health care since 1988. We’ll make sure that continues to be the case. We’ll [...]
The Death of Public School: How Conservatives Won the War Over Education in America Cara Fitzpatrick (Basic, $40, 375 pages) With a title like The Death of Public School: How Conservatives Won the War Over Education in America Cara Fitzpatrick’s book could be a victory lap by a right-wing writer at the growth of school choice in recent decades so families can [...]
Paul Tuns: A leaked York Region District School Board memo reveals that the public school board has directed teachers to keep gender transitions of their students secret from their parents. The Sept. 28 memo was leaked to independent journalist Chanel Pfahl, a former educator. It states, “Parents should not be contacted without the student’s consent about any change in identifiers.” The memo, [...]
Interim Staff: On Oct. 13, the Society of Canadian Psychiatry (SocPysch) issued a 13-page brief on Medical Assistance in Dying and mental illness calling for an indefinite pause on expanding eligibility for euthanasia and assisted-suicide to patients suffering solely from mental illness. The organization’s board of directors said the expansion for eligibility which takes effect next March was rushed into and failed [...]
Paul Tuns: Prior to the House of Commons debate on C-314, the Mental Health Protection Act, the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition held a press conference on Oct. 3 featuring three speakers supporting the bill. Anike Morrison spoke in favour of Bill C-314, saying that if euthanasia for mental illness was available when she suffered her worst depression, she might not be here [...]
Paul Tuns: The unanimous support of all Conservatives, Green, and NDP MPs, joined by a handful of Liberals, was not enough to save Bill C-314, the Mental Health Protection Act, from being defeated in the House of Commons, on Oct. 18, in a vote of 167-150. The private member’s bill was introduced by Conservative MP Ed Fast (Abbottsford) in March to turn [...]
NOTE: After a backlash to the policy, Chaplain Brig-Gen Guy Belisle rescinded the policy banning prayer at public ceremonies involving military chaplains. Paul Tuns: The Epoch Times reported on Oct. 11 – one month before Remembrance Day – that Chaplain General Brigadier Guy Belisle sent a memo to all armed forces instructing them to avoid religious prayers at all official functions. Belisle [...]
The Political Economy of Distributism: Property, Liberty, and the Common Good Alexander William Salter (Catholic University of America Press, $32.95 pb, $97.95 hc, 238 pages) Distributism, popularized at the beginning of the 20th century by G.K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc, is an economic system that draws upon Catholic social teaching and emphasizes a human dimension to the economic sphere, although its advocates [...]