Paul Tuns: Liberal MLA Keith Irving (Kings South) introduced Bill 440, which, if passed, would provide evidence-based data about Down syndrome to parents informed of a prenatal diagnosis of the chromosomal anomaly. A law respecting Down syndrome, or so-called Harvey’s Law, would require medical staff to provide up-to-date and evidence-based information on Down Syndrome, including data about life expectancy, education and psychosocial [...]
Oswald Clark: Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in several interviews this spring that he supported abortion through all nine months, for any reason, only to backtrack slightly to say post-viability babies – around 20 weeks gestation – “have rights” and “deserve society’s protection.” Kennedy originally told podcaster Sage Steele and EWTN’s Raymond Arroya in separate interviews he would not [...]
Oswald Clark: During a campaign stop in Tampa, Florida, highlighting the president’s unwavering support for unrestricted abortion, Joe Biden made the sign of the cross as Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Nikki Fried spoke lambasting Governor Ron DeSantis for signing a law that bans abortion after six weeks. It was widely taken as a sign of opposition to the state’s abortion restrictions. CatholicVote [...]
Rory Leishman: Direct attacks on the God-given, natural right of everyone to freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression are continuing to mount, not just in Canada, but also in Europe. One of the most prominent, recent victims is J.K. Rowling, a resident of Edinburgh Scotland and author of the Harry Potter series of novels. Siobhian Brown, Scotland’s Minister for Victims and [...]
Paul Tuns: According to an analysis by the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO), the federal pharmacare plan that will cover diabetes care and contraception is estimated to cost $5.7 billion while recouping $3.8 billion from public and private drug plans, for a total cost to taxpayers of $1.9 billion over the next half-decade. Health Minister Mark Holland tabled legislation delivering the first phase [...]
Paul Tuns: Two Bloc MPs are sponsoring Bill C-390, which if passed, would expand Canada’s euthanasia law to permit so-called advanced directives. Sylvie Bérubé (Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou) and Luc Thériault (Montcalm) held a press conference on May 22 to announce that they have introduced C-390, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (provincial medical assistance in dying framework), to permit provinces to allow advanced [...]
Paul Tuns: On May 9, an estimated 3,500 Canadians took part in the National March for Life in the nation’s capital. The 27th annual National March for Life’s program, organized by Campaign Life Coalition, ran over four days and including the airing of a new pro-life documentary, a pro-life coffee house, a press conference, a series of masses and church services, the [...]
Paul Tuns: In the week of and following the National March for Life in Ottawa, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal MPs repeatedly raised the issue of abortion, vowing to fight to protect the current abortion status quo in which abortion takes the lives of approximately 100,000 preborn Canadian children annually, and accusing the Conservative Party of wanting to rollback so-called [...]
Josie Luetke: Interim writer, Josie Luetke, Talk Turkey As British politician Lord Acton once remarked, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” And for some reason, a bunch of lowly municipal politicians in Canada have become convinced they possess absolute power. I do not exaggerate. The Corporate Services Committee for Niagara Region (that you’ve likely never heard of [...]
All the Kingdoms of the World: On Radical Religious Alternatives to Liberalism by Kevin Vallier (Oxford, $36, 305 pages) Version 1.0.0 Kevin Vallier has set out to reply to the integralist challenge to liberalism in his important 2023 volume, All the Kingdoms of the World. Vallier takes a dozen pages to define integralism but if it can be summarized in [...]
Oswald Clark and Paul Tuns, Analysis: Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in the 2022 Dobbs decision, U.S. pro-life organizations have fought a multifront effort to protect the preborn: they sought full or partial legal protection in predominantly Republican states, fought against efforts to expand abortion in Democrat-controlled states, and differed amongst themselves on how to best address the issue at the [...]
Interim Staff: Former Ontario attorney general and chief justice Roy McMurtry, who wrote the ruling legalizing same-sex “marriage,” died March 18, two months shy of his 92nd birthday. As Attorney General under then-premier Bill Davis in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, McMurtry helped get approval of Pierre Trudeau’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which inaugurated an era of judicial activism. In [...]
Paul Tuns: Brian Mulroney died last month at the age of 84 to widespread praise among politicians of all stripes despite leading what was the most scandal-plagued and unpopular government by the time he resigned. Three decades after leaving office in disgrace, he was lauded for his public service, Canada’s free trade agreement with the United States, and his environmental record. Not [...]
Interim Staff: In November 2023 the City of Hamilton conceded that it did not consider the Charter of Rights and Freedom’s guarantee of free expression rights when it rejected a bus advertising campaign by the Association for Reformed Political Action Canada (ARPA). ARPA had attempted to place ads on the outside of Hamilton Transit buses that featured an image of an ultrasound [...]
Paul Tuns: London city council voted 9-6 on March 5 in favour of asking city staff to draft a bylaw to ban images of aborted preborn children from public display. In the past, city staff had recommended against a ban on such images, saying that it could violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantee of freedom of speech and open the [...]