During 1987, some two dozen Members of Parliament spoke out in the house of Commons on abortion. Under Standing Order 21, an opportunity is given to MPs each day before Question Period to make one-minute statements on topics of their choosing. Pro-life members took advantage of this opportunity during the course of the year. As well, debates on Mitges’ Motion, John Reimer’s [...]
Bill Gottselig is the federal Member of Parliament for the riding of Moose Jaw. A lifelong resident of rural Saskatchewan, Mr. Gottselig was a farmer and businessman before his election to the House of Commons in 1984. He also served as the mayor of Outlook, Saskatchewan for six years. He is married and has three children. During the 1984 election campaign, Mr. [...]
Rob Nicholson is serving his first term as a Member of Parliament and at 35 years of age is one of the youngest Members of the House of Commons. A life-long resident of the Niagara Falls area, Nicholson is a former partner in the law firm Coy, Barch in St. Catharines, Ontario. He was educated at Queens University and the University of [...]
Being the Family Party Coalition candidate for Etobicoke West was not as unpleasant as I thought it might be and it involved a greater variety of activity than I expected. Although I had never intended to run for public office, I had to become a voice for the unborn to oppose the existing political situation. When the election was called, we lacked [...]
Saskatchewan’s social services minister, Grant Schmidt, is under fire for giving funding to a Christian adoption agency and for saying publicly that homosexuals should not be eligible to adopt children. Christian Counselling Services of Saskatoon will become the province’s first private adoption agency and the government grant of $100,000 will fund a one year pilot programme. An agency spokesman said that the [...]
The Ontario government under David Peterson is putting its programme for more abortions into high gear now that the Liberals have been re-elected with a commanding majority. Health Minister Elinor Caplan recently announced that women’s health clinics are planned for a dozen Ontario hospitals. Ostensibly intended to provide a range of women’s health services, these clinics will in fact principally function as [...]
Jim Jepson, Member of Parliament for London East, was first elected to the House of Commons in September 1984. A native of Hamilton, Ontario, Mr. Jepson is a businessman, owning a canvas manufacturing firm. He and his wife Beverly have three children and are members of West Park Baptist Church in London. Mr. Jepson has made many statements in the House of [...]
“Important!” “Exciting!” “Historic event!” These were the words that Ray Pennings used to describe the forthcoming national founding convention of the Christian Heritage Party (CHP) to be held on November 18 to 20, at the Convention Centre in Hamilton, Ontario. It’s understandable that Ray should be so excited about the forthcoming event because he’s the convention chairman and in charge of the [...]
The results of the recent provincial election in Ontario must have given cold comfort indeed to Ed Broadbent and the federal New Democratic Party. While achieving official opposition status at Queen’s Park and successfully resisting the Liberal tidal-wave in terms of popular vote, the Ontario NDP failed to capture the imagination of the uncommitted, of disaffected “Red Tories,” or of left-wing Liberals. [...]
During and after every election Campaign Life Coalalition finds itself the subject of attack. The recent Ontario election was no exception, when our detractors included two Catholic priests. They wrote to complain about our tactics and one of them suggested that we were “abrasive and self-riteous” Well that’s not the stuff that swelled heads are made of and so we took a [...]
Gay rights in Manitoba Pat Soenen On July 16, following a marathon session, Manitoba’s NDP government passed its controversial Human Rights Code (Bill 47), into legislation. The Code, introduced in May by Attorney General Roland Penner, encountered very stiff opposition due primarily to the inclusion of “sexual orientation” among the prohibited grounds of discrimination. The weeks following introduction and preceding passage of [...]
July 1985 Premier Peterson, speaking in the Ontario Legislature, confirms that the new Liberal/NDP government will seek “methods of having fair and even access across the province for regularly constituted abortion clinics.” Verbal violence of the media (Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, television and radio) against pro-life picketers continues to accelerate (“Anti-choice fanatics…”, anti-choice extremists…”, dangerous lunatic fringe…”, Pro-life terrorists…”, deranged minority…”, [...]
Ontario Tories, October 1984 The Ontario Tory leadership race is under way. Candidate Dennis Timbrell declares that he accepts the federal law on abortion (Section 251 of the Criminal Code). However, he opposed abortion on demand and any further liberalization of the abortion law. December 1984 The Attorney General Roy McMurtry, appeals the November 1984 jury acquittal of Morgentaler, but only after [...]
It has been customary for the NDP, just as it has been for the Canadian Abortion Rights Action League, to deny that the movement is “pro-abortion.” On December 23, 1984, Toronto Sun columnist Claire Hoy discussed Morgentaler and the NDP. He first refuted a Toronto Star editorial of December 21, which had argued that Morgentaler should not have been re-charged. This, Hoy [...]
With the coming election and campaign to vote life, there will undoubtedly be the usual criticisms levied against our single issue voting. Criticisms like those published in an editorial entitles “Taste and Ethics” in the Catholic weekly, The Prairie Messenger. That 1982 editorial contended: But it is not sound reasoning to base one’s ballot decision on any single issue…Surely no one is [...]