Andrew Lawton This summer marks one year since the implementation of Bill C-16, the legislation that catapulted Professor Jordan Peterson to fame and galvanized a much-needed discussion about freedom of expression in Canada. Though we have yet to see the first public prosecution under the bill, its free speech implications are still very much alive. The bill updated the Criminal [...]
Grassroots pro-life and pro-family delegates scored a number of victories at the Conservative policy convention in Halifax, August 23-25. Campaign Life Coalition vice president Jeff Gunnarson, said, “overall, the pro-life-and-family movement had a hugely successful convention,” despite missing out on what he called “the top prize” of deleting Article 65. That article, added to the policy handbook in 2016, commits a Conservative [...]
Ontario Premier Doug Ford In July, the Doug Ford government confirmed it would repeal the 2015 Kathleen Wynne’s sex-ed program, fulfilling a leadership and campaign promise to rescind the controversial curriculum while the government carried out a new, inclusive consultation process. The rollout was botched, with no details of what the consultations would look like and Education Minister Lisa Thompson [...]
Talk Turkey Josie Luetke Not-so-breaking news: The Progressive Conservatives won the Ontario election and nine pro-life PC candidates whom CLC green-lighted now have seats in the legislature. I’m sure their activities will be closely monitored and reported on over the next four years, so at least for this column I want to direct my attention to those pro-life candidates who [...]
UN ambassador Nikki Haley has followed lead of Trump administration in keeping abortion out of recent statements. A disagreement over abortion between the Trump administration and European governments has set the stage for a showdown in the UN General Assembly this fall. At issue is the inclusion of various phrases used to support abortion in an annual UN resolution on [...]
A coalition of Canadian companies and a Christian student ministry are taking Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government to court over its requirement that they declare support for legal abortion and other political stances in order to participate in the country’s summer jobs program. The Canada Summer Jobs Program offers money to groups that hire students for summer positions. In a break from previous [...]
On June 27, Justice Anthony Kennedy announced he is retiring from the United States Supreme Court, providing President Donald Trump an opportunity to appoint his second judge to the top court. In 2016, Trump appointed originalist and pro-life judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. Kennedy was appointed to the Court by Ronald Reagan in 1987 after the Senate rejected his original [...]
On June 15, in a 7-2 ruling, the Canadian Supreme Court found that the law societies of British Columbia and Ontario have the power to refuse to accredit law school graduates of Trinity Western University because the Christian school’s community covenant binds students to a code of conduct, that among other things, includes abstaining from sex outside of heterosexual marriage. The Court [...]
Law Matters John Carpay You know a court ruling is bad when judges deliberately ignore the evidence placed before them. But reality was brushed aside in the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision to repudiate, nullify, and revoke the fundamental Charterfreedoms of Trinity Western University (TWU), its staff, and its students. According to the justices, Charter-protected freedom of religion was narrowed [...]
It is argued that a return to true federalism – i.e., strengthening the role of provinces and regions in Canada – may lead to a more balanced society in the future. While there is no returning to the Old Canada which existed “before the ‘60s,” it is possible that the “New Canada” could reach out to incorporate some better aspects of the [...]
A common strategy employed by “pro-choice” advocates today is to claim that women in Canada have the constitutional right to abortion. For example, Justin Trudeau, speaking in 2014 before he had yet become Prime Minister, said: “Since 1988, the Supreme Court of Canada has affirmed that a woman’s right to choose in this matter is part of her fundamental rights and freedoms…. [...]
Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau is actively promoting "comprehensive sexual and reproductive health" abroad. While media were distracted by the free trade flare-up between U.S. President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the G7 Summit held in Charlevoix, Quebec, June 8-9, focused on not only the standard issues for such meetings, like economic growth, employment, the environment, and global [...]
Ireland's Leo Valadkar said the country will have legal abortion by end of 2018. On May 25, two-thirds of Irish voters approved in a referendum repealing the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution which outlawed abortion on the Emerald Island. The Oireachtas (the Irish parliament) will vote by the end of the year on a proposed law legalizing abortion-on-demand in the [...]
Pro-family groups demand sex-ed program be repealed New Ontario Premier Doug Ford has reiterated his promise to repeal the sex-ed curriculum. On June 7, the Ontario Progressive Conservative party won more than 40 per cent of the vote and a majority at Queen’s Park, turfing the Liberal government after 15 years in power. Ford rode a wave of anti-Liberal sentiment [...]
Andrew Lawton This year will mark a departure from the usual political boredom summer brings, with a cultural battle brewing and a September deadline looming. At stake is when – not if – Ontario’s controversial sexual education curriculum will be repealed. During the Progressive Conservative leadership race and the general election campaign, Doug Ford was clear: if he wins, the [...]