Pro-life cause makes gains, marriage situation uncertain Despite a desperate and cynical 11th-hour attempt by Prime Minister Paul Martin to use abortion as a wedge issue, Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party won a plurality of seats on Jan. 23 and, more significantly, the number of pro-life MPs increased. What this means in terms of introducing and passing pro-life and pro-family legislation remains to [...]
From the editor's desk Covering elections is difficult in the best of circumstances. The best circumstance, in my mind, is that of a daily paper with dozens of reporters, dozens more editors, and a multi-million-dollar budget – the type that can afford the $3,500-a-day price tag for a media bus ticket that the campaigns charge. Less than ideal circumstances are two-writer/editor outfits [...]
Throughout the course of the winter campaign, then-prime minister Paul Martin frequently taunted Stephen Harper about his supposed “hidden agenda.” Such rhetoric jeopardizes deliberative debate - it prefers innuendo and suspicion to facts and arguments, it is used to scare voters and it panders to their misplaced sympathies and irrational fears. But it is also shrewd. Martin’s rhetorical campaign against the Conservatives [...]
A longtime friend of mine, an expatriate from the United Kingdom via Toronto, living permanently in Quebec, is voting for the Bloc and so are almost all of his English-speaking friends. They want to rid themselves of the Gomery-tarred Liberals. (And there isn’t a pro-life candidate to be found.) If this becomes a trend in the forthcoming election, maybe the Liberals in [...]
There is much shrewd policy advice in Rescuing Canada’s Right: Blueprint for a Conservative Revolution by Tasha Kheiriddin and Adam Daifallah. However, the overall plan of the work is fundamentally flawed. If Stephen Harper and his conservative advisers were to adopt the libertarian policy platform advocated in this book, they would consign the Conservative party of Canada to political oblivion. Kheiriddin and [...]
Americans are bracing themselves for a divisive cultural battle, because on Jan. 9, the U.S. Senate will begin confirmation hearings for Judge Samuel Alito, who was nominated as an associate Supreme Court justice by President George W. Bush in October, to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Unlike the relatively genteel John Roberts, however, who was easily confirmed as chief justice last [...]
Here’s to you, Mr. Robinson. Over the years, Svend Robinson’s flagrant contempt for the law, disregard for parliamentary decorum, and general antipathy towards the time honored traditions of Canada and her people, have made him a symbol of everything unserious in our political process. His pranks are almost more troubling than his policy positions. After the Supreme Court ruled against euthanasia, he [...]
With a federal election in full swing, anti-American attitudes have once again sprung to the surface among Canada’s political class. In December, Prime Minister Paul Martin took a swipe at the United States for failing to yield to the “global conscience” on the perceived global warming crisis. The U.S. ambassador to Canada, David Wilkins, responded with a thinly veiled rebuke, saying Canada [...]
Liberal, Conservative approaches differ over the best venue for raising children The Interim “Beer and popcorn.” That’s supposedly what Canadian parents will waste their money on under the Conservative party’s new choice-in-childcare allowance. And that’s what two of Liberal leader Paul Martin’s closest advisers, Scott Reid and John Duffy, were saying about the Conservatives’ “Choice in Childcare” plan. At least, they were [...]
One of the key figures in the social conservative political revival in the U.S., and in the election and re-election of President George W. Bush, brought his formula for success to Canada recently, in the hopes that some his accomplishments south of the border would rub off in this country. Ralph Reed, the former head of the influential Christian Coalition who has [...]
On day one of the election campaign, Stephen Harper was asked about same-sex “marriage” and his response was completely predictable: he would be open to revisiting the issue in the next parliament and that he would allow a free vote. The next day the media dutifully reported that Harper dropped the “divisive” and “controversial” issue of same-sex “marriage” into the election campaign [...]
It is your responsibility to elect MPs that will uphold the values that you believe in. No issue could possibly be as important as abortion. Without the basic right to life all else is meaningless. There is no social justice issue that comes even close to the importance of this one. Don’t accept anyone telling you otherwise. If we stand together for [...]
According to the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada’s resource material for pastors and other church leaders, a church may take part in the following election-time activities: 1) “Invite all candidates to speak at the same event or service, or organize an all-candidates debate” 2) “Encourage its members to get to know the candidates and to ask about issues of concern” 3) “Provide information [...]
Some pro-lifers might think that a candidate belonging to a certain party is unworthy of support, even if that candidate has a solid pro-life record, because the party as a whole is anti-life. Well-deserved criticism of the Liberal and Tory records, for example, might lead people to dismiss individual candidates out of hand. It is important to remember, however, that in the [...]