Should trade unions be allowed to interfere in the personal, social, moral, political and religious lives of their members, considering membership and union dues are compulsory? Any free society should say no. Today in Canada, trade unions are allowed to impose their values on their forced membership. Unions receive their certification for collective bargaining and this has progressed into collective coercion. Trade [...]
At a ceremony at United Nations headquarters April 11, the required instruments of ratification for the entry into force of the Rome Statute to establish the International Criminal Court were formally lodged by 10 nations. The deposited ratifications of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ireland, Jordan, Mongolia, Niger, Romania, and Slovakia brought the total number of ratifying [...]
Campaign Life Coalition's Ottawa office is always encouraged when it receives reports from "the field" about how pro-lifers have met their MPs to educate and encourage them to support pro-life measures in Parliament. CLC exists to encourage politicians to do the right thing on life issues, but it emphasizes that the best influence comes from a politician's own constituents. It is an [...]
Christian Heritage Party leader Ron Gray has a job that no one would envy — he has to get Christians to put their faith into action, particularly in the political arena. At the Feb. 22 Christian Heritage Party convention, Gray made the case in stark terms: we have no choice. Noting the obstacles we face, obstacles that include a hostile media, threats [...]
On March 20, literally hours before going to press, Stephen Harper, the former MP and president of the National Citizens Coalition, won a decisive first-round victory in the Canadian Alliance leadership race. In the first days of the campaign, Harper began to reach out to social conservatives on a number of fronts: he supported parental rights in discipline, wanted democratic reforms to [...]
One of the most important aspects of federal political activity being watched by pro lifers is Roy Romanow's health care commission. Romanow has presented his interim report and announced the beginning of cross-country public consultations. This commission, launched to address the growing crisis in health care, is an excellent opportunity to raise the abortion funding issue. Provincial governments are de-listing previously funded [...]
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told an international audience on MTV that people should "forget about conservative ideas with respect to what you should tell young people about" sex-related issues. He said the failure to discuss condoms puts the "lives of young people" at risk. "I not only support their use, I encourage their use among people who are sexually active [...]
It is amusing, in a way, that the media claims abortion is not a political issue, that no one but pro-lifers care about it anymore, and yet candidates in the centre-right parties must always answer reporters questions about it. If it is not an issue on the minds of voters, why do some candidates try to use abortion as a wedge issue. [...]
On Jan. 7 2002, in Montreal Stockwell Day launched his campaign to succeed himself as Canadian Alliance leader. By the choice of this location, he wanted to show that he was the only pan-Canadian candidate for the Alliance leadership race. Notwithstanding a certain false enthusiasm of the 200 attendees, the beginning of his campaign was not a great success: only four Alliance [...]
When Mike Harris announced that he was retiring as premier of Ontario, his possible successors began to state their positions: Red Tory, neo-conservative, centrist. Taken together, their statements provided some understanding of what conservatism means in Ontario in the 21st century In a column under the headline "Neo-con Long is key to leadership," Toronto Star columnist Ian Urquart wrote that Tom Long, [...]
With the announcement by Stephen Harper on national television that he is "moderately pro-life," it seems that each of the four contenders for the leadership of the Canadian Alliance supports a pro-life position, at least to some degree. As LifeSite has reported: "While former leader Stockwell Day and Dr. Grant Hill were clear on their pro-life stands from the beginning of the [...]
In a 1995 opinion article for Saturday Night magazine, conservative columnist David Frum argued that gay and lesbian weddings would destroy the institution of marriage. "To revitalize marriage, we must constantly remind people of how much society honours it," wrote Frum. "Nothing could be better calculated to diminish marriage in people's eyes than an elite insistence on uni-sexing it. Gay marriage will [...]
Responding to public pressure organized by supporters of Robert Latimer to have the federal government grant a royal prerogative of mercy negating his mandatory 10-year sentence for the murder of his daughter Tracy, a Nova Scotia MP presented a private member's bill opposing the granting of leniency to killers of people with disabilities. Wendy Lill (NDP, Dartmouth) presented Bill M-372 on Oct. [...]
The latest word on Parliament Hill is that the three contenders for the leadership of the Canadian Alliance are Larry, Curly and Moe. Sources say that if there's a tie vote, the party's position on populist decision-making may have to move to a new level. If not, the best reports indicate that the losers will then enter the leadership race for the [...]
The ongoing terrorist concern has eclipsed every other issue on Parliament Hill in recent weeks, so there isn't a lot to report from the federal scene in terms of developments on the life issues. It would be a good time to remind you of the various private members, bills and motions that have been introduced and could be drawn for debate at [...]