At its annual strategy meeting in Halifax, N.S., in November 1991 Campaign Life Coalition asked all Canadians to reject the appeal of Mr. Ed Broadbent for a ‘penny per Canadian’ to raise $250,000 for the International Centre for Human Rights in Montreal.

“CLC Canada condemns the Centre’s plan to provide funds for pro-abortion propaganda in Poland, as announced in the Centre’s press release of November 15, 1991.”  (Halifax Herald, November 16, 1991)

The CLC press release also announced that CLC/Nova Scotia will not intervene in the provincial appeal to the Supreme Court with respect to funding for the Morgantaler abortuary in Halifax.

While CLC/NS supports continued provincial control of health matters, “It recognizes the current provincial government as pro-abortion and not interested in the defense of human life from conception to natural death.”

Annual meeting

The Nova Scotia government funds abortion committed in hospitals.

Campaign Life Coalition’s annual meeting in Halifax, November 15-17, 1991, was its fourteenth national political strategy meeting.  The sessions were attended by some 70 participants, 20 from across Canada outside the Maritimes, the remainder from Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick.

There was a lot of serious discussion on vital topics such as euthanasia, media relations and abortion and conscience.

CLC president Jim Hughes paid tribute to the memory of Nova Scotian pro-life leader Ed Newell.

Hughes said Newell made a significant contribution to the pro-life movement nationally by helping the political and educational wings of the movement establish closer cooperation.  Hughes said an equivalent move should be undertaken in the Atlantic region, to the benefit of all sectors of the movement.

Some questions arose among session participants as to whether such collaboration would cause educational organizations to lose their tax status.  Mr. Hughes’ response was that collaborative activity does not inhibit any organization because it takes place on the level of individuals, not organizations.

In the meantime, CLC/Nova Scotia is committed to establishing a presence in every federal riding in the province.  Only those candidates of mainline parties will be recognized as pro-life when they are willing to break the party line on abortion and do so publicly.

Federal MP Mary Clancy (Halifax), who claims one can be a Catholic yet pro-abortion, was especially denounced for her untruthful stand.

Voters Identification Program

Also discussed and rejected was participation in a Voters Identification Program.  Delegates objected to such a project for a number of reasons: It requires a great deal of computer input; it is expensive to maintain and to update; it is a drain on manpower; the answers are unreliable, and as a result the program has no proven political worth.

Judy Brown of the American Life League (ALL) in the U.S. calls it “a make-work project.  It’s absolutely useless.”