Former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau was proud of the fact that he had “led” the country in bringing in the present abortion legislation in 1969. In an interview with the British Broadcast System (BBC) in 1970, he proudly said that his party took a leadership role to bring in the abortion legislation in 1969, even though there was no consensus among the Canadian public.
It would appear that the Liberal Party remains not only out of touch with the mainstream Canadian public on the abortion issue, but also, out of touch with the rank-and-file of its own membership.
This became apparent at Liberal Leadership Campaign in June of this year. As soon as delegates received leaflets prepared by Liberals for Life, informing them that Donald Johnston favoured abortion on demand, his support melted like the snows in springtime.
Similarly, when Mr. Turner spoke at the women’s issues workshop during the convention, it was very apparent that the majority of those present were totally opposed to the pro-abortion cause. During the discussion, Mr. Turner said that the abortion issue has provoked a polarization of views in our pluralistic society and that, on the one hand, there were many claiming that a woman should have a right to her body (this comment was met with applause); on the other hand, many believe that human life begins at conception, (this comment was net with even stronger applause and, in fact, those present said the positive reaction to the last statement was at least three to four times stronger than that of the pro-abortionists.)
It is obvious that the policies and positions of the Liberal party must be changed if it wants the support of not only the majority of Canadians, but also of its own rank-and-life.
By espousing the position that the present law is satisfactory, the Federal Liberal Party is in a predicament. It is hard to believe that the deaths of over 1,000,000 unborn Canadian babies since 1969 is satisfactory. Certainly the party’s policy makers don’t actually believe this. The ‘rank and file’ overwhelmingly reject this position.
This insensitivity to grass-roots opinion was thrown into sharp focus with the recent spate of Liberal nominations being handed to a clutch of hard-line, anti-life feminists. One such example is Lucie Pepin, former president of the P.Q. Planned Parenthood and just retired president of the Federal Advisory Council on the Status of Women, who was asked to step into the absolutely secure riding of Outremont, held by retiring Marc Lalonde. (Mr. Lalonde has a history of planting pro-abortion feminists in high offices – Monique Begin, Former Minister of Health and Welfare, Ceine Hervieux-Payette, former Minister of Sports, and having as his one-time special assistant, Patricia Merrin, a former executive director of Planned Parenthood Toronto).
Trudeau’s own riding of Town of Mount Royal, has nominated Sheila Finestone, former member of the Quebec Status of Women. June Towlands has been nominated in Toronto’s York Scarborough riding and, of course, Iona Campagnolo is brandishing the pro-abortion feminist platform in Vancouver North-Burnaby riding.
It appears that the establishment in the Liberal Party maybe making some decisions that maybe fatal to the party. No party stays in power if it doesn’t represent the views of the majority of people.
