Quebec birth rate rises
Despite expectations that the Quebec government’s policy of paying cash bonuses for newborn babies would not work, the number of babies born in the province increased for the second year running.
The bonuses range from $500 for a first child to $6,000 for three or more children. Parents are also given special provincial income tax deductions.
As a result, the number of parents having three or more children has jumped by over 20 per sent since the program began in 1988.
The Toronto Globe and Mail demographer Georges Mathews said that the incentives help, but there are more babies being born because the public has realized that Quebec is in the midst of a crisis.
Quebec still has a long way to go to reverse the trend of declining population. Its birthrate has climbed up to 1.5 children per woman of childbearing age from 1.2, compared to 1.75 elsewhere in Canada.
Penney out, MacDonald in
Pope John Paul II accepted the resignation of RC Archbishop of St. John’s, Nfld, Alphonsus Penney February 2, 1991, and at the same time has appointed as his replacement, the Bishop of Charlotteville, PEI, Most Rev. James H. MacDonald.
Former Archbishop Penney will “take an extended rest” and then hopes to return as a parish priest.
Last summer he was criticized by the commission appointed by himself for not reacting properly to sexual abuse allegations leveled against some of his clergy. Several priests and brothers have been charged and convicted on charges of sexual assault.
A pro-life Sunday
Human Life International (HLI) Canada sponsored a January ‘Prayer March for Life’ in Ottawa. Participants marched from the Supreme Court to Parliament Hill.
Although the turn-out was disappointing – only about 100 to 150 people – organizers believe the prayers surely came in time as the Senate was about to vote on Bill C-43.
A young woman from Montreal, who had been leading the rosary in French said it was her first time at a walk and that she felt good to be with so many pro-life people.
The crowded Mass at St. Patrick Church after the walk made up for the low on Parliament Hill. It was Pro-life Sunday in the Archdiocese of Ottawa, and this was reflected in the prayers and sermon.
Money for Women’s Centres
The Mulroney government has quietly reversed its earlier decision to cut off $1.2 million of aid to 76 feminist women’s Centres. Pro-abortion Secretary of State, Gerry Weiner quietly and successfully worked behind the scenes to get the funding restored for one more year.
Government funding continues to be restricted to radical feminist groups. On the other hand, alternative organizations like REAL Women continue to be deliberately excluded because they do not adhere to the radical feminist interpretation of ‘equality’.
Reform Party
Mr. Preston Manning, leader of the Western-based Reform Party (RP) has clarified that his party is not pro-life. In a recent interview in Toronto, he re-affirmed what has been the practice with Reform Party candidates in the past.
The Reform Party has policies on a variety of issues, but abortion is not one of them. The party will not allow its candidates to take a public stand against abortion nor, for that matter, on any other moral issue such as capital punishment, homosexual activity or anti-family education.
According to Reform Party rules, on all ‘moral’ issues RP candidates must first consult their constituents by referendum, then vote according to the outcome.
This means that for the Reform Party the killing of non-killing of pre-born babies is a matter of opinion and majority decision, not principle.
