Norman Spector in a Globe and Mail blog post this morning notes:
For that, Quebec MNAs — whose own days these days are filled with allegations of corruption and such — will be able to turn to La Presse.There, a “reliable source” (meaning Dimitri Soudas is my guess) tells reporter Joel-Denis Bellavance:
“If a private members bill criminalizing abortion were tabled, it would be a party vote. So, all Conservative MPs would be required to vote against the bill. We never want such a bill to pass.”
Which goes beyond Mr. Soudas’s statement of the Harper government’s position as reported in The Globe and Mail article:
“The Prime Minister has consistently said throughout his political career, before we formed the government and even after, that our government will not initiate or support legislation that reopens the debate on abortion.”
Spector might be employing more conjecture than is justified; at the very least, he is stirring the pot. I’d also question the intentions and agenda of whoever said the first quote about the government not wanting a re-criminalization bill to pass. But it is these types of comments and the absolute refusal to ever utter the word abortion (except when denying they ever want to talk about it) that lends a little credibility to the Liberal/media talking point that the Conservative policy on abortion lacks clarity. I think the government’s agenda is clear — no funding for abortion through maternal health programs, no funding of activist abortion groups, and avoid any domestic debate of abortion along criminal or health policy lines — but I can see why the apparent contradictions and seemingly weaselly answer of not wanting to bring up the topic leaves some people wondering.
