The media and Liberal Party partied like it was 1982 and wondered why not everyone wanted to join them. But as pro-lifers warned in the negotiations leading up to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, it has been a flawed document, divisive and undemocratic. Worst of all, for all the trumpeting of its protection of individual rights, it does nothing to protect [...]
Between 1500 and 2000 concerned parents and taxpayers turned out for a hastily organized protest at Queen’s Park to call upon the McGuinty government to drop its so-called Safe Schools Act, calling the supposedly anti-bullying bill a Trojan horse to introduce gay activism into the schools and undermine parents as the primary educator of their children when it comes to matters [...]
Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth’s motion M-312 calling upon Parliament to debate whether an unborn child is a human being and the human rights implications of those findings, is scheduled for debate on April 26. The Kitchener Center MP introduced his motion in early February and in the first week of March the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs’ subcommittee on [...]
Elusive Destiny: The Political Vocation of John Napier Turner by Paul Litt (UBC Press, $39.95, 494 pages) When I first heard that there was a biography of John Turner being published, my reaction was simple: why? Turner was prime minister for the summer of 1984 (Parliament never sat while he was in office) and he did not seem to leave much of [...]
The campaign to scrap Canada’s ‘hate speech’ clause moved one step closer to victory Feb. 15 as the House of Commons voted 158-131 to send it to committee. Of those MPs who voted, the bill was unanimously supported by the majority Conservative government and opposed by all opposition members, except Newfoundland MP Scott Simms (Liberal, Bonavista-Gander-Grand Falls-Windsor). After consideration by the Standing [...]
On Feb. 6, MP Stephen Woodworth filed a motion with the Clerk of the House of Commons to ask Parliament to form a special committee to study what he called Canada’s “archaic” definition of human being, a move broadly supported by the Canadian pro-life movement. Woodworth, a Conservative MP from Kitchener-Centre, notes that Section 223(1) of the Criminal Code which defines human [...]
On Feb. 12, Liberal MP Justin Trudeau (Papineau) told Radio-Canada in Quebec that he could support the idea of separation to help protect socially liberal values such as abortion and same-sex “marriage.” Trudeau, the son of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau and someone who is often touted as a possible future leader of the beleaguered Liberal Party, was asked whether he [...]
In an election year, the Canadian public can expect to be flagellated with fantasies about the “hidden agenda” of pro-life politicians. When they are not defaming defenders of unborn children as “un-Canadian,” social liberals cry wolf, nagging the public with their own personal nightmares of a scary world in which children in the womb enjoy protection in law. In an interesting reversal, [...]
In 1729, Jonathan Swift, Dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, anonymously published a satirical pamphlet entitled, “A Modest Proposal,” arguing that Ireland’s food shortage – and many other social ills – could be assuaged with a simple, two-pronged solution: the murder of infants and the cannibalism of their corpses. Cunningly clothed in the language of moderation, Swift offered infanticide to the [...]
In the week before Christmas, a Conservative Kitchener-area MP, created a media storm when he issued a press release saying it was time for Parliament to reconsider the country’s antiquated Criminal Code provisions which do not acknowledge the child in the womb as a human being. Section 223 of the Criminal Code deals with homicide and Section 223(1) defines human being [...]
On Dec 6., the Institute for Canadian Values held a press conference at Queen’s Park condemning the Liberal government’s anti-bullying legislation as a violation of the religious rights of denominational schools, a threat against religious freedom, and an assault on the rights of parents to be the primary educators of their children. Dr. Charles McVety of Canada Christian College, Jack Fonseca [...]
On Nov. 30, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty introduced Bill 13, The Accepting Schools Act. This arrived on the heels of a tragic and much-publicized suicide involving Ottawa teenager, Jamie Hubley. The teen suffered with depression and happened to also be openly gay. The media dutifully painted the picture that Hubley committed suicide primarily due to “homophobic bullying” despite the fact his father [...]
Brian Storseth’s C-304 could be voted on by January Conservative MP Brian Storseth (Westlock-St. Paul) introduced C-304, a private member’s bill which, if passed, would delete sections 13 and 54 of the Canadian Human Rights Act. Section 13 “empowers the Commission to deal with complaints regarding the communication of hate messages by telephone or on the Internet” that [...]
A benign-sounding Ontario initiative could result in more abortions Few people living in Ontario have ever heard of the Fetal Alert Network (FAN). According to its webpage, FAN’s goal is “to provide coordinated access to the best care for all women whose babies have suspected or confirmed birth defects, regardless of where they live,” as “time can be a crucial factor in [...]
Philip Slayton, former dean of law at the University of Western Ontario, is not now and never has been a consistent advocate of judicial restraint, but at least he displays some belated concern over the excesses of judicial activism in his latest book aptly entitled Mighty Judgment, How the Supreme Court of Canada Runs Your Life. As examples of judicial legislation, [...]