Stephen Harper afraid of Niki Ashton

In this article in the Hill Times: PM's tight grip, PMO's 'boys in short pants' frustrating some restless Tory bacbenchers, Jessica Bruno says that:
"former deputy chief of staff to the PM says restless backbenchers are also frustrated by the caucus control of "the boys in short pants" running the PMO. "Certainly the level of control is higher even from when I was there," said Keith Beardsley in an interview with The Hill Times..."If he had let that go forward, the way the media responds—the attacks from the Niki Ashtons of the world and so on—would be that Harper’s direction is going back on abortion, he’s breaking his word”

I think Mr. Beardelsy is on to something here. Have you ever heard those noisy NDPers like Niki Asthon speak? There are many of these attack dog female MPs who always manage to link everything under the sun to Mr. Harper reopening the abortion debate. Ms. Ashton just seems to be the latest alpha female devoted to this line of work, and I think Mr. Harper doesn't like it.

Kind of ironic really, because we all know that we aren't allow to have an abortion debate in Parliament.

Below are a few examples of how this works.

Before Stephen Woodworth’s motion 312 was debated, is this exchange between Ms. Ashton and Rob Nicholson:
Niki Ashton. Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister promised Canadians that he would not reopen the debate on abortion. Nevertheless, that is exactly what one of his Conservative members is going to do tomorrow in the House. Canadian women have been fighting for decades for this right. Why is the Prime Minister not speaking out loudly and clearly against what his own party is trying to do here in the House?

Rob Nicholson. Mr. Speaker, the hon. member knows the rules with respect to private members’ bills. That bill will be debated as all other private members’ bills are debated in the House, in accordance with the rules of the House. I do not see why that should be a problem for the hon. member.

Niki Ashton. Mr. Speaker, during the election and in the House the Conservative government has said that it is not going to reopen the abortion debate, but that is exactly what it is doing in this very House. While other members have done this in the past, the Prime Minister has done something to stop it. This is not the case this time. He is saying one thing in the House while through the back door he is rolling back Canadian women’s rights. Will the Prime Minister stand in the House right now and tell his party that a woman’s right to choose in Canada in 2012 is not up for negotiation?

Rob Nicholson. Mr. Speaker, the government’s position has been very clear. Unlike the NDP, we do not muzzle our members as that party now does. The bill will be debated as all private members’ bills are debated.

Notice how Ms. Ashton completely ignores Mr. Nicholson's comments about private member's business, and instead goes for Mr. Harper's abortion juggler, about him not reopening the abortion debate. (Notice the forshadowing here though with Mr. Nicholson's statement that "Unlike the NDP, we do not muzzle our members as that party now does.")

Then this here:
"We should not return to using coat hangers (or) vacuum cleaners,” NDP status of women critic Niki Ashton said during the Woodworth debate.

“This is the Conservative party’s ‘Trojan horse’ agenda. During an election and even here in the House of Commons, they tell Canadians one thing and then they win . . . a majority government and we see what they truly mean. If the prime minister didn’t want a woman’s right to choose to be debated, we wouldn’t be here tonight.”

And this one here:
"In the Commons, New Democrat MP Niki Ashton blasted Harper for allowing Tory MPs to “reopen the abortion debate” despite his own promises.

“New Democrats are the only party united that will stand up to vote for women’s equality because this is not a matter of conscience. It is a matter of rights.”

Probably the best example, is this one regarding the born alive and left to die after abortion story. Watch Niki Ashton and Maurice Velacott being interviewed by CBC. Ashton completely ignores the story being discussed, i.e. born alive babies being left to die and Mr. Velacott asking the RCMP to investigate this fact as possible murders. Ms. Ashton either has no idea what she's talking about, or she purposely ignores the born alive aspect. Then she starts in on the expected: Mr. Harper "reopening the abortion debate" and "when will the Prime Minister put a stop to this".

So why do these female MPs do it? Because they know by equating everything to abortion, Mr. Harper digs his heels in a little deeper and abracadabra mission accomplished: no abortion debate. 

Is Mr. Harper afraid of Niki Ashton? Sure looks like it. And she and her cronies win every time. They keep all protection for the unborn from ever being discussed or debated in Parliament by simply uttering the magic words that Mr. Harper is reopening the aboortion debate and can't he keep those renegade MPs quiet.

This past week we witnessed a private member's motion actually being thrown out of Parliament when Mark Warawa's motion was deemed not votable. Now the Niki Ashtons are really winning because the Conservatives are now "muzzling" their own MPs from their rights associated with private member' business...

Bet Stephen Harper didn't know he worked for Niki Ashton.