Friday, November 15, 2013

Conservative policy convention - But what does it mean?

This week I received an email from Minister Jason Kenney. It came with a link to an article in the Calgary Sun regarding the recent Conservative Party's policy convention in Calgary.

After reading the article, I replied to the Minister with this email.

Dear Minister Kenney,
 
I was guardedly happy to hear that the Conservative grass roots delegates have voted on two pro-life initiatives, condemning sex selection abortion and euthanasia.

This is welcome news. I have a couple of questions that I would really appreciate if you could answer for me.

What I would like to know now is, how will your government respond to these issues, in particular the condemning of sex-selection abortion? It is encouraging that the delegates condemn the practice, but condemning sex-selection abortion as a policy of the Conservative party is one thing, but action taken by Prime Minister Harper and the government, in Parliament, is another one entirely.

And how does this jibe with Mark Warawa's own motion on the same subject, a motion that was deemed non-votable because it was outside of federal jurisdiction (supposedly because it was under provincial jurisdiction)? That is, why is it legitimate for a federal party to condemn the practice, but outside of Parliament's jurisdiction to condemn the practice?

The Conservative base has spoken on sex-selection abortion. However, they also supported the Unborn Victims of Crime policy resolution at the 2008 Conservative policy convention. Yet, five years later, that support still has not translated into any kind of policy, bill, or motion. With all due respect, Mr. Kenney, if the Conservative base speaks in such a clear way on something as important as this, but that never actually translates into concrete action by the Conservative government, I don't see why I would get excited about it.

I must be very honest with you. I really need to see some changes in the value system of the leadership of the Conservative party before the next election. As it stands now, and if, the Conservative government continues to support the status quo on abortion (i.e. if it maintains its pro-abortion position) and/or Mr. Harper remains leader, I could not in good conscience vote Conservative. I would probably vote for the Christian Heritage party since I couldn't vote NDP or Liberal.

Mr. Kenney the lack of any real pro-life initiatives coming from the Conservatives is very troubling for me and for many other social conservatives in this fine country. I believe this really is becoming a conscience issue for many of us.

I sincerely hope that we will all see some real substantial changes in this regard before the next election.

Thank you in advance for taking the time to respond to the questions/concerns I have raised.

Sincerely,
Patricia Maloney

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