Don Martin and Pierre Lemieux - let's talk about abortion

Dear Don Martin,

Thanks for your great interview with Conservative leadership candidate Pierre Lemieux.

Mr. Lemieux speaks for many many social conservatives in this country with his strong stand against abortion (he's not afraid to say he's against abortion) and for free speech rights. I myself am very concerned with both these issues.

Like Mr. Lemieux I am opposed to abortion, and am currently awaiting a ruling from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Ontario on our Charter Challenge against the Ontario government for hiding abortion information. Our case is based on freedom of speech rights: how can I practice my freedom of expression rights in commenting meaningfully on how many abortions are performed in Ontario, and their cost, when the Ontario government prevents me from seeing that information?

I can't really think of two more important Canadian values, than the right of life for ALL Canadians including the pre-born, and the very old. And Freedom of Speech itself is the cornerstone of Canadian democracy. 

Mr. Lemieux stands for both of these values. I will be voting for him, and I thank him sincerely for his standing for what I believe in.

Sincerely,

Patricia Maloney

CBC doesn't report Pierre Lemieux's pro-life news

A couple of days ago CPC leadership candidate Pierre Lemieux announced that he would make sex-selection abortion illegal.

Good. A politician making an unambiguous stand against one type of abortion: The kind that targets baby girls. So nice to see principled and politician in the same sentence.

So off I went to see how the media was reporting on this news. What did I find? Well there seems to be one article out there in the mainstream media, all from the Canadian Press: Toronto Star, National Post, Huffington Post, CTV, Global News, as well as a bunch of local newspapers.

The Globe and Mail didn't bother to publish anything at all. They are always biased against anything pro-life, so this wasn't a surprise.

But what is really interesting, is that the CBC also didn't bother to publish anything. That would be the same CBC who thinks they aren't biased towards abortion. But they are, as I have written many times.

So why didn't the CBC, our publicly funded, national broadcaster, not report to their national listeners that there is a very vocal CPC leadership contender out there, who will make sex-abortion illegal?

Can you answer that for us CBC? We really want to know what excuses you'll make this time.

Christine Elliott: hiding abortion information not on agenda

I've received repeated emails from Christine Elliott in her bid for the Conservative leadership. 

I've repeatedly responded to her, asking her what she would do to repeal the Liberals decision to hide abortion statistics.

Finally, I responded to one of her emails with this:

Dear Christine, 

I don't think you are listening. You aren't doing or saying anything about the Liberals hiding abortion information. And you don't reply to my emails about it. Nope. You're not listening. You're ignoring. You're sticking your head in the sand. Wait until the Liberals decide to hide something that you do care about. Because it will happen. Will you listen then? 

Sincerely,
Patricia Maloney

Here is Christine's response to me:

Dear Pat, 

Thanks for taking the time to write. I apologize for the delay in getting back to you and appreciate your patience. 

I am running to be our next Leader so we can rebuild the Ontario PC Party, and so we can rebuild our province. 

I want to thank you for bringing this matter to my attention.  At this time however, this is not an issue that is on my agenda for this particular leadership campaign, but I appreciate your input. I encourage you to contact the Office of the Leader of the Opposition, at the conclusion of this campaign, to further discuss this issue. 

With the right Leader and the right team, I know we can build a better future for our province and our children. 

I am ready to lead. I am ready to win. 

Sincerely,
Christine Elliott

There you have it. This affront to our democratic rights, just isn't on Christine Elliott's agenda.

Social Conservatives and Stephen Harper

Mike Schouten: Memo to Harper — the abortion issue isn’t going away

Schouten says:

"His actions [Harper's], especially regarding Motion 408, have caused division within his own party. Approximately one quarter of Mr. Harper’s voting base are social conservatives and adamantly pro-life. These are the folks who have been the foot soldiers in the Conservatives’ rise to success. If Harper will not allow even a discussion to take place on this issue — if he prefers to kowtow to Canada’s most militant feminists (none of whom are ever going to vote for him anyway — then he will isolate many of his supporters. Why should these people continue to work for his party, or even show up to vote for it?

In fact, political pundits are openly opining that a new leadership race in the Conservative party could well happen before 2015 — partly because of this issue. In response to CCBR’s project, long-time politico and former PMO Chief of Staff Norman Spector commented on Twitter: “Why Stephen Harper won’t be running in 2015.”

Maybe it's time for the Conservative Party to call for a leadership race. If they don't, the party may very well lose its Social Conservative votes, which as Schouten points out, is at least a quarter of the party. I suggest the party pay attention to the abortion issue. If they don't, they do so at their own peril. It's their call.