Harper stiff-arms Tory talk of reopening abortion debate
In the face of dissension within the party, Stephen Harper's Conservative government is reiterating its commitment to not reopen the debate on abortion.
"Throughout his political career, the prime minister has been clear on this issue," said Dimitri Soudas, a spokesman for the prime minister. "We will not introduce or support legislation on abortion."
The issue resurfaced Monday when Rod Bruinooge, a Conservative MP for Winnipeg South, published an opinion piece in the National Post arguing why he has "no choice but to advocate for the unborn and seek to have their value restored."
Bruinooge was recently elected chairman of the Parliamentary Pro-Life Caucus, a multi-party caucus that predates the Harper government by many years. Bruinooge could not be reached for comment.
Conservative officials were quick to denounce any suggestion that the government will reopen the debate on abortion, but the issue is likely not closed.
So. I guess we have our answer: Slow news week.
4 comments:
Oh that Stevie and his jolly band of RepubliCons. Whatever will they spin next?
Interesting, but not too surprising. Steve knows this issue is a dog he doesn't want to walk.
The only reason it got so much attention was the change of chairman to Bruinooge. I do think it's interesting that this was announced 3 weeks ago, and someone thought it needed to be announced again for some reason.
At any rate -- what are these people in this caucus doing, sitting around having tea and talking about how to take away our rights? Not acceptable. If they're discussing things that might impact on public policy, there shouldn't be secrecy. They need to be outed. Yesterday.
As if any PMO statement can be taken to be truth. I'm too tired to even list the number of lies Harper has told since getting into office. It seems that the frequency has tripled since the last election.
I realize I'm in the minority on this, as opposed to Marci Mcdonald's position, but I just don't see Steve as a theo-con. He has argued against bringing socon ideals into the public sphere all the way back to his disagreements with Preston Manning's caucus.
The greater danger is that these neanderthal notions will be sufficiently well-funded to gain traction with a larger proportion of voters, as they have in the US. At that point Steve's political pragmatism will kick in and then he will support them.
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