This, from the CBC....
The Conservative government has been apathetic about abortion and should be more moderate, Conservative MP Brad Trost {Remember him? He was the one who spearheaded the movement to defund PP} says.Full story here...
On Wednesday, he said the government's decision to provide funding to the International Planned Parenthood Federation for sex education and contraception programs has reopened the abortion debate. The Saskatchewan MP is opposed to abortion and opposes funding for Planned Parenthood because the group provides abortions where the service is legal.
Speaking to CBC's Evan Solomon, host of Power & Politics, Trost said the government should "take a position that's at least moderate, rather than the extreme left position that we're taking."
"I don't think the government takes an actively left-wing position, but the government has taken an apathetic position toward it, and I don't feel that's appropriate. I feel that it's a civil rights issue that needs to be addressed," Trost said.
......{skipped a bit}
"Prime Minister Harper is always very fair. While he probably won't be exactly thrilled with what I'm saying, they do understand there's differences of opinion in the caucus on this issue," he said. {The Conservative Party, in itself, is pro-family and pro-life. It's leader and certain MP's though, well.....you get the point}
NDP International Co-operation critic Hélène Laverdière said there isn't a huge debate in Canada over abortion, but the debate seems to be raging inside the Conservative Party.
"The Tories have to tell us if they're ready to respect ... a woman's right to choose," she said. {A womans right to choose to kill a human being?}
"In Canada right now, women have the right to choose and we still don't understand why we would say that women in less developed countries wouldn't have the same right to choose as Canadian women," Laverdière added. {The NDP is official opposition. They are staunchly socialist, and staunchly pro-choice. They're the equivalent to the Labour Party}
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has consistently said he doesn't want to re-open the debate over abortion in Canada. {Well TOO BAD about it. He's going to have to listen and debate and he can fuss all he wants}
The issue arose last year when Harper announced maternal and child health would be a focus of the Canadian-hosted G8 meeting in Muskoka, and again last April when Trost said Planned Parenthood had been "de-funded" as a result of petitions by anti-abortion groups.
Last week, CBC News reported the Conservative government would give Planned Parenthood $6 million for sex education and contraception projects in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Mali, Sudan and Tanzania.
The group's funding ran out in 2009, and the Canadian International Development Agency didn't respond to its 2009 or 2010 requests for financial support.
In a statement posted on his website Wednesday afternoon, Trost says Canada's anti-abortion movement must be more aggressive.
"Many, many Conservative MPs pressed the [prime minister's office] to stop the funds from flowing," Trost wrote on his website. "Federal funding did stop for a time. Funds allocated to IPPF were considerably reduced. Furthermore, federal grants for IPPF also had more strings attached. {The Conservative Party has more pro-life MP's than any other party in the House of Commons.}
"This only happened because of the pressure applied. This was a real victory.
"Pro-life politicians have been taught a lesson. The government only responds to pro-life issues and concerns when we take an aggressive stance. We will apply this lesson."
MPs started asking quietly in 2006 for the funding to be pulled, Trost writes, but they were ignored because they asked politely behind closed doors. Trost says the campaign went public in 2009 and that's when they saw results.
In April, International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda said Planned Parenthood was eligible for funding as long as they fit the criteria her agency had set out. The government said the money allotted for maternal and child health projects was not to be used for abortion funding.
It's about bloody time! This legal slaughter has been going on for too long, one day is too long. But all these years?
Canada traditionally has been a conservative country, focussed on the family. Well, ever since the 60's and 70's, even the conservatives (small-c) have liberalised.
PRAY! St Joseph is Canada's Patron Saint.
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