… is happily dead.
203-91.
Happily.
Wait till the next one. It’ll happen.
Defenders of a woman’s right to choose. Be vigilant.
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abortion
Harper and the abortion issue…
…or non-issue… depending on where you stand.
I had an extensive back and forth with some conservative friends the other day on FB. I was referring to a piece by WK on how the abortion issue is NOT really off the table for the CPC. I don’t cut and paste these things very often, but it was a good debate.
Names removed to protect the innocent…
What do you think? Just an outlier of an issue or the long CPC long game?
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To my CPC friends: told ya so!
warrenkinsella.com
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What does uber-Liberal Kinsella have to do with anything? Harper has said repeatedly, no opening of this issue! ps – other parties have their share of members with similar views.11 hours ago ·
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Trashy: I guarantee that this will gain traction over the next 12 months. Take it to the bank. And while the Grits have 2 MPs who want to open the issue (no Dippers that I can think of) there are at least 16 Cons who are evangelicals and would love to see the issue opened up again.10 hours ago ·
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It’s a back bencher….let’s not get all “I told you so…” The guy’s got the right to an opinion…..it’s nothing…..10 hours ago · -
Trashy – Guys – this is the most whipped caucus since Voldemort took over Slitherin.10 hours ago · ·
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Trashy- NOTHING happens there without the nod of the PMO. Common knowledge here in O Dot.10 hours ago ·
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Trashy – ”Slytherin”10 hours ago · · 1
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Never going to happen Trashy and deep down I think you know it. Stop being so desperate to find faults!10 hours ago ·
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Trashy – I’m not. Just looking at this logically.
Think about it and put aside your partisan hat for a moment.
Can we agree that caucus discipline is of utmost importance to this government? That all messaging is carefully scripted and approved through the PMO? And that Harper himself, along with Mssrs Baird, Flaherty, Kenney, Clement and Toews, exercise strict control over the PMO?
If we can agree on this – and I really don’t see how it can be disputed – then why is it that a backbencher from Kitchener along with a few other Christian social conservatives, have managed to repeatedly raise the issue of “when does life begin”? They HAD to have the blessing of the PM.
Again, I’m not speaking as a partisan.
Here’s what I think. And don’t dismiss it out of hand. The PM knows that he is going to have about 8 years of a majority government. Yes, 8 years. It pains me to say that, but realistically, I cannot see the Grits (the NDP will decline without Layton) challenging the Harperites in the next election. I do think that the Cons won’t make any significant gains, but they will win another majority unless something unforeseen happens.
So, in the long game, claims and promises can legitimately change. He is telling the truth when he says that this government is not opening up the debate. For now. But IF a “discussion” happens about when life begins and IF the Cons see an opening, they will slowly start to suggest that maybe, just maybe, the laws should be revisited… in light of the “new” evidence that sprang for the “discussions”.
I think we can all agree that Harper is a social conservative and he personally is against abortion, right? So then, why wouldn’t he try to change the policy to fit his own weltanschungg and those of his fellow So-Cons.
Think about it. Point out the flaw in my logic.
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Tuesday at 07:57 ·
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IF a discussion is opened I (in his shoes) would know my job is about to end. I don’t think he is as stupid as many claim and job security and personal beliefs don’t make good bedfellows in his arena.Tuesday at 08:29 ·
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Personal freedoms and a “right to choose” will always trump one’s personal beliefs.Tuesday at 08:29 ·
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…because Harper is a political animal and he saves his capital for that which matters most; he uses the fringe stuff to his own means and he concentrates on those issues that matter…. this “issue” ( and it isn’t one for 80+ percent of the nation) is a time consuming, capital wasting journey into a social quagmire that he just doesn’t need. Harper may be anti abortion at home; but he’s too smart a politician to open this box….. think about it; why would you bring the social agenda into play when you don’t have to; in this case it’s a losing card to play and if you open it; it might just bite you at the polls. The “pro life” camp has tents, the pro choice crew drive honkin big RV’s and sleep at Hiltons….. no way Harper lets this get legs… private members bills are like Christmas cards, they get written; sent; read and thrown out….and waste a lot of resources and time.Tuesday at 09:16 ·
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TrashyOh, I am not suggesting that he is stupid! Rather the opposite. The one and only thing I admire about the guy is his skill as a tactician… brilliant! And this is the weakness in my argument. He is too smart to touch this thing with a ten foot kingfish… but then explain why he is giving so much platitude to some nobody backbenchers? And no XXX, I disagree with your outright dismissal of PMB’s and the MPs who sponsor them… these are the hearts and souls of the CPC!
And yes, you make valid points. But look at what Greg noted… will, in this case, personal freedoms and the right to choose trump Harper’s personal beliefs? I’m not so sure in this case.
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YES! Two smoking cessation aids now part of Ontario Drug Benefit Plan!!
When I quit 7 years ago, I used Zyban, the patch, nico-gum… everything I could get my hands on! And they worked!
Fortunately, the costs were covered under my drug plan… but most folks aren’t so lucky.
Lower future health care costs will many times over pay for the costs of this forward thinking initiative!
Now how is Hudak and his merry band of nay-sayers going to react to this? I mean, how can you argue against it? Win-win, right?
Naw, they’ll come up with some kind of distorted view of this… par for the course.
Kudos to the Ontario Grits for the timing of this announcement. Ol’ Tim is kinda being bounced around because of his sloppy handing of the abortion funding issue. Strike while the iron is hot, eh?
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Harper: maternal health does not include abortions under any circumstance…
Well, at least they have come clean on their 1950’s styled position!
Go team!
International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda said the government would consider funding family planning measures such as contraception, but not abortion under any circumstances.
“We’re saying that we’re using the definition in our discussions of family planning, which does not include abortion,” Oda told reporters on Monday in Halifax, where she was meeting with her G8 counterparts.
“We’re not debating abortion; we’re clarifying family planning.”
Thanks Bev for ignoring the reams of evidence that prove the connection between all possible choices regarding family planning and maternal health.
Liberal MP Bob Rae said the government has taken an ideological stand on the issue.
“They just reopened the abortion debate,” Rae told reporters outside the House of Commons. “We are saying to the countries that are the poorest: ‘We won’t apply the law that we have in Canada’.”
NDP MP Paul Dewar said the government has caused confusion with its lack of clarity ahead of the G8 meeting and that its position will cause problems with other G8 members at this summer’s summit in Ontario’s Muskoka region.
“It’s just unusual to see the ignorance of a government that claims to be a member of the G8,” Dewar said.
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Your move, Stevo…
Hilary Clinton wrapped up her short “summit” in Canada with these parting words:
“You cannot have maternal health without reproductive health. And reproductive health includes contraception and family planning and access to legal, safe abortion,” she said.
“I do not think governments should be involved in making these decisions. It is perfectly legitimate for people to hold their own personal views based on conscience, religion or any other basis. But I’ve always believed the government should not intervene in decisions of such intimacy.”
That is pretty damned pointed. And especially – in spite of what neocons will claim – when compared to Canadian politicos, Clinton is to the right of both Grits and Tories of bygone years (Martin, Mulroney, Clark and Chretien, for example) so access to abortion is not just a “lefty” thing…
Of course, Harpy and his happy gang are more of the George W / Dick Cheney ilk…
Now the Harperites find themselves in danger of being stranded between what their best buds – the Americans – are looking for and what their core, anti-choice religious zealots are pushing.
Rock, meet Mr. Hard Place!
The picture is priceless. It looks like,
You put that hand on me you grease ball & I’ll knock you back to the caves from whence you came!
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