Gene§i§
2011-04-21 22:01:59 UTC
Looks like he couldn't keep the lid on every anti-abortionist in his government . . . . And
we'd better remember just how many times they've tried to resurrect anti-abortion legislation
by using 'private members bills' to introduce it into the House. The anti-abortionists live
and breathe in Harper's party. And they'd be all over womens' rights if they ever got a
majority.
_______________________________
Postmedia News - April 21, 2011
Does Harper hear echoes of '04 in backbench MP's remarks?
Stephen Harper was, by all accounts, headed for a landmark victory.
He was building momentum on the campaign trail with a solid set of programs aimed at attracting
the broad, moderate middle of the Canadian electorate and stripped of any hard-right, socially
conservative policies that had stunted the growth of the now-defunct Reform party.
The polls showed the Liberals were in serious trouble, their attack ads no longer having the
desired effect of convincing Canadians that the Conservatives had a "hidden agenda" that would
see gay marriage and abortion rights attacked under a Harper-led government.
Then, out of the blue, a Conservative backbencher running for re-election in the West was
quoted sending a seriously off-script message that made millions of Canadian voters wonder if
Harper could be trusted after all.
The year was not 2011, but 2004.
And the Conservative MP whose ill-timed and ill-chosen words about same-sex marriage helped
scuttle Harper's hopes for victory was Randy White, a B.C. member who just three days before
an expected Conservative election win over the Paul Martin-led Liberals in June 2004 was
quoted about using the "notwithstanding" clause in Canada's Constitution to protect the
traditional definition of marriage as the union of a man and a woman.
"To heck with the courts," White said in a documentary interview screened by Martin himself at
a Liberal news conference.
Now . . . .
Seven years later, incumbent Conservative MP Brad Trost appears to have sent Harper possibly
on the brink of winning his first majority government in the May 2 election on an unwelcome
trip down memory lane.
The Saskatchewan member was quoted addressing an anti-abortion conference on Saturday,
encouraging anti-abortion activists to keep up their pressure on Ottawa and to be proud that
their efforts had recently helped scuttle proposed funding for the International Planned
Parenthood Federation an family-planning organization that, in part, provides overseas
abortion services and has received millions of dollars in federal payouts over the years.
Trost said in a speech to the Saskatchewan Pro-Life Association this month that petitions by
anti-abortion advocates have been "very, very useful and they were part of what we used to
defund Planned Parenthood."
"Now, you should know, they're still trying to get their snout back in the public trough,"
added Trost, who is running for re-election in the riding of Saskatoon-Humboldt.
Harper was quick on Thursday to downplay Trost's comments about Planned Parenthood and to
reiterate his party's view that revisiting the abortion issue is "not the priority of the
Canadian people, or of this government."
But the organization's multimillion-dollar funding application remains in limbo, and just as
in 2004 opposition parties were pointing Thursday to an outlier MP's unexpected remarks to
revive the "hidden agenda" charge against the Conservatives, and to try to halt Harper's
momentum ahead of election day.
While the impact of Trost's comments on the current campaign remains unclear, the effect of
White's out-of-right-field remarks on the 2004 election have been well documented.
In Harper's Team, a 2007 chronicle of the Conservative rise to power by the party's 2004
campaign manager, Tom Flanagan, White's "notwithstanding" outburst was described as an
"enormously damaging" factor in Harper's attempt to topple Martin and become prime minister.
"The interview was perfect for the Liberals because it seemed to show that Harper really did
have a hidden agenda; his carefully crafted positions on abortion, gay marriage, and perhaps
other issues, were just for show, and the real Harper would come out of the box if he won the
election," Flanagan, a University of Calgary political scientist, wrote.
"It was a powerful message to take into the final weekend when, traditionally, about 25 per
cent of voters make up their minds."
===============================================================
Rise up, Canada !
we'd better remember just how many times they've tried to resurrect anti-abortion legislation
by using 'private members bills' to introduce it into the House. The anti-abortionists live
and breathe in Harper's party. And they'd be all over womens' rights if they ever got a
majority.
_______________________________
Postmedia News - April 21, 2011
Does Harper hear echoes of '04 in backbench MP's remarks?
Stephen Harper was, by all accounts, headed for a landmark victory.
He was building momentum on the campaign trail with a solid set of programs aimed at attracting
the broad, moderate middle of the Canadian electorate and stripped of any hard-right, socially
conservative policies that had stunted the growth of the now-defunct Reform party.
The polls showed the Liberals were in serious trouble, their attack ads no longer having the
desired effect of convincing Canadians that the Conservatives had a "hidden agenda" that would
see gay marriage and abortion rights attacked under a Harper-led government.
Then, out of the blue, a Conservative backbencher running for re-election in the West was
quoted sending a seriously off-script message that made millions of Canadian voters wonder if
Harper could be trusted after all.
The year was not 2011, but 2004.
And the Conservative MP whose ill-timed and ill-chosen words about same-sex marriage helped
scuttle Harper's hopes for victory was Randy White, a B.C. member who just three days before
an expected Conservative election win over the Paul Martin-led Liberals in June 2004 was
quoted about using the "notwithstanding" clause in Canada's Constitution to protect the
traditional definition of marriage as the union of a man and a woman.
"To heck with the courts," White said in a documentary interview screened by Martin himself at
a Liberal news conference.
Now . . . .
Seven years later, incumbent Conservative MP Brad Trost appears to have sent Harper possibly
on the brink of winning his first majority government in the May 2 election on an unwelcome
trip down memory lane.
The Saskatchewan member was quoted addressing an anti-abortion conference on Saturday,
encouraging anti-abortion activists to keep up their pressure on Ottawa and to be proud that
their efforts had recently helped scuttle proposed funding for the International Planned
Parenthood Federation an family-planning organization that, in part, provides overseas
abortion services and has received millions of dollars in federal payouts over the years.
Trost said in a speech to the Saskatchewan Pro-Life Association this month that petitions by
anti-abortion advocates have been "very, very useful and they were part of what we used to
defund Planned Parenthood."
"Now, you should know, they're still trying to get their snout back in the public trough,"
added Trost, who is running for re-election in the riding of Saskatoon-Humboldt.
Harper was quick on Thursday to downplay Trost's comments about Planned Parenthood and to
reiterate his party's view that revisiting the abortion issue is "not the priority of the
Canadian people, or of this government."
But the organization's multimillion-dollar funding application remains in limbo, and just as
in 2004 opposition parties were pointing Thursday to an outlier MP's unexpected remarks to
revive the "hidden agenda" charge against the Conservatives, and to try to halt Harper's
momentum ahead of election day.
While the impact of Trost's comments on the current campaign remains unclear, the effect of
White's out-of-right-field remarks on the 2004 election have been well documented.
In Harper's Team, a 2007 chronicle of the Conservative rise to power by the party's 2004
campaign manager, Tom Flanagan, White's "notwithstanding" outburst was described as an
"enormously damaging" factor in Harper's attempt to topple Martin and become prime minister.
"The interview was perfect for the Liberals because it seemed to show that Harper really did
have a hidden agenda; his carefully crafted positions on abortion, gay marriage, and perhaps
other issues, were just for show, and the real Harper would come out of the box if he won the
election," Flanagan, a University of Calgary political scientist, wrote.
"It was a powerful message to take into the final weekend when, traditionally, about 25 per
cent of voters make up their minds."
===============================================================
Rise up, Canada !