By Ray Rivers
January 29th, 2018
BURLINGTON, ON
The federal government runs a program called Canada Summer Jobs, an effort to assist unemployed students get summer work and income. This program, which has been going for a while, is largely administered locally through the MPs’ offices on the basis of some fairly open-ended funding criteria.
Over last five Harper years about $3.5 million dollars were handed out to anti-abortion groups, such as Campaign Life Coalition and the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform (CCBR).
In Calgary, Canada, there is a pro-life group, The Canadian Centre For Bio Ethical Reform, that drives around a truck with the images of a post-abortion fetus on the side.
The latter, CCBR, is best known for distributing obscene and disgusting images and literature in the hope that the visceral images would shock Canadians and convert them to support ending a woman’s right to choose. The federal money paid for household leaflet drops and obscene posters placed on the sides of city buses in the organization’s base town of Calgary.
Canadian policy is very clear on this matter. The criminal code has only always defined life as beginning at birth, not at conception nor when one forgets to purchase a package of condoms for a romantic evening. Still, ever since former PM Kim Campbell ended the national debate on abortion almost a quarter century ago, there has been an ongoing campaign among the folks who aren’t happy with the status quo. But while these dissidents have continued their campaigns unabated, the rest of the country has grown to become overwhelmingly supportive of the right to choose, particularly among those women in their child bearing years.
Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Stephen Harper may have personally been opposed to a woman’s right to choose, and he did cancel funding for Canadian organizations providing family planning in developing nations. Yet, even he resisted re-opening the abortion issue in this country, in fact actively discouraging the zealots in his caucus from bringing the subject up.
Last year the Trudeau government refused to allow these anti-choice organizations to use federal money to distribute their propaganda. And this year (2018) the government has firmed that up with specific criteria – “The government recognizes that women’s rights are human rights. This includes sexual and reproductive rights — and the right to access safe and legal abortions. These rights are at the core of the Government of Canada’s foreign and domestic policies.”
As expected the government has come under fire from the anti-abortion crowd claiming their constitutional right to freedom of expression and/or freedom of religion is being violated. But of course that is nonsense. They are welcome to express themselves but just not on the taxpayer’s nickel.
And abortion is not a religious matter. The term doesn’t even appear in any of the scriptures. Quite likely creationist evangelists just missed this little piece from their favourite book. Genesis 2:7 (New International Version) – Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. Life begins at birth.
Neither the pronouncements of the Catholic Church on this subject, nor the chattering of the disparate evangelicals makes this a matter of conscience except for those directly involved – the woman and her doctor. And while the Prime Minister has been unequivocal in his protection for the rights of women, that is not the case for his primary opponent, federal Tory leader Andrew Scheer. Scheer has not been supportive of the right to choose, and he would reverse the government’s decision and allow anti-abortionist groups to use federal money to promote their cause.
Scheer shared a place in Harper’s caucus with the prominent former MP, Patrick Brown. Brown also represented the so-called religious-right, and the wedge issues of opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion. But then after winning the leadership of the Ontario PCs, Brown had an epiphany and disowned his past political life. He grew the party’s membership, put together a progressive popular platform, and brought his poll numbers up into the majority range.
Patrick Brown giving a press conference hours before he resigned as Leader of the Provincial Opposition.
Unfortunately the other side of his past political life came back to bite him when two women he knew back in his MP days came to cry out about sexual impropriety. If the claims are true wouldn’t that be the height of religious hypocrisy – claiming piety but acting like pig?
There are a couple of wild conspiracy theories to Brown-gate. Suspicion is high that the release of these stories was orchestrated by his own party or someone influential in it. One rationale is that the Mulroney camp wanted to get Brown out of the way when it seems like the summer election is in the bag for the PCs. If Brown wins he might get two or three terms before Caroline Mulroney gets a crack at it.
Then there is the revenge theory. The right wing of the party was unhappy with Brown for having walked back his commitment to those so-called religious-right wedge issues and they staged the confessions in the hope of forcing him out and installing a more conventional conservative leader. The only thing for sure at this point is that the party, which only a breath ago had been measuring the Premier’s office for new blue furniture, is now living in much more exciting times.
Ray Rivers writes weekly on both federal and provincial politics, applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat to his thinking. Rivers was once a candidate for provincial office in Burlington. He was the founder of the Burlington citizen committee on sustainability at a time when climate warming was a hotly debated subject. Tweet @rayzrivers
Background links:
Harper’s Charity Audits – Summer Jobs Program –
Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform –
clowns love to spend our money election coming soon please remember what Justin is doing with our money
While the pro-choice issue is an inflammatory example, it is not the point. The point is the allocation of tax money to activities which, de facto, speak for people who in fact do not agree with what is being said. In the U.S. we have this crop up in States which place In God We Trust on vehicle license plates. Altering the plate is a crime, so the driver must drive around “expressing” this sentiment. The State in which I live leaves this optional, but the money I spent for the plate carries the message anyway.
If you doubt the dangers of growing Fascism cloaked as “Religious liberty” just look to the U.S. and the Trump cabal’s imposition of legal coverage for medical providers who refuse certain services as not acceptable in the religious views. Try living in that kind of society and then tell me about where your tax money should go.
Fair enough – the government may be using a shotgun to kill a mosquito – I accept that perspective Gary. But yes the whole issue of adding women’s rights to the grant program was driven by the that so-called coalition (of two people) from getting grants to distribute pronographic and disgusting literature and posters.
Ray. You have lost the thread. My comments were not addressed to single purpose anti-abortion advocate organizations, such as the one you mention, it was addressed to religious organizations. Does that outfit even apply for grants for summer students work? If that was the target then the problem is that the Liberals have painted with too broad a brush.
Wow, you should never have left politics. Your spin-Doctoring is glorious. You are able to entwine religion, social justice, conspiracy and the moral right of the liberals while maintaining a straight face.
Social media has now replaced our judicial system. Please read Christine Blatchford & Andrew Coyne’s recent editorials and you may gain some insight. You should not be ‘Guilty till proven Innocent’. As a responsible journalist you know this, but you certainly don’t adhere to this belief with you insinuations stated above.
I felt great pride for the Muslim parents of the young girl who said someone tried to cut off her Hijab when they apologize for her mistake. Most people are just that. Mistakes can be made and things can be said. Though this does not excuse the monsters that who prey on women, through intimidation, sexual & physical harassment, belittlement, bullying, etc. They should be punished by the court after due process to the full extent of the judicial system.
I am Pro-Choice but I also believe in everyone’s freedom of expression as long as it does not cause harm to others. I know the consequence of this as I have been Placarded by Pro-Life believers for helping women achieve their choice. Maybe trying to understand individuals with different points of view, religion, etc will create dialogue that can bring insight and possibly change. Wynne has done little to help Pro-Choice women as it may lose her some Pro-life support (50m bubble zone).
Trudeau is a bad as Harper in their extreme view points. You can’t be in Trudeau’s cabinet unless you agree to be Pro-Choice. You cannot apply for grants unless you are Pro-Choice. Where is the individual’s innate freedom of express and choice. Just another of JT’s autocratic mandates.
Office politics is ubiquitous. It can be in gov’t, hospitals, universities, GM, Ford, newspapers, etc. Most couples’ relationships occurred from work interactions.
I know that Michelle Obama was the adviser at her law firm to a young intern named Barack. I know that the actress Margaret Sinclair met Pierre Trudeau when she was 18yo when he was the dapper swinging 48yo Prime Minister bachelor. Maybe that is why JT always says he is a feminist. Mind you, if you have too say this all the time, then probably you are not! I wonder if JT will reiterate his mantra that you must always believe the women who come forward with the allegation if one comes forward with allegations against him?? Like his Mother, JT was an actor of sorts.
Gary – Come on you can do better than that. The Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform is an anti-abortion advocacy group based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. According to the group, its goal is to “making the killing of pre-born human beings unthinkable.” They are not a church.
Describing the campaign in 2013, Gray said “We have put together an 18-year plan called ‘End the Killing,’ and we aim to saturate the Canadian culture with the facts about who the baby is and what abortion does to the baby…so that we can eradicate abortion from our culture.” The display contains graphic images of abortion victims, mass graves, and public lynchings while comparing abortion to the Holocaust and other forms of genocide.
You would defend them?
Wow. What a load of anti-Conservative crap and religious misdirection.
I did like your title, of course, because that is exactly what the Liberals are doing on this file.
When religious organizations whose stated and legally held expressions of disapproval of abortion are being asked to sign a document disavowing their positions on this matter, then, of course, without question, it is a violation of their rights to free expression and religion. This is very different from taking taxpayers’ money and using it to fight the government policy, as you imply. It is a summer jobs grant for Heaven’s sake (religious imagery intended).
Your attempt at being a theologian made me LOL. Simply because some version of the Bible has a reference to the creation of the first man, who apparently came equipped with a penis and testicles to procreate. says nothing about the morality surrounding procreation about which religions have quite a bit to say.
The Liberals have overreached on this and they will probably pay a price for it in the next election.
Leaving partisan politics out of it, there is something ugly and fascistic about a government demanding its citizens declare documented loyalty to some government policy.
Great article.