Wherein Canada’s Imminent Culture of Fetus Fetishizing©™ predictably takes another one in the nads with a frozen boot:
Prime Minister Stephen Harper will vote against a private member’s bill promoted by one of his own MPs that would add new Criminal Code penalties for those who coerce women to have an abortion.
A senior government official also says that while the prime minister will not “whip” or demand Conservative MPs vote as he votes, it will be “very strongly recommended” that Conservatives vote to defeat the bill.
OOF!
Meanwhile, Mr. Harper’s communications director, Dimitri Soudas, says that recommendation is consistent with Harper’s position since 2002 on any bill dealing with abortion: He and his government will neither introduce nor support any such legislation.
It doesn’t look like Harpie’s too interested in continuing his inexorable stumble down the path he witlessly careened onto with his Maternal Health Initiative. If Harper thought he’d finally shaken off all the “hidden agenda” paranoia that’s dogged him for so long, in the last few months it’s come back with a vengeance. If a dimwitted and transparent “coerced abortion” bill were to start slithering its way towards passage, the abortion-related volume that’s already been turned up would blow the woofers right out of his election campaign.
I guess he did the math and figured out that solidifying the socon vote isn’t worth alienating the vast moderate middle who really don’t care to see this issue re-opened.
UPDATE: Noteworthy comment from further down in the NatPo article, from Harper’s Communications Director:
“[Harper] has never had more than one position on this issue. The debate is over. It’s done,” said Soudas.
Not that I trust Harpie for a second, but it’s nice to see a high-ranking CPC spokesman go On The Record with what most of us know already: “The debate is over. It’s done.“.
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Wow, you have some real pussies for conservatives in Canada.
Good morrow, all!
Jasper: Wow, you have real idiots for “conservatives” (for which one may read: misogynist, xenophobic, homophobic, racist, neurotic, paranoid…and the beat goes on) in them thar Excited States uh Merrika.
You remind me of the Mensa candidate who was yelling at a Native Indian activist: “Why don’t you go back where you came from?”
His answer: “Actually, white for brains, you’re standing on it.”
Every village needs an idiot – CTZen
CTZen – Actually Jasper’s not altogether wrong in his assessment, although I would substitute the word “moderates” for “pussies”.
Our Conservatives are probably a lot like their blue dog Democrats. We don’t have anything equivalent to the GOP — except maybe the Christian Heritage Party
which only runs about 60 candidates out of 308 ridings, and gets 1% of the vote where it does run. Or possibly the Reform Party in its heyday was closer to the GOP (but again, it wasn’t a party that stood any chance of forming a government).
On the political compass, the CPC is just slightly to the left of John McCain.