And what are we to think of mouthy little Brad Trost, the CPC backbencher from Saskatchewan who’s gotten into the habit of losing control of his yap and going rogue on the topic of abortion lately, even on nationwide TV?
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.
- Next up for Trost?
It’s a left-wing position but it’s not a left-wing position. Well, that makes sense. About as much sense as saying it’s a “civil rights issue” — meaning the civil rights of Joe Fetus, of course.
We already know that Trost’s views are shared with others in the CPC who could be characterized as Rabidly Anti-Abortion (*waves* Hi Cheryl). But the government has largely ignored the issue — it only seems to come up when some baffled little fart of a backbencher tables a goofy bill about “coerced abortions” or some such shit, it’s promptly shot down and life goes on.
The PM seems agnostic about it. Harper’s said many times that the issue won’t be raised as long as his ass warms the Big Chair, and has described his own personal position as “complex” and “not in any of the polar extremes on the issue”, which sounds suspiciously pro-choicy to me. But one thing is clear: it’s a toxic issue for Harper because it conjures up visions of the “Hidden Agenda” that have dogged him for years, so he mostly avoids it and strongly recommends his MPs do the same. Anyone who steps out of line quickly finds himself outfitted in a leathery “Gimp” suit, ball-gagged and hanging from the ceiling of Harper’s Secret Parliamentary Dungeon, where the unspeakable acts of discipline are carried out… ugh… ack! Screech
Whoops, got a little carried away there… But you have to wonder why Harper’s been so unresponsive while Trost yaps like a frenzied little anklebiter, barking his brains out about such a verboten topic. Maybe the Gimp suit is out at the dry cleaners?
Or maybe Harper knows that using a backbencher to make the social conservatives happy and take their minds off the things that make them unhappy:
“So in reinvigorating the debate as they have by funding IPPF, you’ll see more politicians like myself will be discussing the matter. In a respectful way, but it will be discussed,” he told CBC News following his interview with Solomon.
Trost said some social conservatives will feel it was a slap in the face. He admits he may get in trouble for speaking out against a Conservative minister’s decision.
…is just Good Politics.
![[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]](https://i0.wp.com/www.kitconet.com/charts/metals/silver/tny_ag_en_usoz_2.gif)
![[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]](https://i0.wp.com/www.kitconet.com/charts/metals/gold/t24_au_en_usoz_2.gif)
unrepentant old hippie 
What do you expect? To antis, every penny going towards reproductive health goes to things like this, rather than that thing called reality.
I don’t think Harper is agnostic when it comes to reproductive rights at all. He’s a control freak by nature and I see him having little respect for women. His maternal health initiative was pretty obviously anti-choice. Plus he voted for every one of those backdoor private members’ bills that called for some kind of restriction or another.
“Anyone who steps out of line quickly finds himself outfitted in a leathery “Gimp” suit, ball-gagged and hanging from the ceiling of Harper’s Secret Parliamentary Dungeon, where the unspeakable acts of discipline are carried out… ugh… ack! Screech”
Lmfao!! Why do I get images of those control freaks that demand the state regulate what a person can do with her body would get off on stuff like that.
True on the count of being a control freak, and maybe not respecting women (although I think that has more to do with his attitude towards people in general than women in particular; he’s a bit of a misanthrope). But I’ve seen no compelling evidence that he’s a fetus freak (and trust me, I’ve looked for it…
e v e r y w h e r e).
The MatHealth initiative was a typical sneaky Harper political move — a way for him to do something for his socon base without having to do anything domestically. As for the back door bills, he voted against the ‘coerced abortion’ bill, he voted for the ‘unborn victims’ bill, and there was one other bill that I can’t remember how he voted — but I do remember it was tabled by a Liberal.
Having said all that, he strikes me as the type who’s never met a Law he didn’t like, so it wouldn’t surprise me if he, personally, felt there probably should be some form of abortion law, just because there is everywhere else. But it’s not important enough for him to be the guy that brings one in.
LOL, the abortionplex. But that’s really what they think, it really is.
Yes, maybe that’s why Toast is misbehaving himself… looking forward to the punishment.
“BRING OUT THE GIMP!”
Bwahahahaha!
I think your closing point is what is going on here. Now that he actually HAS that majority he has worked on for so many years he knows he has to let the socons feel like they are getting SOMETHING back for their support through the dark times of disavowal, yet he also knows that if he actually breaks his word about abortion it will “prove” the “hidden agenda” really existed after all (the fact that it does and has been quietly implemented in far less openly emotional ways in process issues notwithstanding for years now) and cause him major political blowback that could possibly make his majority which is so slim actually unsteady despite the power a Canadian majority PM wields. I don’t know what Harper is on the socon side, I used to think he was a true believer ideologue, but that changed several years back even before he gained the PMO.
I do think he is something very radical for our culture and more than willing to pander to socons when it suits his needs, but this man has shown himself to be such a power hungry demon whose principles revolve around that lust for power to enact his warped idea of a right wing a la US teaparty/GOP fringe model (I mean he is a political soul-mate of Dick Cheney and his crown, Straussians are remarkably similar in their core natures and how they act with power as the record has already shown during his minority days and his unconstitutional belief of the government’s power being above that of Parliaments despite the reality that is comes form Parliament according to our Constitution, much like Cheney made the VP’s office a fourth element of government during the Bush 43 years being a crucial and important example of this) onto this nation that trying to read what his own core beliefs are on things like abortion I find impossible.
I do tend to agree with you though that he does not come off like a fetus fetisher unlike so many others, despite his having them close to him including the likes of Chuck McVety and company. I think he is allowing this for now so long as it doesn’t gain too much attention/momentum to cause him real public image issues as a safety valve to release the long pent up pressure within that constituency within his caucus and party. I don’t think he feels a personal urgency/need to push the abortion agenda, but if he sees a political need strong enough I believe he would do it in a heartbeat. I think in his younger days he might have believed in these issues personally, but I really think the years of having his views getting him beaten not just at the polls but also within the Reform party and then as the leader of the CA again at the polls beat that out of him leaving just the cynical manipulator out for his revenge on all the rest of us that opposed/disagreed with him and his vision, including I believe the moderate Canadian conservatives too.
Harper has weirded (not to mention terrified) me out more than any other political party leader of any stripe in my lifetime in this country, pure and simple. I have explained repeatedly over the years why that is, so I am not going to repeat them now. He is *NOT* like the others, not even the political ideologues, and he is far more dangerous than anything we have seen since at least Diefenbaker and I strongly suspect he is as far more extreme from Dief as Dief was from say Trudeau/Pearson. I opposed Harper because of his contempt on the process side of the political equation far more than for the ideological/policy side of things (although I also had issues there, but the process side is where he has always terrified me) but I paid attention to his views there and I think he started out as a true believer in much of the socon stuff but over time that diminished or even disappeared, again no way to know for sure given this man’s ability for deception and his paranoia about letting his true thoughts/beliefs become known especially after his 2004 defeat. Who knows what his true beliefs are now regarding abortion, indeed his characterization of “complex” may actually be completely true, who knows?