Thursday, May 13, 2010

Toronto Star Covers March For Life


Tonight's headline story on the Toronto Star online is the March for Life. I never expected to see the day when this event would get such positive coverage in Canada's left wing newspaper. I suspect the purpose of the coverage is to try to help promote the Liberal 'smear' that Harper is pro-life. Still this particular article is fair and will undoubtedly encourage more pro life Canadians to stand up and be counted. Protecting unborn children at at least some point in their gestation is a mainstream opinion. Today and tomorrow Canadians will know that there were 15,000 people who were willing to stand up and be counted by travelling to Ottawa and standing up for life. I salute every one of them.
In the meantime here are some highlights from the story in the Star:

Around 15,000 pro-life campaigners, clearly buoyed by what they see as last month’s victory on the foreign-aid front, cheered loudly when numerous speakers talked about the next steps in what one called bringing a “culture of life” to Canada.

“We would like some more courage to do something more in Canada in defence of the unborn,” Cardinal Marc Ouellette, of Quebec City, told the crowd. Ouellette minced no words in explaining later what he would like Harper to do next: “Reopen the discussion in Canada about this judicial void; there is absolutely no protection for the unborn,” Ouellette told reporters.

“The next step should be a reopening of discussion about the legal situation of abortion in Canada.”

Pro life Conservative backbencher Rod Bruinooge helped keep the event in perspective:

Bruinooge says he accepts Harper’s long-stated refusal to open up any debate over abortion legislation in Canada. Thursday’s rally was purely for information purposes, he said.

“The goal of the pro-life movement in general is to acknowledge that the unborn have value, that they’re human and we as a society need to consider their value. And I think that’s a message that’s beginning to come out,” Bruinooge said.

He would not comment, however, on whether the movement has gained strength because the increasing clout of the Christian right in Canada, as asserted in a newly released book, Armageddon, by Canadian journalist Marci MacDonald.

“In our country there’s a number of faith groups … there’s Sikhs, Hindus that have many similar philosophical viewpoints to Christians, and I think that many people, from various theological communities, suggest various ideas that I think are important to public policy,” Bruinooge said. “On the life issues, I know that not only are Christians generally supportive of pro-life politics, but I know Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists are as well.”

At the rally, Bruinooge particularly singled out the two Sikh MPs who turned out on stage: Liberal MP Gurbax Malhi and Conservative MP Tim Uppal.

Again, congrats to everyone involved.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

If you think about it, exporting abortions to other countries is potentially a form of genocide. It's really disgusting and preposterous to advocate abortion for the world's poor -- for example, advocating abortions for Africans to control their population growth. It IS genocide.

I am SO proud that the Conservatives are standing up for what is right in the maternal health initiative.

Anonymous said...

Its great to see the pro-life movement in Canada grow by leaps and bounds. I believe the vast majority of Canadians are potentially pro-life if they get to witness what an abortion actually is. I am also encouraged to see people of the left also joining the side of Life. Being pro-life has nothing to do with being a conservative or a socialist. After all, human rights begins with life and it begins with the unborn.

Hoarfrost said...

Regardless of this particular issue, I hope this coverage by The Toronto Star heralds a return to news rather than advocacy.

We all know that they have championed abortion and we know that they think religion is the "opiate of the masses".

I have a feeling that a lot of atheists have sincere doubts about abortion as birth control.

Anonymous said...

Maybe we should hold our noses and go to the PRIDE parades with "THIS PARADE IS DISGUSTING" signs.

Anonymous said...

"i would like to see all these so called pro lifers adopt all the children born that are not wanted."

That's a red herring. Many pro-life families do adopt or support adoption agencies and mothers. It's shameful for you to advocate that we should just terminate all the babies just because they are "unwanted." There are many families out there who want to adopt, and there also ways in which pro-life groups can help to support mothers who wish to raise their child. There are options, and solutions. Terminating the innocent, smallest human beings are not a "final solution."