Abortion debate back on agenda
SCHEER APPEARS TO BACKTRACK ON COMMITMENT TO NOT ALLOW DEBATE ON ABORTION
Conservative leadership candidate Peter MacKay once called social-conservative causes a “stinking albatross” thrust onto the election agenda that hung around leader Andrew Scheer’s neck and kept the party from winning a majority last fall.
But though MacKay blamed the Liberals for forcing the issue then, a Conservative MP put them back on the agenda just as the deadline arrived Thursday to register in the party’s leadership race.
Saskatchewan MP Cathay Wagantall put forward a private member’s bill this week that would ban sexselective abortions, the practice of terminating a pregnancy in order to choose a child’s sex.
She said the bill reflects Canada’s commitment to gender equality.
“It is true that the majority of Canadians agree with having access to abortions,” she said Wednesday. “It is also true that 84 per cent of Canadians stand against sexselection abortions.”
While it’s challenging for private member’s bills to become law, Wagantall’s is likely to receive some public debate.
That could come while Scheer is still leader, or happen under whomever party members choose on June 27 to replace him. There are expected to be nine candidates who clear the first hurdle to qualify, but who is on the ballot won’t be known until March 25.
Either way, it puts the party in the position of having to once again debate the issue publicly, handing fodder to the Tories’ rivals to use during the next election.
And that’s despite Scheer’s promising that wouldn’t happen.
He dodged questions for weeks during the election campaign about his personal views on abortion, and how he’d handle bills like Wagantall’s. Finally, on Oct. 3, he reaffirmed his own personal anti-abortion view. But he then qualified it:
“I’ve also made the commitment that as leader of this party it is my responsibility to ensure that we do not re-open this debate, that we focus on issues that unite our party and unite Canadians. And that’s exactly what I’ll do and that’s why I’ll vote against measures that attempt to reopen this debate.”
Asked Thursday how that statement squares with Wagantall’s bill, a spokesman for Scheer said parliamentarians are free to bring forward business of their own choosing.