Current MPS to vote pro-choice: Trudeau
OTTAWA — Sitting Liberal MPs who thought they would be allowed to vote their conscience on the issue of abortion were told to toe the line Wednesday.
Days after a longtime Liberal MP was quoted as saying he was free to vote as he wished, party leader Justin Trudeau declared that all caucus members would be required to vote pro-choice.
In early May, Trudeau said all future Liberal candidates would have to agree to vote pro-choice — a comment that appeared to exempt current MPs, several of whom oppose abortion.
“The existing MPs … will be respect(ed) to a certain extent in their choices, but our position as a party is we do not reopen that debate,” Trudeau said on May 7.
Last Friday, Lawrence MacAulay, a longtime P.E.I. Liberal MP and former solicitor general, told Charlottetown’s Guardian newspaper that he believed Trudeau’s comment on sitting MPs would allow him to vote with his conscience if an abortion vote were held in Parliament.
“He’s indicated that I can vote whatever way I choose,” MacAulay told The Guardian. “I’m, I guess, what you call grandfathered.
“I have done and voted the way that I wish to vote and will continue to do so,” said MacAulay, who described himself as “pro-life all the way through.”
But speaking to reporters Wednesday, Trudeau denied that his pro-choice policy will apply only to new can- didates.
“The policy going forward is that every single Liberal MP will be expected to stand up for women’s rights to choose,” he said.
“I AM PERSONALLY PRO-LIFE. HOWEVER, I ACCEPT THE PARTY POSITION REGARDING A WOMAN’S RIGHT TO CHOOSE.” LIBERAL MP LAWRENCE MACAULAY
Trudeau said that the question he addressed in May was “very much about was I worried about pro-life organizations taking over, as they had announced their intention to — taking over nomination campaigns and taking advantage of the open nomination process.
“And I answered why I was not worried that would happen, because the greenlight process that we have established makes it clear that all Liberal MPs, regardless of their personal views, would be expected to vote pro-choice.”
Shortly before Trudeau’s comments Wednesday, MacAulay took to Twitter to say he accepted the leader’s position.
“I am personally pro-life, and have long held these beliefs,” he wrote.
“However, I accept and understand the party position regarding a woman’s right to choose. Despite my personal beliefs, I understand that I will have to vote the party position should this issue ever come up in the House of Commons.”
Liberal MPs John McKay of Toronto and Kevin Lamoureux of Winnipeg have also identified themselves as anti-abortion.
McKay made headlines earlier this month when he was caught on tape questioning whether Trudeau’s directive on voting pro-choice was a “bozo eruption.” He later apologized for the comment.
Lamoureux has indicated he will vote the party line.
Neither could be reached Wednesday for comment.
While Trudeau has come under fire from Roman Catholic leaders and antiabortion activists for his pro-choice stance, he was also criticized for what was thought to be the exemption for current MPs.