OTTAWA -- Federal Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff is unwilling to say whether negative repercussions will befall members of his caucus who oppose legalized abortion.
(...)
A spokeswoman for Mr. Ignatieff refused to say whether the new Liberal Leader will allow any of his members to continue to advocate openly for reduced access to publicly funded abortions.
"I don't think we are in a position to answer those questions today. I think they are speculative at this point," said Jill Fairbrother, adding that it is impossible to know if the committee mentioned by Mr. Bruinooge even exists and, if so, whether there are members from parties other than the Conservatives.
Ridiculous!
Everyone who is involved in the political arm of the pro-life movement knows about this caucus. Tom Wappel, Liberal MP from Scarborough, was the former chair before his retirement and he was outspoken in his defense of fetal rights.
I think the Liberal leader's office is either 1) ignorant-- which is bad, since the existence of this caucus is an open secret on Parliament Hill or 2) in denial--- so that he doesn't have to confront this messy issue and discipline caucus members, as he needs all the help and co-operation he can get.
Irene Mathyssen, an NDP MP from London, Ont., said she had not heard about the all-party committee and would be surprised if any of her fellow New Democrats were members.
I am reasonably certain there are no NDP members, but I could be wrong. There used to be Bloc members, but I strongly doubt there are any right now.
But no NDP MP would be expelled from caucus for holding anti-abortion views, Ms. Mathyssen said. "We have a policy where we talk things through," she said.
I do not believe that for one minute. I know from personal experience that NDPers are the most intolerant of anyone who defends the rights of unborn children. They say they are for human rights, but they do not defend ANY rights for these humans.
I've often daydreamed about what it would be like to get me and a thousand of my closest pro-life friends to join the NDP and start a Fetal Rights Caucus.
There would be an element of humour in that, as the feminist element would go completely ape. They are hysterical at any (and I mean any) suggestion that unborn children are 1) human beings and 2) deserve any form of legal protection.
The collective shriek would be hilarious.
But in the end, I suspect the party brass would find some way to expell those who defend these most vulnerable human beings.
It's all about feminist supremacy you know. The feminists do shut up a lot of talk in that party. There are many men who are cowed into silence and say what they really think because they don't want to upset the girls and look unprogressive.
UPDATE: Kady O'Malley just wrote my post:
To put it bluntly, Ms. Fairbrother may not be able to confirm the existence of this caucus, but if she’d bothered to ask around, anyone who has spent any time on the Hill would have been able to fill her in - the question that remains, however, is whether there will be any change in how the party handles it.
