Ignatieff & Abortion Funding Controversy

Four years ago, Paul Martin proposed to enshrine unrestricted taxpayer-funded abortions on demand in the Charter, in a desperate attempt to present himself and his party as strong defenders of abortion - as opposed to Harper's Conservatives whom he accused of having a "hidden agenda". Still, he lost the election. Now we have another Liberal leader trying to play the hidden agenda card:

Stephen Harper’s government has been in power for more than four years now, without having disturbed any of the social issues that Liberals warned would be high on its (secret) agenda. ... But Michael Ignatieff isn’t one to let reality get in the way.

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That to say the least. And they're getting quite agressive on the issue. Ignatieff won't propose any Charter initiatives yet, but he's ready to turn his party into a political wing of the so called abortion "rights" coalition, quoting their website in the Liberal party press releases.

Tory MP Rod Bruinooge, chairman of the Parliamentary Pro-Life Caucus, called the comments a distinct departure from Mr. Ignatieff's predecessors who tended to hold more ambivalent views about abortion. "Perhaps he and his advisors ... have come to the conclusion that they're prepared to take a far more aggressive position in relation to abortion than previous Liberal leaders."

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Not all Liberal MPs however agree with that. Even Keith Martin, by no means a Social Conservative, has mentioned that there are other ways to improve maternal health than peddling abortion and contraception. And, much to the suprise of Mr Ignatieff, his party still has a handful of pro-life MPs who are not looking forward for the Liberal policy book to include the ARCC mission statement.

In comments to LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) earlier this week, Liberal MP Paul Szabo jumped into the fray, taking issue with the Liberal Leader’s statement that there is consensus on the matter of abortion within the Party. Disputing Ignatieff’s claim of consensus, Szabo said, “I am a pro-life MP and there are many of my colleagues in the Liberal caucus who will protect the unborn in their decisions as Parliamentarians, and should matters come before the House they will continue to act accordingly.”

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As for the Conservatives - looks like the days when the party was bending backwards to convince the pro-aborts that their cherished sacrament is not being threatened, are finally coming to an end. Instead of affirming its allegiance to "progressive" social views, instead of repenting their sins by promptly reinstating the funding (at level much higher than before,) the Conservative spokesman gave a well reasoned response, reminding Ignatieff, that maternal health is about saving lives of vulnerable children and mothers in the developing world, which has nothing to do with the debate over abortion (or other social issues Ignatieff might want to raise) here in Canada. Well said.

Let's see what the voters have to say about it. I won't be surprised if, once the new opinion polls are out, the Liberals too start looking forward for after the Olympics - in the hope that the games get people's minds off their recent controversy.