Canadian Conservative leadership candidates react to the leaked Alito draft judgment

Politics & Elections
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Thought our American posters would find it interesting to see how Canadian federal Conservatives are reacting to the leaked Alito opinion. You see, the Tories are going through a leadership convention, having eaten their young canned their last two party leaders after each one failed to win a general election. As near as I can tell from the interwebs, here’s how they’re lining up:

Scott Aitchison: “Let me be clear: I will ensure that women have access to the resources they need to make their own informed reproductive healthcare decisions, without judgment.”

Leslyn Lewis: CTVNews.ca received a statement from Lewis’ campaign noting she won’t comment on the documents as they don’t represent a final decision but reiterated the candidate’s pro-life agenda, outlined in her “No Hidden Agenda” platform.

Jean Charest: tweeted out that he is “pro-choice.” “A [government] under my leadership will not support legislation restricting reproductive rights. While I respect the democratic rights of MPs to bring forward private members bills on matters of conscience, I will not vote to support them,” he continued.

Patrick Brown: “Abortion in Canada should be safe, legal, and, in my personal opinion, rare. That’s why my government will support women and families with policies that encourage other options, such as adoption and increased parental supports,” he said. "This is why it’s important for us to be clear where we stand. A Conservative Party led by me will not change Canada’s abortion laws. Period.”

Roman Babar: said he doesn’t believe government has a role in how people “start or grow” their families but that he will respect the right of every Canadian to “seek nomination, introduce legislation, and vote freely” on matters of conscience. “The Conservative Party must welcome diversity of opinion,” he tweeted.

Pierre Poilievre: did not respond to inquiry from CTV.

In related news, the interim leader of the Conservatives, Candice Bergen, told the Conservative Members of Parliament not to comment on the issue in the House. It looks like most of them complied with that direction, but they did stand up to deny unanimous consent to a Bloc Québécois motion to confirm the right to an abortion, meaning that the matter did not come to a vote.

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I think they’re all quite concerned right now because it has just made social conservatism (and abortion specifically) front and centre for leadership. And any anti-abortion stance is going to reinforce concerns that the CPC will potentially put forth regressive legisliation. I happen to think the concerns are valid, but from a political point of view it doesn’t matter if they are valid, it only matters if it scares off voters. Which it will.

I saw that Trudeau was looking to pass a law protecting abortion rights, and this is very clever. Popular for one thing, and it forces the Conservative MPs to be on record as opposed to simply shouting out “no” yesterday to an affirmation. However, the MPs that would be in danger for reelection on this are mainly in Manitoba’s “bible belt” and so not really at risk. No, this will mainly affect the leadership. Since I do not like the CPC party as it exists right now, I am going to enjoy watching them squirm. Especially PP, because deep down we all know he’s just a populist troll with no real ideas, but just likes to get people riled up.

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Remind me again why so many Americans believe we are better than our neighbors to the north? :roll_eyes:

4

Is that a common belief? I thought it was the other way around. I think most Americans know as a group the Canadians appear to be nicer people. But maybe that is only the blue states that believe that.

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Seriously? You’ve never heard insults towards Canada expressed by Americans? Even their “niceness” is mocked.

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I’ve heard their politeness mocked, which is pretty much damning with faint praise. I’ve honestly never heard other insults.

I mean unless we’re talking South Park or something.

So maybe not a thing in my neck of the woods, but common elsewhere?

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Amen. Canadians are like Americans but with better manners- and more civil politics. In general…

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Conservatives in Canada are deemed liberal by our own right. I’m not surprised at Canada’s conservatives coming out with these statements. They’ve done a lot of right-wing stuff, but even this is unpalatable for them.

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It simply isn’t politically viable to do anything else. It’d be party suicide.

The Conservatives were in power from 2006 to 2015. They didn’t lift a finger to create any sort of abortion law.

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Why should they have? I’m asking rhetorically. Even with some of the crazies y’all have you’re still far more sane than us and our conservatives. Canada seems to actually value their citizens.

That said, you guys could have drafted a foreign investment bill back then to protect housing vs. doing something reactionary now, nearly 20 years later.

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Prohibiting non-citizens from buying houses 20 years ago would have been a solution in search of a problem and would have been rightly perceived as xenophobic.

Politicians do what they think will get them elected. Abortion laws won’t get you elected in Canada. Maybe in some rural ridings, but it won’t help the party win the election.

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I’ve never heard an American disparage Canadians. Yes, people might think the way Canadians say ‘about’ is kinda funny, eh? But from what I’ve observed, most Americans would rather live in Canada, if it wasn’t so cold.
Canada’s approach to abortion seems fair and reasonable. A quote from the Wikipedia article on abortion in Canada:
Abortion in Canada is legal at all stages of pregnancy, regardless of the reason, and is publicly funded as a medical procedure under the combined effects of the federal Canada Health Act and provincial health-care systems.[1]However, access to services and resources varies by region.[2] While some non-legal barriers to access continue to exist,[1] Canada is the only nation with absolutely no criminal restrictions on abortion.[3][4] Nevertheless few providers in Canada offer abortion care beyond 23 weeks and 6 days without a medical reason as outlined by provincial regulatory authorities for physicians.[5]

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It may have been, but when the individuals buying it don’t live there and don’t rent out the home, is it bad? Blaming xenophobia is too easy.

May work in Alberta or where oil workers are. I don’t know much about the country of delicious syrup, beavers and maple leaves, but I’ve heard enough awful stories about some people from those areas of interest that really aren’t different from our rednecks.

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Like I said, it might carry some weight in some rural areas - Alberta’s more urban than rural, there’s rural areas in all provinces. However, in Canada, criminal law is a federal matter. In the USA, where it’s a state matter, a red state will want to ban abortion the instant they are allowed to do so, so an anti-abortion message is an election winner in such a place; in Canada, a matter of criminal law is coast to coast, so the case must be made to the country as a whole or it’s an election loser.

15

I wonder if anything happened in 2016 that might have emboldened social conservatives and moved the CPC further right? :slight_smile:

Nyah, probably nothing.

But seriously, Harper was smart. He knew social conservativism was a losing game, and he ruled the party with an iron fist to make sure he was not linked with it. The cracks started to show for him when he said “old stock Canadians”, and I think that played a significant role in his loss. The election of Trump has changed the political landscape both in the USA and Canada. Our interim opposition leader was photographed wearing a MAGA hat. Other MMPs and many supporters of the CPC are open pro-Trump. The CPC has shifted right, and social conservatism is nowhere near as taboo. In the last election, I was concerned about whether O’Toole had control over the social conservatives in the party, and I suspect that concern of mine will continue.

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Social Conservatives are entitled to their view, when it does not harm others. Most Conservatives prefer to concentrate on battles that they can win. It is refreshing that few candidates support reviving issues largely agreed upon, and this consensus grows with every generation. It may also be worth pointing out that third trimester abortions are exceedingly rare in Canada. Although sometimes legally permitted, many doctors would insist on their conscience rights. Fourth trimester abortions are much more controversial.

Lest one get too rosy a view of Conservative candidates in other matters, many fell over themselves in a recent debate to explain how much and how early they supported a convoy most people did not. This article seems a bit partisan, possibly, but is not completely wrong. Of course, it is not comparable to American matters.

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Well, they never do. ACTIONS harm others.

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I honestly think PP is going to be the next PM. Canadians like to vote somebody out, and I think Trudeau has accumulated enough baggage to weigh him down just enough to let the CPC in. People are angry, scared, desperate, and losing hope for the future. It is the perfect catalyst for “Throw the bums out!” If Trudeau were really smart (he isn’t), then he would step down and hand the reins over to someone else (he won’t). It could save the party in the next election. While I’m sure Canada can survive a term of PP, I don’t think he will be a good PM. I mean “Buy Bitcoin to avoid inflation!”, Bitcoin drops 33%. This is not a guy I want in control of the national economy. My biggest problem with PP is he’s so scummy. Like all are politicians are somewhat the stereotypical used care salesman but this guy is so obviously say whatever it takes to get the votes. He doesn’t care about cryptocurrency, but he does care about younger cryptobros votes. He is quite literally a populist. And my fear is he will:

  1. Govern that way, which is awful.
  2. Have zero control over the more extreme elements of the party because he’s ultimately just a weak troll, and he won’t want to ruffle feathers.

But we’ll survive. I don’t think he, or the CPC, will torpedo the democratic principles in Canada. But yuck.

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Words harm others, too.

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But I didn’t say words, did I? I was referring to VIEWS, as stated by Dr_Paprika.

I guess words can wound your feelings. To actually hurt you they have to cross into things like inciting violence - which is an action. Politicians have a million ways they can hurt you a lot worse than stating an opinion you find anathema, and focusing on someone’s tweets or whatever over real issues is not good for democracy or people in general. Some Conservative saying he thinks abortion is wrong isn’t hurting you for real.

Trudeau has managed the historically unique accomplishment of leading a party to two straight pluralities in seats while actually finishing second in the popular vote; like Donald Trump, he’s in charge only because the way the electoral map is drawn up favors his party. Fortunately for him, the losses in popular vote were small because the Conservatives keep nominating men of absolutely stunning mediocrity. Andrew Scheer and Erin O’Toole could not have been more boring, uninspiring, and pointless. I can’t remember anything in particular they stood for. I can’t remember their election messages at all. I’m not certain I could pick them out in a police lineup. I keep thinking of Amy Bruckheimer in “Veep” yelling at Mike McClintock, “You’re like an earlobe! You’re just, there!”

As much as I distrust populists and especially distrust Poilevre, he has clear and simple policy positions. They may make sense, or they may NOT make sense, or they may be insane, but they give someone a thing to vote FOR. People will vote for that.