Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative party has always been packed with idiots who want to pass laws forcing the rest of us to submit to their outdated religious beliefs. Besides being embarrassing and creepy, their rants on issues like abortion and same-sex marriage are a real political problem for the governing party because they turn off 21st century voters. The louder these yahoos get, the worse it is for the Conservatives’ future electoral fortunes.
Well, they’re squawking up a storm today:
MPs who oppose abortion and want to see legislated limits for it are pushing back against caucus discipline, particularly in light of an all-party committee shutting down debate last week on a non-binding motion to condemn sex-selective abortion.
But they aren’t the only ones upset with heavy-handed tactics on the part of the Conservative leadership. That frustration boiled over Tuesday in the House of Commons, leading several MPs to raise public complaints about a party that has so far maintained strict control over what its members can say.
“There has been predominantly informal discussion about what is, or what is not, our rights, and MPs have to decide what’s wrong and what’s right, and what our rights are,” said one Conservative MP, who requested anonymity.
A series of tactics seem to have led to the rebellion, including PMO staff denying MPs the right to make statements in the House of Commons, and a move by a three-member subcommittee to deny a Conservative MP the right to bring a non-binding motion on sex-selective abortion to the floor of the House for debate.
Last week, the subcommittee of the Procedure and House affairs committee voted that Mark Warawa’s motion — “That the House condemn discrimination against females occurring through sex-selective pregnancy termination” — was non-voteable, or ineligible to go before the House for debate and a vote. The MPs, including a Conservative MP, made the decision against the advice of a non-partisan Library of Parliament analyst.
The PM could do without this headache. Harper’s made enemies of scientists, journalists, the civil service, indigenous Canadians, environmentalists and the country’s cultural community (off the top of my head). A lot of Canadians absolutely despise the man–we’re talking Trudeau-era Alberta levels of wrath here. He would no doubt prefer his party stifle their voter-alienating, anachronistic religious notions.
Good luck with that.
