On Notice

"One of the things that's a strength of the Liberal Party is that we draw in voices from right across the country and on a range of perspectives. We have Liberals who are economically very far to the right, we have others who are economically more to the left. We have people who have a whole gamut of positions."

"As a party, we're steadfast in our belief and our position and certainly our positions as government, is that it's not for any government to legislate ... what a woman chooses to do with her body."
"[Every candidate will have to] accept and support [that position]."
"[Potential Liberal Party of Canada candidates hoping to represent the party in the next election must be] openly pro-choice in their positions."
"For current members, we will not eject someone from the party for beliefs they have long held. But the Liberal party is a pro-choice party and going forward, all new members and new candidates are pro-choice."
Justin Trudeau, leader of the Liberal Party of Canada

So much for a range of perspectives. In the Liberal party under its leaders new rules of engagement on abortion, one may not support abortion on principle in the belief that to carry a foetus through from conception to delivery is a woman's decision to make, then question whether it should be lawful to seek an abortion after 22 weeks' gestation. It's all or nothing.

Former Prime Minister Paul Martin while not a raving fan of abortion supported a woman's right to choose. As a practising Catholic he was warned he could be excommunicated. Justin Trudeau is another practising Catholic. He is principled and authentically concerned to do the right thing for women, and as a devout Catholic, defying one of the major moral precepts of his religion, snubbing the Pope himself whom he would not admit to the Liberal Party of Canada. Nor a number of faithful Liberals hoping to return to the great game, now locked out for their anti-abortion intransigence.

That could be a bit of a game-changer for Justin Trudeau's aspirations to shoo out the Conservative government under Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The Conservative Party of Canada has many within its ranks who are stoutly anti-abortion. Their leader in all likelihood isn't fond of the idea of abortion. This was one of the purported "secret agendas" that, according to his detractors, lurked around the corner should he ever become prime minister.

Mr. Harper can read public opinion as well as any other politician, and he is more than aware that for the majority of Canadians, access to abortion for a woman unwilling to carry a pregnancy to its natural conclusion has support, even though a question remains about late-term abortions, and more recently gender-selection abortions. It is a controversial issue that rankles many and rancour is the last thing the Conservatives want to deal with on such a potentially explosive societal issue.

Not Mr. Trudeau, though. He has taken to tackling unpopular issues head on. China is condemned for its human rights record, but Mr. Trudeau admires China for the manner in which it charges ahead, regardless, to 'get things done'. Mr. Trudeau is not a fan of violence against women, but he felt less than enthusiastic when the Conservative government included in its renewed immigration guidelines allusions to 'honour killings' seen in Canada as criminal acts; an inclusion that he claimed to be "barbaric".

Liberal MP Justin Trudeau, seen in the House of Commons in Ottawa, March 9, apologized Tuesday for his comments on the use of the word 'barbaric' to describe honour killings in a new Canada citizenship guide. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press) 

 

And when Peter Mansbridge, hosting his CBC program asked Justin Trudeau how he would respond to the Boston Bombing if he were faced with a similar event as Prime Minister of Canada, this was  his thoughtful response:

"First thing, you offer support and sympathy and condolences and, you know, can we send down, you know, EMTs or, I mean, as we contributed after 9/11? I mean, is there any material immediate support we have we can offer? And then at the same time, you know, over the coming days, we have to look at the root causes. Now we don't know now whether it was, you know, terrorism or a single crazy or, you know, a domestic issue or a foreign issue, I mean, all of those questions. But there is no question that this happened because there is someone who feels completely excluded, completely at war with innocents, at war with a society. And our approach has to be, okay, where do those tensions come from? I mean, yes, we need to make sure that we're promoting security and we're, you know, keeping our borders safe and, you know, monitoring the kinds of, you know, violent subgroups that happen around. But we also have to monitor and encourage people to not point fingers at each other and lay blame for personal ills or societal ills on a specific group, whether it be the West or the government or Bostonians or whatever it is, because it's that idea of dividing humans against ourselves, of pointing out that they're not like us and, you know, in order to achieve our political goals we can kill innocents here. That's something that no society in the world that is healthy, regardless of ideology, will accept."

A man of great depth of compassion and understanding of human emotions, is this man. Fairness and justice rank high on his list of social goods that a responsible government should seek to represent. And in fairness he accepts people for what they are, and what they offer to society. And in respect to those who support the Liberal party at the grassroots level he pledged to be fair and open and receptive to their choices of candidates.

Which explains why it is that he has chosen what he considers to be his "star" candidates, and for any ridings that they choose to represent in the forthcoming 2015 election, none others need apply. And should they apply they will be steam-rollered and slandered for their temerity in questioning the wisdom of their leader. As for the abortion issue where it seems 50% of Canadians feel some legal restrictions should apply on late-abortion access, they needn't vote Liberal.

This one will sting.