Tory MPs divided as fetal-rights motion defeated in Commons
Quote:
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative MPs have been left seriously divided over the issue of abortion after a controversial motion was defeated in the House of Commons on Wednesday evening.
By a vote of 203 to 91, MPs defeated the motion by Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth instructing parliamentarians to study whether a fetus is a human being before the moment of birth.
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And although Harper, whose critics had accused him of having a hidden agenda to re-criminalize abortion, had said he opposed the motion, many of his cabinet ministers did not take his cue by voting with him.
Harper is a social conservative; however, he's also a good politician and he knows a socially conservative agenda is not politically expedient.
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Also, I didn't know MPs could be Cabinet Ministers of multiple things. I knew Ambrose was Minister of Public Works but didn't know she was also Minister of Status of Women.
Last edited by OffsideSpecialist; 09-26-2012 at 08:57 PM.
There is really nothing that happens in his government that Harper doesn't have a hand in.
Have you even read the rules of Parliament? Any MP can bring forth a motion with or without the PM's consent to maintain the principles of local representation.
People here so easily forget the rules of Westminster style Parliaments because it doesn't get practiced the way it does in Britain. In Britain, this would just be another day in the house where backbench MPs lob attacks at their own leaders several times daily during QP and introduce their own motions quite regularly. It just doesn't happen here because our conventions and practices have ignored this almost completely.
Harper didn't want anything to do with this, and he voted no. Don't ignorantly blame Harper because he's your favourite whipping boy, how about you find out how your MP voted as YOUR representative and hold them accountable instead?
It's funny how people in general lament not having enough emphasis on the local MP in politics, then when a true free vote happens, they try to blame the head of government who had nothing to do with it.
The most annoying thing through watching this, even though I don't support it, has been peoples complete ignorance over how the system works and relying on their old fallback of thinking Harper directly controls everything. Go read the rules, peel away the layers of the onion, and find out how it really works.
/rant
Last edited by mariners_fever; 09-26-2012 at 11:46 PM.
Reason: addendum
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Is there any doubt that had the Wildrose won the election this would actually be a debate here? Their people are to the right of the Conservative MPs who voted yes on this motion. Please stop trying to make us a regressive society like American right-wingers do. We do not need to start losing our credibility in the world.
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Is there any doubt that had the Wildrose won the election this would actually be a debate here? Their people are to the right of the Conservative MPs who voted yes on this motion. Please stop trying to make us a regressive society like American right-wingers do. We do not need to start losing our credibility in the world.
Doubt? Yes. Why? Because had the WRP won the Alberta provincial election, the federal private members bill would still be put forth and voted upon. Apples and oranges.
Tory MPs divided as fetal-rights motion defeated in Commons
