A Note On Mr. Bruinooge's Behavior

I have been informed that Mr. Bruinooge's wife will be having a baby within the next day or so. That might go some ways to explain the timing of this.

Nevertheless, here's hoping everything goes smoothly and congratulations to the family.

Tom Wappel: Even Catholics Don't Give A Shit!

Tom Wappel bitches to Lifesite about how poorly he's been treated over the years by Catholics. My favorite bit is his story about visiting YellowKnife Catholic school where the students showed a bit too much independent-mindedness:

As long as I live, I will never forget being in Yellow Knife North West Territories in February of 1990. I was running for the leadership of the Liberal party of Canada in those days, there were 5 candidates - Jean Chretien, Sheila Copps, Paul Martin, Tom Wappel, and Jean Chretien. We were in North West Territories.

I was invited by a local Catholic superintendent of schools who was a supporter of mine in the leadership - to attend a Catholic high school question and answer period. I went. This is a Catholic high school, and remember, I was talking about things like respect for life. I wasn't really talking about marriage in those days because 18 years ago, that hadn't really come up yet. But I was talking about abortion and euthanasia and things of that nature.

To this day, 18 years later, one of my greatest regrets and tragedies - that, that was my worst experience as a politician in any school that I ever went to across this great country - and it was a Catholic high school. I felt, and I still feel in my recollections today, I felt like a piece of meat that was dangled over a pool of sharks and that is how I was treated by students and staff alike on these issues.

OK, if I was in a public high school, I might have expected it but not at a Catholic high school. I could not believe the vitriol that came from these students and their teachers at a Catholic high school. I was shocked, and I might say, so was the superintendant of schools that invited me. Not only was he shocked but he was embarrassed to the point of speechlessness. That sort of things should not be happening.

Why is it that Catholic high schools - and I hope I am not making a generalization - certainly, in that one, have that kind of an atmosphere.

Lack of sex, maybe?

Actually, it reminds me when I was back in highschool and one of the prominent SoCred ministers showed up. All she got was three questions about legalizing marijuana.

Now We're Up To 33

...MPs who oppose Henry Morgentaler's being awarded the order of Canada. Here's the 11 that weren't on my previous list:

Conservative MP Loyola Hearn, St. John's South-Mount Pearl, New Foundland
Liberal MP Paul Zed, St. John, New Brunswick
Conservative MP Garry Breitkreuz, Yorkton-Melville, Saskatchewan
Conservative MP Richard Harris, Cariboo - Prince George, British Columbia
Conservative MP Myron Thompson, Wild Rose, Alberta
Conservative MP Dean Allison, Niagara West-Glanbrook, Ontario
Conservative MP Joy Smith, Kildonan - St. Paul, Manitoba
Conservative MP Andrew Scheer, Regina-Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan
Conservative MP Peter MacKay, Central Nova, Nova Scotia
Liberal MP Robert Thibault. West Nova, Nova Scotia
Independent MP Bill Casey, Cumberland Colchester Musquodoboit Valley, Nova Scotia

Of the two new Liberals on the list, the evidence against Paul Zed is merely that he "told a constituent", but since he is considered to be one of the party's anti-choice MPs, this would not be a surprise. R. Thibault is not so listed, so perhaps that is a surprise, although he claims to be against the award on account of its "divisiveness".

Peter MacKay is a definite surprise, although he too cites "divisiveness" in his reasoning. But really, are his leadership ambitions showing? Is he reaching out the party goobers?

Perhaps the biggest surprise? As they've been asking over at FreeD: where's Stockwell?

The 22

...MPs who have complained about Dr. Henry Morgentaler's Appointment to Order of Canada:

Conservative MP Jason Kenney, Calgary Southeast, Alberta
Conservative MP Andrew Scheer, Regina-Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan
Conservative MP Ken Epp, Sherwood Park, Edmonton
Conservative MP Rod Bruinooge, Winnipeg South, Manitoba
Conservative MP Maurice Vellacott, Saskatoon-Wanuskewin, Saskatchewan
Liberal MP Dan McTeague, Pickering-Scarborough East, Ontario
Liberal MP Paul Steckle, Huron-Bruce, Ontario
Conservative MP Art Hanger, Calgary Northeast, Alberta
Conservative MP Jeff Watson, Essex, Ontario
Conservative MP Dr. James Lunney, Nanaimo-Alberni, B.C
Conservative MP Pierre Lemieux, Glengarry-Prescott-Russell, Ontario
Conservative MP David Anderson, Cypress Hills - Grasslands, Saskatchewan
Conservative MP Rona Ambrose, Spruce Grove, Edmonton
Conservative MP Norm Doyle, St. John's East, Newfoundland
Conservative MP, Mike Allen, Tobique-Mactaquac, New Brunswick
Conservative MP Rob Moore, Fundy Royal, New Brunswick
Conservative MP Brad Trost, Saskatoon-Humboldt, Saskatchewan
Conservative MP Bev Shipley, Lambton Kent Middlesex, Ontario
Conservative MP Leon Benoit, Vegreville-Wainwright, Alberta
Conservative MP Gerry Ritz, Battlefords-Lloydminster, Saskatchewan
Conservative MP Colin Carrie, Oshawa, Ontario
Conservative MP Carol Skelton, Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar

No surprises, as far as I can tell. Or perhaps a surprise in that so few of the Liberal SoCons have come out and said anything. And maybe that's because It's hard to call Morgentaler controversial when most agree with him.

March For Life Not Sponsored By Harper Tories

From the Free Dominion site, a completely unofficial list of MPs attending last Thursday's March for Life:

Conservatives
Bev Shipley (ON)
Cheryl Gallant (ON)
David Anderson (SK)
Dean Del Mastro (ON)
Harold Albrecht (ON)
James Lunney (BC)
Jeff Watson (ON)
Mark Warawa (BC)
Maurice Vellacott (SK)
Myron Thompson (AB)
Pierre Lemieux (ON)
Rod Bruinooge (MB)

Liberals
Paul Steckle (ON)
Paul Szabo (ON)

NDP
None

Bloc Quebecois
None

Tom Wappel (ON) and Andrew Scheer (SK) were stuck in Parliament at the time and intended to go.

Any others there? One interesting thing is no MP east of Ontario was there...

Also, there has been some controversy over the Canada word-mark that appears in the youtube video below. Is it evidence of official Canadian government support?




Suzanne of Big Blue Wave says no (and I believe her):

...the government did not give one cent to the March for Life. How do I know? Because I attend Campaign Life meetings, and never is there any mention in financial reports of any government money. All efforts are paid for by the donations and fundraising activities of pro-life supporters.

[...]

All it is was someone made a banner and overlooked any copyright or trademark rules-- as many people are wont to do-- and put a Canada wordmark on the banner, probably for reasons of patriotism.

Is patriotism still legal? I thought we'd banished that in Canada. Anyway, as I wrote about here, a week previous the Global Marijuana March drew crowds double the size of the March For Life, and they were all out there protesting for the right to blow ganja in public.