Tag Archives: Canada

Videos

Profile of Canadian pro-life debater Jojo Ruba

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Here’s the article. (I linked to the printable version)

Excerpt:

Before Jose “Jojo” Ruba spoke at St. Patrick’s Church last night as part of the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform’s Northern Ontario Truth Tour, he conceded he has a tough task ahead of him; making parallels between the civil rights movement and the abortion debate today would be tough for anyone.

That’s what Ruba, a graduate of Carleton University’s Journalism and Masters of Political Science programs, has set out to do on the Sudbury stop of his tour of Northern Ontario with his talk Injustice Interrupted: From the Civil Rights Movement to The Modern Abortion Debate.

Ruba, who’s approaching his 10th year as a public speaker, debater and educator on pro-life issues, said his talk examines the legacy of the civil rights movement and the lessons that can be taken from the social reform movement as it relates to the pro-life movement.

No stranger to controversy, Ruba said he knows it’s tough to draw comparisons, but added that he wants to give people some ideas as to why he thinks comparisons between the civil rights movement and the modern abortion debate are justified.

Ruba said his presentation focuses on an important question central to the argument : what are the unborn?

“If unborn are human beings like us, just as the civil rights activists fought for equality rights of human beings who were different, but still human beings, we say the same thing about the pre-born child.”

Ruba said that’s what he does as a “pro-lifer,” and a challenge he presents to other pro-lifers.

“If we truly believe there are 300 deaths every day of Canadians through legal abortion, how should we act? With gentleness and respect, of course, following the laws, but without compromise.”

Like those who fought for equal rights in the civil rights movement, Ruba is aware of those who would try to silence him.

Ruba recalled a time when he was giving a lecture at St. Mary’s University in Halifax when prochoice audience members shouted him down for 45 minutes.

“At McGill University in Montreal, they shouted me down for two hours,” Ruba said. “They started singing all 99 verses of 99 bottles of beer on the wall and also sang happy birthday for abortion.”

Ruba said that even in such a hostile environment, he was happy to stay afterward and answer questions.

“In fact, one of the protesters who started off chanting as part of the protest group, after hearing a bit of what I’d had to say, said he’d wished he’d heard more of the presentation. Even when it happened in Halifax, more people showed up at the next university on the tour because of the controversy.”

Ruba said it’s a person’s right to disagree with him, but argued the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform is “a good thing, a democratic right.”

Here’s another video featuring Jojo Ruba that I featured previously.

News

Harper’s Conservatives lead Liberals 42.3 to 28.4 in latest election poll

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From the Vancouver Province.

Excerpt:

Stephen Harper’s Conservatives have soared into majority government territory in B.C. with more than double the support of the Liberals, a new poll says.

As the federal election campaign enters week two, The Nanos poll, conducted for The Globe and Mail and CTV, indicates 49.7 per cent support for the Conservatives here and 23.4 per cent for the Liberals, with the NDP garnering 20.6 per cent support.

The daily tracking poll has Stephen Harper’s Conservatives winning over 40-per cent support across Canada — seen as the key level of support for forming a majority government — with a commanding 14-point lead over Michael Ignatieff’s Liberals.

Harper’s party is only trailing in Quebec to the Bloc, with Canada-wide support of 42.3 per cent, compared to 28.4 per cent for the Liberals, 16.4 per cent for Jack Layton’s NDP and 3.8 per cent for the Greens.

And from the London Free Press – policies!

Excerpt:

“We stand with farmers and hunters and we will scrap the long-gun registry,” said Harper, adding that a Tory majority would prevent the opposition from blocking those efforts again.

He also tried to counter the image of rural residents as out of step with the rest of the country.

“I have not found in rural Canada a general opposition to gun control,” said Harper. “There’s not a general opposition to the idea that a gun owner should get a licence. We’ve had a handgun registry for years.”

He sees wide acceptance of those measures as well as restrictions on powerful weapons.

“What people don’t accept is going out and registering millions and millions and millions of long guns when we already have all this other information.”

My previous post on Harper’s plan to ban political contributions from unions and big corporations, as well as federal subsidies for political parties.

My previous post on Harper’s initiative to win over social conservatives as much as he can given the circumstances.

News

Harper would ban political contributions from unions and corporations

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Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper

From PostMedia News.

Excerpt:

Stephen Harper says scrapping taxpayer subsidies for political parties could help break Canada’s cycle of holding federal elections every few years, but his political foes say it’s another attempt to financially cripple the other parties.

On Friday, Day 7 of the campaign, Harper said he will ban the subsidies if the Conservatives win a majority government on May 2. Any party that receives more than two per cent of the vote in a general election receives a subsidy of roughly $2 per year for each vote the party received.

Harper said the system funnels taxpayers’ money to political parties they don’t necessarily support, and allows parties to operate in perpetual campaign mode.

“We think money should come from voters. Not from corporations, not from unions and not from government. (It) should come from the voters,” he told reporters.

[…]In January, Harper revealed for the first time, in an interview with Postmedia News, that a ban on the subsidies would be a “clear plank” in his party’s platform for an election.

Shortly after winning the 2008 election, the Tories proposed to end the subsidies, but that sparked anger from the opposition parties and they rallied to form a coalition that nearly defeated Harper’s government. On Friday, Harper made it clear he hasn’t changed his mind. However, in an apparent bid to take some of the sting out of the move and to reduce criticism, he revealed there would be a three-year transition.

“I’ve wanted to change this, but we’re very clear: Unless we have a majority government, we’ll never attempt to change it, because we know that in a minority government you could never move this forward. So if we get a chance to change it, we will,” Harper told reporters.

Basically, there should only be ONE WAY for parties to get money in my view. Individual contributions from workers and small businesses. Anyone who can use government to grant it a monopoly (unions, big corporations) should NOT be allowed to contribute money to politicians. Get the big money from left-wing unions and left-wing big corporations out of politics.

Here’s the latest poll, showing the Conservatives steady at 41.3% support. (H/T Jeanie)