Canada
'Shut the f--- up' on abortion file, counsels Tory senator
The Liberals are seeking an apology from Ottawa after a Conservative senator told international development advocates yesterday to "shut the f---up" on the issue of making abortion part of Canada's foreign maternal-health strategy.
During a meeting on Parliament Hill, Senator Nancy Ruth argued it would be best to leave the subject alone or risk having it become an election issue.
"We've got five weeks or whatever 'til the G8 starts, shut the f---up on this issue. Let it roll out," she told a group of aid experts who came out to discuss the government's direction on foreign-aid funding in light of its recent decision not to support abortion programs in developing nations.
"It's just if you push it, there will be more backlash. This is now a political football. It's not about women's health in this country," she added. "Canada is still a country with free and accessible abortions. Leave it there. Don't make it an election issue."
By all accounts the advice was meant to be friendly -- albeit blunt -- but the comments by the long-time women's rights advocate and United Church minister came as a shock to many in the room.
They certainly came as a surprise to Liberal status of women critic Anita Neville, who was among the 80 or so international-development advocates at the meeting.
"I think women have been told too often to be quiet, be good and then you'll get what you want," Ms. Neville said after question period, adding there was a "hush in the room" after Ms. Ruth spoke.
"I guess my argument is when have women ever made progress and got what they want by keeping quiet?"
Noting Ms. Ruth largely supports what the women in the room were saying, Ms. Neville said her comments appeared to have been made out of genuine concern that their actions could raise the ire of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who might retaliate with an even stronger anti-abortion stance.
But in a news release later posted on the Liberal website, Ms. Neville seemed to take a much harsher position.
In it, she pushed Mr. Harper to apologize for using Ms. Ruth to "threaten and blackmail Canada's foreign aid community," calling it the "most extreme example yet of how this deceitful and intolerant Prime Minister operates."
Ms. Neville also called on Ms. Ruth herself to "apologize for her profane remarks."
While the Conservatives have planned to make child and maternal health a key theme of this summer's G8 Summit, it has become a fractious issue ever since Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon first suggested abortion would not factor into the discussion.
(Published by The National Post - May 4, 2010)