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News > Gendercide motion censored by Standing Committee. Next step is appeal to the full House

Gendercide motion censored by Standing Committee. Next step is appeal to the full House

April 3, 2013
On March 27th, Conservative MP, Mark Warawa, appealed a ludicrous decision by a parliamentary subcommittee which had deemed his private member's motion on female gendercide "non-votable".

It was reported by mainstream media that the subcommittee's decision was "orchestrated" by the Prime Minister to avoid "re-opening the abortion debate".


However, it has never been confirmed that Stephen Harper had any involvement in the motion’s rejection by the subcommittee. All we know for certain is that the members of the standing committee, made up of all parties, decided to sink the sex-selection motion on trumped-up grounds.

In fact, the prospect of Harper trying to obstruct democracy now, doesn’t make a lot of sense. Just last year, in relation to Stephen Woodworth’s private member’s motion (M312), he defended the rights of individual MPs to bring forward private bills. That motion, which was far more controversial than M408, called on parliament to study whether the child in the womb is a human being.
 

When questioned at the time by the opposition about why he had not blocked Woodworth’s motion, Harper responded that although he personally opposed M312, that individual members of Parliament were free to bring anything they choose to the Commons floor. “Every private member can table bills and motions in the House”, he said. “Party leaders don’t have any control over that.”

Pot calling the kettle black?

The Liberals and NDP are now being opportunistic. They accused Harper of stifling the parliamentary rights of MPs and free speech.

How we wish that the Opposition was being sincere!

You’ll recall however, that Justin Trudeau threatened to support Quebec separation if the Conservatives were to ever make abortion illegal!

And the New Democrats require all potential candidates to sign a declaration supporting the party’s official, pro-abortion policy. 		 

Regardless of why the Sub-Committee on Procedure & House Affairs made this decision, it was indeed an anti-democratic farce. A Library of Parliament expert noted numerous times that Motion 408 met all the criteria for votability. This is a serious concern for democracy. Private members bills and motions are some of the few tools that MPs still retain to freely represent their constituents or to raise important, non-partisan issues.

The principle of Democracy threatened

If stripped of this parliamentary right, all MPs are at risk of becoming mere mouthpieces for the party leader, incapable of representing constituents or independent thought. If this sets a future precedent, the role of MPs could become largely redundant. MPs will increasingly perceive that their job is to be a representative for the party, instead of the constituent. We will have the appearance of democracy, but the form of authoritarian rule.

Warawa’s March 27th appeal was heard by the entire Standing Committee on Procedure & House Affairs (PROC), consisting of 12 MPs from all parties. Although 45 minutes was allotted to a public deliberation by the committee, they listened to MP Warawa for just 5 minutes, asked no questions of him whatsoever, and then moved the balance of the meeting ‘in camera’ to make their decision in secret. Clearly, the committee members had already made up their minds how they would vote.

The next day, the committee announced that it agreed with the prior ruling to deem Motion 408 “non-votable”. The disgraced PROC member MPs include the following:
Joe Preston, Elgin-Middlesex-London   Dave MacKenzie, Oxford
Alexendrin Latendresse, Louis-Saint-Laurent   Scott Reid, Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox & Addington
Dominic Leblanc, Beauséjour   Craig Scott, Toronto-Danforth
Scott Armstrong, Cumberland-Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley   Parm Gill, Brampton-Springdale
Tom Lukiwiski, Regina-Lumsden-Lake Centre   Costas Menegakis, Richmond Hill
Nathan Cullen, Skeena-Bulkley Valley   Nycole Turmel, Hull—Aylmer


Next step: historic appeal to full House of Commons

Prior to the March 28th decision, Mark Warawa told reporters that if necessary, he would appeal to the full House of Commons to restore his motion’s votability. It appears that is indeed his last remaining option.

This would be an historic, unprecedented move that involves forcing a vote by all MPs in the House, via secret ballot. Warawa has until April 19th to file that appeal and only needs the support of 5 other MPs representing at least 2 official parties.

Please take these actions to save M-408

# 1. Contact MP Warawa and thank him for taking this important stand. Also encourage him to proceed with the appeal to the full House of Commons.
 email: [email protected]     Phone: 613-992-1157

The problem of female gendercide and the issue of protecting democracy are too important to let die. 		 

 #2. Begin lobbying your Member of Parliament right now!
 You can write, phone or visit their office with a simple message like the following:
“Dear MP _____,
I have been following, with dismay, the un-democratic suppression of MP Mark Warawa’s motion to condemn discrimination against females occurring through sex-selection. I hope that MP Warawa will appeal to the full House of Commons, and if that occurs, I respectfully request that you vote in favour of deeming Motion 408 votable. I look forward to your response.”
Find your MP's contact info here.

 #3. Ask Stephen Harper to rebuke the Standing Committee for declaring M-408 non-votable
 Here’s an example of what you could say:
“Dear Prime Minister,
You stated last spring that ‘Every private member can table bills and motions in the House’. The Standing Committee used trumped-up excuses to falsely deem Motion 408 non-votable. I ask you to come out publicly against the committee’s politicized ruling. Prime Minister Harper, you can say you’re personally opposed to the motion and at the same time, defend the parliamentary privilege of individual MPs, as you did with M-312. Please do so again.”
Email: [email protected]    Tel: 613-992-4211		  

Numerous Conservative MPs defend democracy and M-408

We would like to make note of several Conservative MPs who have spoken out in support of Warawa’s motion and criticized the committee’s unfair decision. Some of these include MP Leon Benoit, MP Stephen Woodworth, MP Brad Trost, MP Kyle Seeback, MP Harold Albrecht, MP David Anderson, MP Brent Rathgeber, MP Lavar Payne, and MP Maurice Vellacott.

Unfortunately, none of the Liberals, NDP or Bloc were prepared to speak up in a serious manner for our democratic rights. After media started reporting on the Conservative backbench revolt, NDP House Leader Nathan Cullen gave a hypocritical speech on the importance of MPs being able to speak freely. The problem is that Cullen was a member of the very same PROC committee which deemed M-408 non-votable!

Thank you in advance for taking action.


Sincerely,

Jim Hughes

National President
Campaign Life Coalition

 

P.S.:  Please sign our petition in support of MP Warawa's Motion 408.
 

 

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