Langley MP’s scheduled speech on abortions pulled

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OTTAWA (NEWS1130) – Conservative MP Mark Warawa from Langley was ready to make a speech in the House of Commons on sex-selective abortions but was then was told that wasn’t going to happen.

“What happens in the House of Commons is private members who want to make a statement before Question Period… they put their names forward when they want to make a statement in the House of Commons,” explains our parliamentary reporter Cormac MacSweeney.

The Conservative party reportedly axed [Warawa’s] question.

MacSweeney points out it’s well-known that the prime minister does not want to re-open the abortion debate. “So, there’s talk about the prime minister’s office being invovled in this and basically trying to crush this motion that Warawa has before the House of Commons. They basically axed his speech to try to stop him from promoting his motion to talk about and condemn sex-selective abortion.”

Warawa has raised a point of privilege in the House of Commons today, asking the Speaker to rule and clarify whether a party has a right to stop a member from making a statement before the House of Commons or whether it should be the Speaker who makes that decision.

“Warawa is arguing that only the Speaker can stop a private member from getting up and making these comments. The chief government with Gordon O’Connor stood up and argued that in the party system, it’s up to the party whips to decide who is on the list that is submitted to the Speaker and, therefore, I think we can assume that it was Gordon O’Connor himself who had taken Warawa’s name off that list.”

Sex-selective abortion is where people find out the sex of a baby and decide to have an abortion based on the sex.

“We see it in some cultures where males are seen as the dominant sex and people want to have boys instead of girls; if they find out it’s a girl, they may have an abortion or force an abortion upon their wife. It does happen, but less often in Canada than other places around the world,” explains MacSweeney.

“The Opposition and some members of the Conservative party say this is just a back-room way for certain Conservative MPs to try to outlaw abortion in Canada altogether; they say this is seen as one of those steps toward that end goal. That’s why they’re opposing it.”

Those on the other side say they need to stop what they call “gendercide” and stop people from discriminating based on the sex of a fetus.

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