By Kelly McParland - from the National Post (May 21, 2014)
Not for the first time, Liberal spin-doctors are out with little nets, rounding up words spoken by party leader Justin Trudeau and re-organizing them into something more suitable for public consumption.
This time it’s about abortion. When Mr. Trudeau declared recently that all future Liberals would be required to support abortion, he didn’t mean what he appeared to say. According to the Liberal clean-up crew, Mr. Trudeau merely intended to note that a 2012 policy convention affirmed “Women’s Right to Reproductive Health Services,” and, in future, Members of Parliament would be expected to reflect that fact in abortion-related votes.
We’re told he did not mean to suggest there was a ban on Liberals voicing opposition in caucus, or on raising troubling aspects of the position, such as the fact Canadians overwhelmingly oppose sex-selection abortion. According to Maryanne Kampouris, Liberal policy chair, “All Canadians, including Liberal Members of Parliament and candidates, are free to express their deeply held beliefs, and, more specifically the Liberal Party of Canada does not discriminate against current or potential candidates because of these beliefs.”
Anyone who thinks Mr. Trudeau said something else must need to get their ears cleaned. Or perhaps they fell victim to unspecified “misrepresentation” of Mr. Trudeau’s words. “The record should be set straight,” says Ms. Kampouris.
Okay, so here are Mr. Trudeau’s words, exactly as he spoke them: “For current members, we will not eject someone from the party for beliefs they have long held,” Trudeau said. “But the Liberal party is a pro-choice party, and going forward, all new members and new candidates are pro-choice.”
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