One of these things just doesn't belong,
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?
The remarkable children's program Sesame Street has introduced a large number of phrases and songs to the general English lexicon. Parents have been singing the song above to their children for many, many decades.
The song came to mind when I read Justin Trudeau's justification for insisting that all his MPs and even candidates for nomination be pro-choice, which he equated with supporting equal rights for women. Perhaps through misunderstanding, maybe willful playing with words, possibly because of plain ignorance, Justin placed that equation squarely in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms:
I encourage and am pleased that there are always a wide range of views within the Liberal Party because the Liberal Party is representative of the country as a whole, and that’s a good thing. But the Liberal Party is also the party of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and with our votes we will defend that Charter and that’s what every Liberal who walks into this House of Commons needs to understand and do understand that in the matter of defending women’s rights our votes are clear. We defend the Charter.
Of course, there is no constitutional right to abortion. Our present abortion-on-demand regimen rests on a lack of any law against it, not a positive statement in the Charter for it, as exists in the U.S.
His further asserted that his father :...had no problem legalizing divorce, decriminalizing homosexuality and moving in ways that recognized the basic rights of the people. "He too held fast to his beliefs. But he also understood that as leaders, as political figures, and as representatives of a larger community, our utmost responsibility is to stand up for people’s rights.”
It could be that Justin has just never studied what his father did with respect to abortion. Pierre Trudeau certainly did not simply do away with all legislation that would place any restrictions on the provision of abortion. His medical committees were sufficiently restrictive that they were struck down by the Supreme Court of Canada as contrary to Trudeau's own Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Nor would it appear to be the case that Trudeau Sr. equated abortion on demand with equal rights for women, as we saw in my last post. I quoted him as saying:
“I think she should have to answer for it and explain. Now, whether it should be to three doctors, or one doctor, or to a priest or a bishop or to her mother-in-law is a question you might want to argue, you do have a right over your own body, it is your body. But the fetus is not your body; it’s someone else’s body, and if you kill it, you’ll have to explain,” Mr. Trudeau said.“You would have to convince me that a person who asks for an abortion has no responsibility at all,” the Montreal Star article quotes Mr. Trudeau as saying. The report said he was responding to the protestors by stating his “private attitude.”
“You know, at some point you are killing life in the fetus in self-defence, of what, of the mother’s health, or her happiness, or of her social rights or her privilege as a human being?” Mr. Trudeau went on to say.
“I think she should have to answer for it and explain. Now, whether it should be to three doctors, or one doctor, or to a priest or a bishop or to her mother-in-law is a question you might want to argue, you do have a right over your own body, it is your body. But the fetus is not your body; it’s someone else’s body, and if you kill it, you’ll have to explain,” Mr. Trudeau said.
And according to Pierre's biographer, it would not be accurate to say that he had "no problem" with some of his legislation. A 2009 volume of a biography of Trudeau, written by former Liberal MP John English, a history professor, says Mr. Trudeau later had “profound reservations” about many of the social changes his landmark overhaul of criminal law had sparked, and shared them in confessions with his priest. But he believed the reforms “were essential,” including changes that legalized homosexual relations (Source: Hill Times).
And finally, Trudeau Sr. accepted pro-life MP's into his caucus and did not "whip" them in voting for abortion-related issues. The same can be said for all his successors: Prime Ministers Chretien and Martin, and Liberal leaders Dion and Ignatieff.
Other than that, father and son have identical views.
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