Intl Planned Parenthood responds to Conservative critics

-posted by Tonda MacCharles, Ottawa bureau, Sept. 30, 2011

It's interesting as the debate over abortion is now coming out into the open, whether Prime Minister Stephen Harper welcomes it or not, becuase it's clearly happening behind closed caucus doors.

Conservative MP Brad Trost was first to publicly flag his objections to a decision to fund International Planned Parenthood Federation this week, in a website posting.

Now MP Maurice Vellacott has weighed in with a news release sent to the parliamentary press gallery. (Will insert link later) It offers these quotes:

“The IPPF is trying to dupe us into believing that because Canadian taxpayer dollars are going to countries where abortion is supposedly illegal, the money won’t be spent on abortions."

“But we know in Bangladesh, for example, where Canada is funding, this nefarious organization will do early abortion which they euphemistically call ‘menstrual regulation’ by vacuum suction. If a woman hasn’t had her period in 8 weeks, they will do a ‘menstrual regulation’ – that’s an early abortion by another name."

He says: “In this way, IPPF will be using Canadian taxpayer dollars for funding abortions directly or, to use other deceptive language, they will be ‘establishing non-pregnancy in the first trimester.’"

“In addition, 6 million Canadian taxpayer dollars to IPPF frees up money from other sources to fund abortions directly.”

The IPPF's spokesman Paul Bell, reached in London late in the U.K.'s working day, said he would respond in more detail next week, but offered these comments in an email reply:

"IPPF is absolutely clear, no Canadian money will be used for any abortion related services in any of the five countries that CIDA has announced funding for, this includes advocacy for access to safe abortion services in countries where it is highly restricted."

He cited research done by Stanford University research that he says has shown that defunding international family planning programmes, including IPPF, "will only result in fewer women having access to contraception, more unwanted and unplanned pregnancies and more induced and unsafe abortions."

He said the United Nations Population Fund estimates "that 215 million women, mainly in the developing world, who want contraception do not have access to it."

"It should not be a surprise then that there are 21 million unsafe abortions every year, the vast majority in Africa and Asia.  This figure has increased from 19 million in 2003."

"IPPF does advocate the liberalisation of abortion laws in countries where abortion is highly restricted.  We do this because we know unsafe abortion is a major public health problem, and we know improving access and making abortion safe saves women’s lives. 

"Restricting laws and access to safe abortion services does not reduce abortion rates, it just makes abortion clandestine and unsafe.  This impacts the poorest women most, since, even in countries where abortion is restricted, those with money can either find someone to perform an abortion safely in their country or they can travel to another country."

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"You can't get a haircut in this town without speculation," says Paul Dewar.

Posted by Joanna Smith, Ottawa Bureau

When New Democrat MP and foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar (Ottawa Centre) sent an email to supporters Wednesday morning and posted on his Facebook wall that he had some news to share, everyone assumed that he was going to announce a leadership bid.

That became obvious when a smiling Dewar emerged from the NDP caucus meeting, playing coy with the reporters in the scrum around him as he told everyone to wait and see.

One more clue? His new haircut:

“What do you think you will bring to the race?” CBC Newsworld's Julie Van Dusen asked in the scrum.

“Well, we’re getting ahead of ourselves, aren’t we?” Dewar said by way of a non-answer.

“Well, I figured that’s why you got the haircut, right?” Van Dusen persisted, which got everyone in the scrum laughing, as many were wondering the same.

“You can’t get a haircut in this town without speculation!" said Dewar. "I get a haircut from time to time. It’s something I do and I like to be well-groomed as a Member of Parliament for Ottawa Centre.”

Searching for truth in MacKay’s search-and-rescue helicopter ride

from Allan Woods, Ottawa Bureau

There's nothing like a fishing story to spice up an otherwise slow Friday in the nation's capital. Thank Defence Minister Peter MacKay and the pugnacious opposition for that.

The latest twist on the personal-use-of-public-aircraft saga involves allegations that MacKay pulled rank on military officials at the Gander air force base when he ordered a search-and-rescue helicopter to pick him up from a fancy fishing lodge.

The way the Liberals understand it, MacKay was initially turned down by a local base commander when he requested that military personnel at CFB Gander pick him up at the lodge on the Gander River in July 2010. MacKay had been salmon fishing with friends.

“We believe the local base was overruled, that he used his minister’s office to talk to higher up military brass, to order it done so that he could have a quick trip to the airport,” Liberal MP Wayne Easter, who made the allegations in the House of Commons, explained in an interview Friday.

MacKay's version of the story is that he decided to fit in a long-delayed search-and-rescue demonstration with a CH-149 Cormorant helicopter when his fishing trip was cut short because he had to attend a government announcement July 9 in London, Ont.

Government officials said on Thursday that MacKay was hoisted from the ground into the helicopter, which was hovering overhead. It was explained that the air force had long sought the demonstration with MacKay to support their case for new fixed-wing search-and-rescue aircraft.

It isn't clear how hoisting the minister into the air (something that shouldn't be attempted in anything except for a helicopter) bolsters the air force's case for new airplanes.

Having taken part in several military demonstrations as the Star's defence reporter, it is true that there are waivers and forms that must be filled out absolving the Canadian Forces of legal responsibility in the event of an accident. The Liberals have asked MacKay to produce any forms he may have signed before his demonstration, or any emails his office either sent or received proving that his Cormorant ride was anything more than a "limousine ride" as critics claimed this week.

"You know, I had the opportunity to go on one of those army exchanges and they gave us three months’ heads-up and told us where to go, when to show and it was very, very well planned on the army side," said Liberal MP Justin Trudeau. "The helicopters are not at the beck and call of the Minister.  Therefore, there must be a paper trail demonstrating that this was a planned exercise.  If it wasn’t he has some explaining to do."  

MacKay didn't provide any new information in the Commons about what happened, nor did he address allegations that MacKay’s initial request for a ride in the Cormorant was rejected, prompting him to run up the air force chain of command and have the Cormorant ordered to pick him up.

Brig.-Gen. Sylvain Bedard, a military spokesman, said that the helicopter in question was scheduled for an entire day of aircrew training with a flight commander on board as well as a co-pilot, two search-and-rescue technicians, a flight engineer and a flight engineer trainee.

Bedard initially said that the search-and-rescue squadron was aware of MacKay’s visit to Newfoundland because he had made an infrastructure announcement at the base before going on the fishing trip.

Informed that the announcement was in fact made in 2009, not 2010, Bedard quickly corrected himself.

He said that MacKay’s fishing trip began on July 5 but maintained that the military was still aware of his presence in the region because military officers, act as a liaison to the defence minister’s office, knew of his travel plans.

“From our perspective … it really seems like this was a mutual gain-sort of approach,” Bedard said Friday.

But that's the after-the-fact verdict and doesn't answer whether the local base commander in Gander approved of the 30-minute demonstration that air force personnel performed for MacKay that day at an approximate cost of $16,000.

And since this is -- at its essence -- a political argument about cost cutting and use of very expensive government resources, I made an inquiry today after being told that anglers normally use helicopter, float plane or boat charters to reach fishing destinations on the Gander River.

One Gander-based charter operator, contacted Friday, said the hourly rate for a helicopter ride was just over $1,700.

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Comartin's to-do list: Work, health and a grandaughter to play with

-posted by Tonda MacCharles, Ottawa bureau, 15/09/2011

I didn't see NDP justice critic Joe Comartin in shots of the caucus on stage at the Quebec City news conference earlier Thursday which struck me as odd.

When I tracked him down, I joked it sounded like he was at a daycare centre. I could hear the sounds of children's laughter. Not quite.

He was just coming out of a clinic at Women's College Hospital in Toronto. He'd been referred there a few months ago for a specialized procedure to treat - as he called it - a couple of patches of "skin cancer" on his nose and neck.

NDP Jack Layton's struggle with prostate cancer was the most high profile health battle fought by a public figure of late. Many MPs have dealt with cancer or other serious illnesses. Joe downplayed his, and said he will be back at work when Parliament resumes next week.

As a deputy house leader for the Official Opposition and an MP on the selection committee reviewing potential Supreme Court of Canada candidates, Joe said it's a bad time to take any more time off.

His cancer, he said, is not melanoma, and not life-threatening. He has 5-6 stitches on his nose and the same on his neck where the doctor excised patches of "pre-basal" cell carcinoma. He's bandaged up, but doesn't need reconstructive surgery, and in "98 per cent of these cases" the doctor doesn't need to do more.

"It's not a big deal," he told me. "The doctor told me today that his Thursdays are the light cases. It's like a production line. There were probably 20 or 30 other patients there this morning."

Comartin had attended the caucus meeting but it was extended only after he'd booked his medical appointment. All that over with, he was "going to go play with my grandaughter right now."

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Feathers of leadership

Posted by Joanna Smith, Ottawa Bureau

New Democrat MP Olivia Chow (Trinity--Spadina) presented Interim Leader Nycole Turmel with a special gift as the 102-member caucus gathered for the start of a two-day strategy session in Quebec City on Wednesday: two eagle feathers that were sacred to her late husband, Jack Layton.

Chow said she hoped the feathers would give Turmel wisdom and strength as she leads the party until a new leader is chosen in Toronto next March.

"He used these feathers to guide his decision-making," a tearful Chow told her colleagues, who she thanked for love and support when Layton was battling cancer. "May Jack's spirit guide us, now and in the future."

An aide told The Canadian Press the story behind the feathers:

One of the feathers fell from an eagle that circled Layton and Chow while they were kayaking in the Queen Charlotte Islands shortly after the 2006 election. Haida Gwaii elders told Layton it was a "feather of leadership" and blessed it. The other feather was given to Layton later by an aboriginal leader.

 

When in doubt, leave it out.

Posted by Joanna Smith, Ottawa Bureau

The New Democrat powers that be did something today that has left me gaping at my computer monitor with some combination of admiration and disbelief.

You may remember there was some controversy during the recent spring election when the CBC's Leslie MacKinnon tried and failed to find the NDP constitution.

Ahead of the NDP biennial policy convention in Vancouver in June, I reported that the party was getting ready to rid said constitution of references to "democratic socialism" in an attempt to update the language. While researching the story, I was able to finally get my hands on the most recent version of the constitution (2009), which you can read here.

The move did not go over smoothly in Vancouver, with a last-minute interjection from newly elected NDP president Brian Topp suggesting the matter be referred to the executive for retooling saving everyone from a divisive debate on the convention floor.

Now that the NDP is heading into a leadership race that will in part be governed by rules set out in that constitution, the party has finally decided to publish its constiution on the NDP website.

Those of you hoping to catch a glimpse of the original preamble (which has yet to be formally changed) will be disappointed, as it has been replaced by a conspicuous blank space.

There is an old saying in journalism used for when a reporter cannot confirm something ahead of the fast-approaching deadline: "When in doubt, leave it out."

It looks like the NDP just gave it a new meaning.