Trudeau was just stating party policy

July 2, 2014 · 0 Comments

Letter writer Linda Groundsell wrote in the Caledon Citizen (Trudeau is ‘backtreading on his promise’) she is upset that Justin Trudeau was imposing on Liberal candidates his personal views regarding abortion in Canada.
She concluded the letter saying that she supported Pierre Trudeau for his Charter of Rights and Freedoms (of 1982) and wished this applied now.
First off, in 1988, it was the Supreme Court of Canada that struck down Canada’s abortion law as unconstitutional. The law was found to violate Section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms because it infringed upon a woman’s right to “life, liberty and security of person.”
Since then, the issue has come up from time to time, but the law of the land in this regard remains that there is no law of the land, except for our constitution. Political parties have exhaustively debated this internally, with us Liberals concluding that a woman should be the sole judge over what happens to her own body and not the state. Conservatives have officially decided to take no position; they just don’t want to talk about it. Stephen Harper has however, explicitly and firmly stated that the subject would not be re-opened on his watch.
In his statement, Justin Trudeau was reminding prospective Liberal candidates of this Liberal Party policy, as adopted by the overwhelming majority of party members at convention. This is part of the Liberal party platform and new candidates are expected to support the party in that position. Trudeau was not stating personal views, but rather that of the party he leads. Our position is that women should have sole domain over their own bodies and that, among other rights and freedoms, abortions should be available and safe.
We hope Groundsell sees this is a matter of women’s rights superseding state rights as demanded by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms she so admires and that we re-earn her vote.
George denHaan
Director Communications
Dufferin-Caledon Federal Liberal Association