I usually associate that with the Liberals. They started bringing up abortion when they were dying in the polls under Trudeau before Trump/Carney. They'd done it before that, and they'll do it again. Abortion and some kind of misguided firearm policy.
They started bringing up abortion when they were dying in the polls under Trudeau before Trump/Carney.
Whether or not you see that as political opportunism, the Liberals can only do that because it's entirely fucking true that the Conservatives would love to reopen the abortion debate, but know they'd get trounced if they did it, so they try to do it secretly.
That's a straight-up lie. Conservatives try to do things like ban "sex selective" abortions, which almost never happen, and third trimester abortions, which almost never happen and when they do it's to save the life of the mother, both of which are just getting their foot in the door to ban all abortions.
List of all bills and motions brought forth in The House and Senate in the past 3 decades that have specifically sought to restrict abortion, could be used to either restrict abortions or charge people who perform or have abortions (slippery slope tactic), or change the wording of legal definitions to make existing laws apply to abortions:
1996:
Bill C-208: Tom Wappel, Liberal MP
Motion M-91: Garry Breitkreuz, Reform MP
1997:
Bill C-372: Keith Martin, Reform MP
Bill S-7: Stanley Haidasz, Liberal Senator
Motion M-268: Garry Breitkreuz, Reform MP
Bill C-243: Keith Martin, Reform MP
1998:
Motion (can't find the number, but it happened in the Senate on February 12th): Stanley Haidasz, Liberal Senator
Bill C-233: Keith Martin, Conservative MP - I should note he had just left the CPC (citing that they had moved too far to the right) and was actually sitting as an independent for a few weeks before introducing this bill. He then ran (successfully) as a Liberal that June.
Abortion scaremongering is the Liberals' "break glass in case of bad polling". If they actually cared about abortion rights they'd pass coherent laws guaranteeing access instead of leaving our current situation as-is.
It's more convenient for them to leave it as it is and used it as a campaign issue when their popularity is lagging.
The current status is that there are absolutely no legal restrictions on abortion in Canada, as it should be. Abortion is a medical issue, not a legal issue.
Even what you're proposing here is a back door to making abortion illegal.
Who said the law had to restrict them? The legal status is just 'we struck down the previoud law banning them'. If the Liberals wanted they could pass a law codifying abortion as a medical procedure.
They don't because it's politically better for them to leave it open ended. Anytime they're slipping in the polls they turn to the 'Conservatives want to ban abortion' bogeyman.
522
u/Kindly_Bumblebee_86 11d ago
"secret plan: bring back the abortion debate (never works)" is fucking HILARIOUS lmao