Stephen Harper: a moral deficit in political leadership?

"As he tried to unite the party forged from so many factions--old Progressive Conservatives, old Reformers, conservatives social and fiscal, urban and rural, east and west--Harper's strongest card was the Liberals' $250-million sponsorship boondoggle. 'Maybe they should start by pondering the old commandment "'Thou shalt not steal,"' Harper said as the crowd cheered and stomped its feet."

The above quote from Mr. Harper's speech to the Conservative party convention (March 18, 2005) "Thou shalt not steal" regarding the sponsorship program is very apt and true. He told it like it is. Too bad he was not so morally outraged on the abortion issue. Mr. Harper went on to state in his speech that there would be no new abortion laws from a Conservative government. Perhaps Mr. Harper who quoted the commandment "Thou shalt not steal" might also care to remember that other commandment which surely applies to Conservative support of abortion: "Thou shalt not kill."

Only a smattering of delegates cheered his pronouncement that a Conservative government would not attempt to bring in new abortion laws.

Still there were people at the convention who did not believe in the killing of the child in the womb. "The convention's 2,900 delegates voted 55 per cent in favour of maintaining the status quo on abortion, with 45 per cent opposed." So it would appear Mr. Harper and his party are not out of the woods on the abortion issue because this atrocity is not going to go away any time soon. Still there was at least one Conservative at the convention with the courage to tell it like it is; former MP Elsie Wayne said, "You know that abortion kills babies."

On the issue of baby-killing there is no difference between the Conservatives and the Liberals. One can imagine in the next election, when the abortion issue is raised, both Liberals and Conservatives will boast they will not have ANY LAW on abortion. Which means it will still be open season on the child in the womb. The child will still be cut to pieces, poisoned by a saline solution, or, in the case of a partial-birth abortion, his head will be pierced by a sharp instrument and his brains suctioned out. Or, should he survive the attack by the abortionist and be born alive, he will be left to die.

We have over one hundred thousand abortions a year in Canada paid for by our tax dollars. Pregnancy is NOT a disease. Yet this killing of the child in the womb is a financial bonanza for abortionists. Is this fiscally responsible? This blood money could be better spent on real illnesses in the healthcare system. But how can any party be fiscally responsible when it is not morally responsible?

The leadership of the Liberal government has avoided moral responsibility in the Sponsorship program and taxpayers have been ripped off. Now the "new" Conservative party has abdicated any moral responsibility for the child ripped from its mother's womb. What a "choice" for the people in the next election! The leaders of both parties will not stop the baby-killing, albeit this is disguised by the code word "choice". Therefore one has to ask the question: Do we have a moral deficit in political leadership?

Stephen Gray is a Vancouver writer and researcher on various topics. He published a newsletter for 11 years exposing the misuse of trade union practices.