(OTTAWA) Conservative anti-abortion MP Cathay Wagantall has failed in her recent attempt to pass a bill many say violated abortion rights.
Posted at 4:39pm.
Not surprisingly, the law was defeated in the House of Commons on Wednesday by a vote of 205 to 113.
No wonder, since during the debates the Liberals, the Bloc and the New Democrats tore this private member’s bill to pieces. The exchange of blows was sometimes stormy – on Tuesday, Liberal MP Mark Gerretsen even went so far as to show his frustration with the middle finger.
The Liberals had set the stage for Wednesday’s vote when they were bombarded with questions about the Paul Bernardo transfer and China’s interference. “We will not allow the Conservatives to do anything through the back door that they cannot do openly,” Minister Pascale St-Onge warned.
“The Conservative leader is trying to win votes by trying to open the debate on abortion. “In Canada in 2023, that’s shameful and unacceptable,” she added in response to a “scheduled question” from the Liberal banks.
Bill C-311 aimed to amend the Penal Code to include “knowingly assaulting a pregnant woman” or “damaging her physically or morally” as “aggravating circumstances in determining the penalty”.
In the conservative ranks, many defended it, affirming that it had nothing to do with abortion.
MP Wagantall was not the first attempt to reopen debate on the issue.
One of them dates from 2021. His sex-selective abortion bill was then defeated in the second reading by a vote of 248 to 82. The Conservatives had overwhelmingly backed him, but all elected members of the Quebec caucus opposed it.
In the case of Bill C-311, all Conservative MPs, including the nine from Quebec, voted in favour.
Former Conservative MP Alain Rayes, who now sits as an Independent, voted against.