Top Liberals are being hit with Community Notes on X (Twitter) as they push misinformation.
“Break glass in case of bad polling numbers”.
If political issues could be described as tangible objects, that’s what the issue of abortion would say for the Liberals.
Without fail, the Liberals accuse the Conservatives of having a ‘hidden agenda’ on abortion whenever they are in a negative news cycle and start falling in the polls.
And this is certainly a bad time for the Liberals.
Their polling numbers – which were already weak – have gotten even worse in recent weeks. The Conservatives have opened up a significant lead of between 10 – 7 points, and are ahead among most demographic groups and most provinces. The Conservatives are doing well in vote-rich Ontario, and even Atlantic Canada – a longtime Liberal bastion – is now highly competitive.
So, it’s no surprise to see the Liberals pushing ahead with new lies on abortion. What is surprising however is how desperate the latest lies are.
The Liberals are attempting to claim that there are no pro-choice Conservative MPs:
Here’s what Trudeau’s Chief of Staff Katie Telford said on Twitter:
Canada has zero pro-choice Conservative MPs, watchdog says https://t.co/1mSSy2VnwK
— Katie Telford (@telfordk) August 3, 2023
Telford is pushing a claim by the abortion Rights Coalition of Canada (ARCC). The ARCC has decided to define any MP who voted for Bill C-311 (the Violence Against Pregnant Women Act), as pro-life. All Conservative MPs voted for the legislation, thus the ARCC has classified all Conservative MPs as pro-life, allowing them to then claim that there are no pro-choice Conservative MPs.
However, as Community Notes pointed out, Bill C-311 does not restrict abortion, and does not even mention abortion:
Here is the full text of Bill C-311:
BILL C-311
An Act to amend the Criminal Code (violence against pregnant women)
Preamble
Whereas Parliament wishes to denounce and deter violence against pregnant women by explicitly including pregnancy as an aggravating circumstance for the purpose of sentencing;
Now, therefore, His Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:
Short Title
Short title
1 This Act may be cited as the Violence Against Pregnant Women Act.
R.S., c. C-46
Criminal Code
2 Paragraph 718.2(a) of the Criminal Code is amended by adding the following after subparagraph (ii.1):
Start of inserted block
(ii.2) evidence that the offender, in committing the offence, abused a person whom the offender knew to be pregnant,
(ii.3) evidence that the offence caused physical or emotional harm to a pregnant victim,
Published under authority of the Speaker of the House of Commons
A manipulative game
As you can see, Bill C-311 does not restrict abortion.
The Liberals know this, yet they are spreading lies anyway.
Not sure why the Prime Minister's chief of staff is retweeting something she KNOWS is misleading at best but basically false. https://t.co/us1PIeK7ry
— Don Martin (@DonMartinCTV) August 4, 2023
In fact, looking at the legislation, it would be just as easy to turn it around the other way and claim that “there are no Liberal MPs who oppose protecting pregnant women from violence”.
Of course, that claim would also be false, since Liberal MPs obviously do not support violence against pregnant women. But claiming so would be just as dishonest as what the Liberals are doing now by claiming there are no pro-choice CPC MPs.
This is quite ironic, given that the Campaign Life Coalition (CLC), lists a bunch of Conservatives as ‘pro-abortion’. They describe Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre as having a “pro-abortion, pro-LGBT ideology”.
Poilievre has repeatedly stated that he opposes government legislating on abortion, and is supportive of same-sex marriage. This is a position held by many Conservatives, and by a significant number of Canadians.
During the Harper era (2006-2015), the Canadian government did not restrict abortion. Both Andrew Scheer and Erin O’Toole pledged not to legislation on the issue.
This hasn’t stopped the Liberals from pushing their ‘hidden agenda’ messaging on the issue, but they have zero evidence to back it up.
As much as getting people to talk about it is an element of the Liberal tactic – after all if we are talking about this we aren’t talking about the state of things in Canada – it is still important for us to call the government out for their dishonesty and explain why what the Liberals are saying is not truthful.
Democracy suffers when lies spread, and thrives when the truth wins out, so we need to stand up for the truth as best as we can – especially when it’s the government trying to gaslight the populace.
Spencer Fernando