Vote here! (and read a good, short report about what happened.)

Motion M-408, the motion introduced by MP Mark Warawa, was deemed non-votable by the Subcommittee on Private Members’ Business this morning. By a unanimous vote.

I’ve examined the votability criteria in the past and I’m astonished that the Subcommittee found that M-408 failed to meet the standards.

This is the entirety of the motion’s text: “That the House condemn discrimination against females occurring through sex-selective pregnancy termination.”

What happens next?

As a result, the government has won the first in what will likely be a series of procedural battles that will be waged in pursuit of its ultimate goal: avoiding a reprise of the internal caucus divisions brought on by Stephen Woodworth’s bid to strike a committee on the legal definition of ‘human being,’ which did, of course, eventually go down to defeat — but not before garnering the public support of a majority of backbenchers, as well as several high profile ministers, including Jason Kenney and, most unexpectedly, Rona Ambrose.

In any case, Warawa has the right to appeal the decision of the subcommittee — which, I’m told, he will all but certainly do — by making the case for reconsideration before the full procedure and house affairs committee within five days of the subcommittee report being tabled thither.

If he fails to persuade the committee to overturn the ruling, Warawa can put the question to the House of Commons as a whole — provided, that is, that he has the support of at least five MPs — by filing a motion with the speaker, who will then proceed to call for a vote, which is conducted via secret ballot over the next two days.

Read more here and here. Learn more about M-408 here.

As the partner in my marriage who fixes the running toilets, I’m happy to say that Canada’s Handyman Challenge winner is the well deserving Maria! The challenge was a running series this year, starting with auditions from around Canada and elimination rounds involving completing various handy tasks (building a tile table for Subway restaurants, pop quizzes about tools, deck building). Maria, a construction worker, remained a committed and humble individual throughout the show. It can’t be easy to be a women in the construction industry. I’m happy that she’s won, not just because you can be a girl and kick ass with a circular saw at the same time, but because she seemed like a really sweet person who could use the win.

I copied the blog post’s title right off the National Post website. I couldn’t have made it up.

Here are some good letters to the editor regarding the story of MP Stephen Woodworth being drowned out by the Vagina Warriors.

Not only did the Vagina Warriors, including Mr. Ethan Jackson, a 21 year old art student who calls his vagina costume Vulveta, demonstrate a total lack of understanding of the concept of free expression, but they made poor Mrs. Betty Hansford (her letter below) thankful that she’s “going out of this word and not coming in.” That’s quite a feat, indeed, oh Vagina Warriors.

The recent absurdities put on display by pro-choice demonstrators at the University of Waterloo go beyond pathetic. I respect the fact there are a divergence of views on this topic, but seriously, dressing up in vagina costumes and impeding someone’s freedom of speech isn’t going to get you anywhere. As an advocate for pre-born human rights I actually quite enjoy the attention these “vagina warriors” are receiving, as I assume there aren’t too many Canadians who would identify with their blatant objectification of women.

One of the reasons fetal rights has become a more acceptable topic on the public agenda in recent months is due to a growing understanding among Canadians that the tired rhetoric is simply that – rhetoric. As the discussion continues to become focused on the real issue, namely, “what are the pre-born?” we are witnessing a transformation whereby there is a strengthening sense of urgency to deal with what is clearly an egregious human rights violation against vulnerable members of the human family.

As hard as they try, the “vagina warriors” no longer define the terms of the debate. For that Canadians can be thankful.

     Mike Schouten, campaign director, WeNeedaLAW.ca, Surrey, B.C.

Thank you for the entertaining article by Joseph Brean on the disruption of MP Stephen Woodworth’s talk at the University of Waterloo. Such assaults on free speech are all too common on our campuses and are normally to be deplored; in this case however, I think the situation was redeemed, in a comic sense, by the fervent declamation of the “woman in red” regarding “the anatomical jewel.” You really couldn’t make stuff like that up. I wonder what courses she has been taking, and if her professors are pleased with their efforts.

     Bruce Walton, Ottawa.

Never have I read anything so disgusting. The so-called students who had the effrontery to display such an intimate female part and use language that shocked me should be kicked out of the university. I read this article on my birthday. All I can say for it is I am glad I am going out of this world and not coming in.

     Betty Hansford, Oakville, Ont.

The cultural air we breathe allows for killing babies to be morally neutral:

Gosnell’s gruesome practice was no secret, but the Pennsylvania Department of Health – thanks largely to pressure from NARAL, the U.S. “pro-choice” lobby – had decided to stop inspecting abortion clinics because “officials concluded that inspections would be ‘putting a barrier up to women seeking abortions.’” And so Dr. Gosnell was free to pursue his Mengle-esque path to wealth without any regulatory oversight whatsoever – all in the name of “women’s right to choose.”

At his arraignment two years ago, Dr. Gosnell was described by one observer as “a little befuddled.” He understood the charge for the dead woman, but didn’t seem to comprehend that killing live babies was morally wrong. Pro-choicers in Canada often say the medical profession could never produce such a monster here. But why couldn’t it? Where did Dr. Gosnell get the idea that as long as you call it an abortion, killing live babies is a morally neutral activity? Surely from the cultural air he breathed.

I tend to agree with this article. One issue I have, however, is that some of the quotes from the new feminist, Alice Von Hildebrand, seem to still place men and women in competition, something I’d really like to avoid. See this:

Women, she said, are not called to be “productive” in this material way, but every woman, whether married or unmarried, is “called upon to be a biological, psychological or spiritual mother.” “She knows intuitively that to give, to nurture, to care for others, to suffer with and for them – for maternity implies suffering – is infinitely more valuable in God’s sight than to conquer nations and fly to the moon.”

She identifies something men can’t do, which is mother, and then declares that to be an elevated thing over and above all the contributions men make to our society. That doesn’t sound right to me and indeed, seems to keep to the ruts that traditional feminism formed, only choosing to change the reasons why women are better than men. What am I missing?

But in general, on the damage that old-school feminism has done to women, men and relationships–well, I see that very clearly. I should pick up one of Alice Von Hildebrand’s books. So much to read, so little time.

Read more about this story, here.

“They interrogated me for a total of about 7 hours over 3 days, just harassing me,” Winter said of the police action last week. So far he has not been arrested or charged, but the police are trying to convince him that he is in violation of the city bylaw regulating where groups of people can and cannot protest. “They tried to convince me that I was a collection of people,” Winter said. They didn’t arrest him at all last week or again today when they stopped by for a chat. “They’ll come after me tomorrow again.”

It seems that Canadians aren’t the only ones uniformed about their country’s abortion legislation:

One in two people in the city’s western suburbs don’t know that abortions are legal but 65% know that it’s illegal to find out the gender of the unborn child, a new survey says. […] “The government is rightly publicizing the PCPNDT Act that prohibits sex-determination tests and sex-selective abortions, but it has not been highlighting the women’s right to abortion. There is confusion among people over the legality of abortions,” said Laxmi Menon, a coordinator with Women Net- working.

And in Canada? A January 2013 poll by Angus Reid Public Opinion asked “Speaking about abortion in Canada, which of the following do you think is true?”

• 23% said, “A woman can have an abortion at any time during her pregnancy, with no restrictions whatsoever.”
• 7% said, “A woman can have an abortion at any time during her pregnancy, but only if her life is in danger, if she has been the victim of rape, or if the fetus has serious defects.”
• 45% said, “A woman can have an abortion only during the first three months of her pregnancy, with no other restrictions.”
• 13% said, “A woman can only have an abortion during the first three months of her pregnancy, and only if her life is in danger, if she has been the victim of rape, or if the fetus has serious defects.”
• 12% said, “Not sure.”

Only 23% of Canadians got it right. Perhaps our government should be informing the public about the abortion status quo? Maybe Canadians wouldn’t be comfortable with it once they were informed?

And perhaps our government should be condemning sex-selection abortion? Because it’s.a.bad.thing. Hmmmmm….

Google announced last week that it will be retiring Google Reader. If you currently follow blogs with Google Reader and you’re looking for a good alternative, take a look at Feedly. The transition is seamless, you don’t have to export or import your data, and you have several ways to customize the look and feel. I’ve been using it for a few days now and I love it.

Here are Feedly’s instructions on transitioning and customizing.

I was hanging out with some friends recently when we got to talking… One of them declared herself to be “an accident.” Her mom got pregnant unexpectedly, her biological dad took off.

Gets you thinking, because one becomes acutely aware that the outcome need not have been her birth. Many women have abortions under those circumstances. And when faced with a real, live, lovely and funny friend, one becomes acutely aware of what a terrible loss that would be.