I hear the governor general’s office is “boasting about their successful media strategy” on this Morgentaler/Order of Canada award business.
Boasting about what? Successfully ignoring every Canadian who has written in? I haven’t received a response to my concerns, have you?
“Campaign Life Coalition is organizing a demonstration for concerned Canadian citizens to protest the awarding of the Order of Canada to abortionist Henry Morgentaler and to seek its revocation.
WHERE: Rideau Hall – official residence of the Governor General of Canada
WHEN: Wednesday July 9, 2008 from noon to 2:00pm.
CONTACT: Paul Lauzon [email protected] 613-729-0379″
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Update: It appears the demonstration starts at noon, not 11:00 am as previously mentioned here. Thanks to Cynthia for pointing it out.
Morgentaler has his Order of Canada.
Time for the other members of goodwill to give theirs back as Jon Kay suggests they might in this piece.
Conferring such a prestigious award on Dr. Morgentaler would be a huge mistake — one, I expect, that will be greeted by the clink-clink of dozens of current OC holders returning their medals and pins. One wonders whether the Order of Canada would ever reclaim its former prestige.
10. Can there be any debate? Once and for all, Canada’s elite are pro-abortion.
9. Canada’s elite can teach you how to think. It’s amazing. We are all unconflicted about abortion now.
8. When said elite knows there will be a public outcry and condemnation of honoured person in question, they’ll choose to bestow that mighty honour on a day when the better part of the country has escaped all modern communication, preferring instead to sit with a beer by a lake somewhere. Heck, even I almost missed this one, and I care deeply about this issue. My fellow Canadians are smart—a beer by a lake sounds perfect. In perpetuity. (Why oh why is the per cent of voters declining?)
7. The Conservative Party of Canada doesn’t care one bit about this issue.
6. Abortion is not private. The Order of Canada takes the thing to a whole new public level.
5. Men certainly can speak out on abortion—Morgentaler has and boy, did it ever work.
4. Canada is not as tolerant as we’d like to believe. (The essence of this award is to stick it to those across Canada who remain rightly conflicted on the topic of abortion.)
3. If enough Canadians protest an award, the person in question will most certainly get it. I am going to nominate—and then vociferously protest—someone I like.
2. Getting the Order of Canada is now officially, not an honour.
1. Abortion is not a closed question. Hold on for the ride, folks—this one ain’t over til it’s over. When the pro-abortion elite in the Governor General’s office raise this issue over a Canada Day holiday, well, let’s thank them. Nothing is sacred now.
…and it looks like it could be Morgentaler. These rumours are floating around the web. Here’s some info behind the rumour.
On Friday, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) sent out “Order of Canada talking points” to Conservative Members of Parliament and said that tomorrow, June 30, the Governor General will issue new awards. Nowhere in that email did it say who will get an award, but sources tell me Dr. Henry Morgentaler will be among the recipients.
The talking points were meant to show process–how the decision works, and that Cabinet does not have anything to do with this decision. It sounds as though they are preparing for the pending outcry.
Many questions remain: Why now? Why not part of the official process back in February? Was protocol routed to do this? And finally, though I only chose to blog about this when I had confirmation from different sources, will it prove true?
Happy Canada day, all.
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Andrea updates: This is not a rumour. Morgentaler is definitely getting the Order of Canada tomorrow.
Phewf. Dr. Henry Morgentaler will not be on the Order of Canada list for 2008. Good news.
But my letter was already written, so I thought I might as well post it. As a friend said recently, never miss a chance to express your opinion.
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Brigitte wonders: Missing a chance to express your opinion? What’s that like?
How and why: Here’s info on how to reach the Governor General so that you can express your concern about Dr. Henry Morgentaler being received into the Order of Canada.
If you are feeling keen, you could copy that letter to each of the following people who sit on the independent advisory council:
Beverly McLachlin, PC, Chief Justice of Canada, Kevin Lynch, clerk of the Privy Council and secretary to the Cabinet, Judith A. LaRocque, CVO, Deputy Minister, Canadian Heritage, Karen Kain, CC, chair, Canadian Council for the Arts, Yvan Guindon, CM, PhD, president, the Royal Society of Canada, Thomas D. Traves, chair, Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, Patricia A. Baird, OC, OBC, professor emerita at the University of British Columbia, Daurene E. Lewis, CM principal of the Nova Scotia Community College Technology Campus, L. Jacques Menard, OC; chairman of BMO Nesbitt Burns, J.E. (Ted) Newall, OC chairman of Nova Chemicals Corp, Marie-Lucie Morin, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
Incidentally, that Globe and Mail poll never tipped in favour of Morgentaler, and was never published in the list of past polls.
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Clarification: Sorry, my post is not particularly clear. We know Morgentaler has been nominated and that the Governor General’s office has a file on him. The letters are to show there is a level of concern and controversy over his nomination and that Canadians are very much divided on this issue, thereby hopefully preventing him from being received into the Order.