I do not know this Rod Bruinooge, the MP from Winnipeg and new chair of the Parliamentary Pro-life Caucus. I do, however, like him. It’s a good morning when you wake up to read an article called “Why I am pro-life.” It’s a nice little piece, and I find this part particularly interesting: 

My aboriginal elders have taught me that the cycle of life honours both birth and death, and respect for the unborn is a foundation of this philosophy.

I had heard that the aboriginal mindset is against abortion, and I’d like to know more about that, actually. I think it is interesting to look at a cultural view, one that doesn’t value choice and expediency over the cycle of life.

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Andrea adds to her own post that she is grateful to the National Post for not being scared of taking this topic on.

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Andrea continues to be thrilled: The Globe and Mail ran a cover story on Rod Bruinooge, calling him a modern crusader. Indeed, he is a crusader for human rights, and I’m really happy to see someone act so boldly and publicly on this issue.

Rod Bruinooge, MP and chairman of the “secretive” Parliamentary pro-life caucus has taken his secrets to the media. Read all about it:

The new chairman of a secretive pro-life Parliamentary caucus is pledging to rekindle the abortion debate in Canada and bring “more value” to the lives of unborn children.

Although Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said he’s not interested in reopening the divisive issue, Winnipeg MP Rod Bruinooge told The Canadian Press people need to be better educated about Canada’s abortion stance, which he says puts the country in a “class of its own.”

Interesting is that the pro-abortion side simultaneously claims that Canadians are pro-choice, and uninterested in debate. Is that one and the same thing? Because I don’t take apathy as support.

In any event, many Canadians are pro-choice, and many are simultaneously concerned about our status quo–they don’t like abortion on demand til the day a baby is born. This is something we must discuss instead of pretending the issue isn’t there, and discussion, free discussion, is nothing to be scared of. I’m up for it, in any case.

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Brigitte doesn’t understand: The guy who chairs a parliamentary committee talks to the media about what he wants his committee to do and that’s considered “secretive”?

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Andrea thinks the secrecy refers to the fact that the Parliamentary pro-life caucus doesn’t advertise who its members are. I recall wanting to know this as a journalist myself. And it was possibly the first question the media asked when I did a press conference with the PPLC on sex selection abortion year before last. But when the chair goes to the media with his plans, well, you can’t get much more open than that and more power to him, I say.