For those concerned about the health and safety of all Canadians, no matter their location, it was with nervous excitement that we received the news of Dr. Jane Philpott’s appointment as Minister of Health. Dr. Philpott, an active member in her Community Mennonite Church, and according to the Liberal Party website, a “song leader for her congregation” was one member of Justin Trudeau’s cabinet we hoped would stand up against the “No choice but pro-choice” edict the Liberal leader had shackled his members with last year.
Dr. Philpott is the first ever physician to serve as Health Minister and she takes over the portfolio with a wealth of experience – both in her field but also real life experiences which have undoubtedly shaped and molded her. In the early 1990’s Philpott and her husband Pep tragically lost their two year old daughter to meningococcemia while they were working in Africa.
Our optimism was short lived.
Responding to media inquiry this week, Ms. Philpott said, “We know that abortion services remain patchy in parts of the country. Our government will examine ways to better equalize access for all Canadian women.” We could translate Minister Philpott’s statement like this: “It is completely unacceptable that pre-born children are killed with greater ease in Canada’s urban centres than in rural communities.”
Seriously? Of all the problems an aging demographic poses for our top-notch health care system the first thing the Liberals want to do is make it easier for pre-born babies to be dismembered, decapitated and disembowelled? Ensuring there is an abortionist in every outlying community will do nothing to help vulnerable children in the womb. Furthermore, it is an area the federal government has no responsibility to deal with.
According to the Constitution Act (1867) there is a division of powers between the federal and provincial governments. Section 92(16) of the Act confers on Provincial Legislatures the power to make laws in relation to “all matters of merely local or private nature in the province.” Similarly, paragraph 7 of that same section of the Act authorizes provinces to make laws in relation to “the establishment, maintenance, and management of hospitals, charities, etc.” This specifically authorizes the provinces to establish and regulate hospitals, and to regulate hospital-based health care services.
The Canada Health Act says that to qualify for public funding, a health procedure must, among other things, be medically necessary. As to a definition of what procedures are “medically necessary” that is for each province to decide on their own; without interference by the federal government. In fact, Health Canada even states that it’s up to each province to determine for itself which procedures are considered medically necessary.
Prime Minister Trudeau and the Liberal Party have been unequivocal in stating they are pro-choice. They have gone so far as demanding that all members defend the “My body, my choice” mantra, even if said slogan violates ones conscience. And as a political party they have every right to demand this of their members. But as the Government of Canada it is not their responsibility to force this ideological position on the provinces.
Canada is the most liberal democracy in the world when it comes to legal protection for children in the womb. Rather than attempting to advance change in an area that she has no control over Ms. Philpott would do well to advance policies that would bring us closer in line with every other nation.
ACTION ITEM: Please send this letter to your MP and copy it to Minister Philpott.