(OTTAWA) Conservative anti-abortion MP Cathay Wagantall has failed in her most recent attempt to pass a bill that many say would have breached abortion rights.
Unsurprisingly, the legislation was defeated 205 to 113 in the House of Commons on Wednesday.
Unsurprisingly, because during the debates, the Liberals, the Bloc and the New Democrats tore this private member’s bill to pieces. The exchanges were sometimes stormy — on Tuesday, Liberal MP Mark Gerretsen went so far as to express his frustration with a middle finger.
The Liberals had set the stage ahead of the vote on Wednesday as they were bombarded with questions about Paul Bernardo’s transfer and Chinese interference. “We won’t let the Conservatives do through the back door what they can’t manage to do openly,” warned Minister Pascale St-Onge.
“The Conservative leader is trying to win votes by trying to open the debate on abortion. In Canada in 2023, it is shameful and unacceptable,” she added in response to a “planted question” from the Liberal benches.
Bill C-311 sought to amend the Criminal Code to include “knowingly assaulting a pregnant woman” or “causing her bodily or moral harm” as “aggravating circumstances for the purposes of determining the penalty”.
In the conservative ranks, many defended it and assured that it had nothing to do with abortion.
MP Wagantall was not on her first attempt to reopen the debate on the issue.
One of these dates back to 2021. His bill on sex-selective abortions was then defeated at second reading, by 248 votes to 82. The Conservatives had overwhelmingly supported it, but all the elected members of the Quebec caucus opposed it.
In the case of Bill C-311, all the Conservative MPs, including the nine from Quebec, voted in favor of it.
Former Conservative MP Alain Rayes, who now sits as an Independent, voted against.