What do "Conservatism" and "Liberalism" mean in Canada?

[mikeyyc]

Originally Posted by Mouldy Old Schmo

Is this man a "Blue" Tory?

Stephen Woodworth: I’ll fight for rights of unborn children ‘as long as I have breath’ | Canadian Politics | Canada | News | National Post

Probably, but Blue Torys are more about economic issues. If you read the article, he's fairly reasonable. If he was in the US, the Republicans would disavow him.

"One option might be to change the law but with a specific proviso not to affect anyone’s right to an abortion, Woodworth said. Another might be to protect the rights of unborn children by the end of the second trimester, he said"

[KingSamme]

Originally Posted by Mouldy Old Schmo

Is this man a "Blue" Tory?

Stephen Woodworth: I’ll fight for rights of unborn children ‘as long as I have breath’ | Canadian Politics | Canada | News | National Post

No, he's simply a nutjob.

[BIMBAM]

Originally Posted by KingSamme

No, he's simply a nutjob.

Hardly. While I'm not one to say human life should begin at conception (a blastula is just a bunch of cells, just can't see that it's a person to whom I'd have ethical obligations, it doesn't even have a brain), we have to draw the legal line somewhere, and if a premature eight month old baby is considered a person and it'd be wrong for the mother to leave it in a dumpster, I can't see why a nine month old baby still in a womb doesn't have some legal recognition as a person as the eight month old baby does. What if someone purposely kills that baby, perhaps by hitting the mother's womb? Should that not be tried as a murder if a younger human organism already given birth to would have that protection? It's a matter of ethical consistency and even if it's inconvenient we really should come up with a more sophisticated definition of how legal personhood is determined. Not only does it settle this question, it gives a solid intellectual framework from which to work towards ethical decisions in other grey legal areas. He doesn't seem crazy to me and his recommendations sound quite measured, if unpopular because what they really threaten to do is open up a can of worms that threatens to lead to the unproductive expenditure of huge political will on a topic that's almost impossible to compromise on for some people because they hold a religious viewpoint on the soul that the law can not, and should not, use as a justification for when life begins as it's unprovable and huge numbers of Canadians don't ascribe to it. That's the crux of the matter.

[Mouldy Old Schmo]

It seems like the worst insult that can be directed at a Canadian politician is that he or she is too "American". I wonder if PM Mulroney was the first to be hit with that criticism?

[mikeinalberta]

[QUOTE\]It seems like the worst insult that can be directed at a Canadian politician is that he or she is too "American". [/quote]

It's not.

There is a level of anti-Americanism is Canada, but it seems to be overstated on these forums. Canadians admire many Americans and American policies, but we tend to be really hard on politicians who we feel are selling us out to the US and those who want to adopt American policies that are seen as unsuccessful or a bad fit.

Also we have a tendency to label the sh*tty parts of your political process (you know, the stuff Americans hate too), like an emphasis personal religious beliefs, personal attacks, misleading attack ads, refusal to compromise (tea party style ideologues who would rather see the country fail than the president succeed) as "American style politics".

You guys didn't invent the crap, and it is seen all over, but because dirty politics are so prevalent you got stuck with the label......

....sorry.

..but it isn't much different from your "Chicago style politics" or "San Francisco values".

[QUOTE\] I wonder if PM Mulroney was the first to be hit with that criticism?[/quote]

For generations, Canada's identity has been defined as "like Americans but with the following differences....". This didn't start with Mulrooney. The protests were louder because Murooney's American strategy was such a contrast from PET's.