Hiding Agendas (2): learning the code

The North Shore News recently published a fairly sympathetic story about Cindy Silver, Conservative candidate in North Vancouver which included this:

Silver is still smarting from an opinion column in the Globe and Mail several months ago that described her as a member of the "religious right." Much of the controversy stems from Silver's five-year stint as in-house lawyer for Focus on the Family, a group which has lobbied against gay marriage and been active on other social issues.

Silver says that was a job and she does not share all of the views of the organization, such as those on abortion. "I'm for respectful disagreement," she says.

Fair enough. But look again at Ms. Silver's endorsement page (which I've pasted at the botton of this post.) Among her endorsements is one from Iain T. Benson, described as a lawyer, speaker and writer. He says about her

"[Cindy Silver] is concerned about the dignity of human person – all human persons – and that is the kind of voice Canada needs more of"

So what's the problem? Unless I'm completely missing the point, "all human persons" is a code for the unborn. Mr. Benson (as you can see by googling him, is Executive Director of The Centre for Cultural Renewal, a think-tank that aims at reinvigorating the religious element in public discourse, which in itself may be a worthy goal. Most of what he writes is serious and thoughtful and deserving serious engagement in the spirit in which it is offered.

But what does Mr. Benson mean here, unless to assure to pro-lifers that Ms. Silver is one of them? She believes, he assures us, in the dignity of all human persons.

Ms. Silver wants to assure voters that she is not a prolifer, but includes on her website an endorsement that implies that she is anti-abortion:


(On Ms. Silver's other attempts to distance herself from the prolife, Focus on the Family see here.)

For other Cindy Silver posts, follow the link.