Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Debate is good. But with whom?

Winnipeg South MP Rod Bruinooge proposes to reopen the abortion debate, and Globe and Mail blogger Robert Silver, who stands firmly on the pro-choice side of the question, acknowledges that debate is good:
    It is ludicrous to suggest that abortion is a topic that is taboo to debate. Earth round or flat? No debate. Holocaust happened or not? No debate. Abortion laws in Canada: a good thing or bad? A totally fair subject of debate.
He goes on to suggest that the point of the debate is to provide cover for prolife Conservative MPs by exposing a smaller number of Liberal MPs.

The parliamentary prolife caucus, however, prefers to keep its membership a secret, and so the question arises: who is going to undertake this debate and where will it take place? Presumably not in parliament, where debates about changes to the law are supposed to be conducted, and not amongst parliamentarians, who are supposed to conduct that debate.

This again underlines the basic irrationality of the position that Bruinooge and his secret caucus have taken. If they're not willing to identify themselves, how can they hope to engage in a debate?