EDITORIAL: MP McLeod earns kudos for sticking to her word
Cathy McLeod, the Conservative MP for Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo, is to be commended for sticking to her word on an issue that can and has split even families down the middle.
On Wednesday, Sept. 26, in the House of Commons in Ottawa, Kitchener Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth is expected to put forth a motion calling on Parliament to re-examine the legal definition of when a fetus becomes a human being.
While three Conservatives who support Woodworth’s motion rose in the House last week to speak to the issue, the NDP and Liberals have accused the pro-life MP of trying to reopen Canada’s contentious abortion debate, while Prime Minister Stephen Harper is opposed to the motion.
As is McLeod, based on what she told Kamloops and region voters during the election campaign of May 2011.
“I made a commitment to my community in the election campaign that I wouldn’t support it,” McLeod told a group of reporters in Ottawa when asked about her fellow MP’s motion.
“I perceive this as opening up the abortion debate and, again, that’s against my commitment.”
McLeod’s stance on Woodworth’s motion does not necessarily equate to her stand on abortion laws in Canada.
What is does do, definitively, is show McLeod’s constituents that, on this issue — and there are precious few in Canada that are as emotional and controversial — she has stuck to promises made during the election campaign, regardless of the ramifications such a stance may have.
For that, McLeod’s integrity should be applauded.
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