Press Room

Pro-life Manitobans ready to fight anti-life-and-family NDP bills

WINNIPEG – Campaign Life Coalition (CLC), Canada’s national pro-life organization, is alarmed by the election of the anti-life and anti-family NDP in the province of Manitoba.

“Under an NDP government, Manitobans can expect to see parental, free-speech, and religious rights whittled away. This government will be a disaster for the province, especially when it comes to abortion and euthanasia, two issues that the NDP are eager proponents of,” said Maria Slykerman, president of CLC Manitoba.

Slykerman said that pro-life-and-family Manitobans will not sit idly by to watch the NDP undermine the province, turning it into an “Orwellian nightmare.”

She pointed out how in 2018, NDP MLA Nahanni Fontaine introduced a draconian private member’s bill (200) that would outlaw peaceful, pro-life expression on taxpayer-owned public sidewalks within a radius of up to 150 metres around all of Manitoba's abortion facilities. The bill was defeated. But this did not stop Fontaine from introducing a similar bill in 2021 (207) that included banning peaceful, pro-life witness even around schools. This bill was also defeated.

“There is nothing stopping the NDP from passing such unconstitutional and totalitarian bills as these, except that such bills will make enemies of every Manitoban who values the freedoms that make Canada such a great place to live – including the freedom to gather and speak in the public square, no matter who you are or what your views are,” said Slykerman. “Bubble zone censorship laws are controversial, unconstitutional and unwelcome in every province in which they are introduced. Provinces that pass laws to muzzle the free speech of any particular group are a repressive and dangerous place to live,” she added.

Slykerman also pointed out the need to vigorously oppose the NDP’s plans to make Manitoba an abortion haven for the U.S. “NDP abortion fanaticism was on display last April when Fontaine introduced Bill 211 that would protect provincial abortionists from foreign prosecution if they aborted a U.S. baby from a state where abortion is illegal. With a majority government, it’s likely that a bill like this will be reintroduced. If that happens, pro-life advocates must be prepared to stop this bill.”

“If such bills are introduced, we will be prepared to fight them every step of the way. We encourage the opposition PCs to prepare themselves for battle and to join with us in the fight,” she added.

Jeff Gunnarson, CLC’s National President, warned that the province’s conscience rights legislation that protects doctors and other healthcare workers from being forced to participate in, or refer patients for euthanasia, could soon be on the chopping block.

“Manitoba’s conscience rights legislation has become the gold standard for such legislation in Canada. Manitoba is a safe haven for doctors of conscience since it is currently the only province which has such protections for its healthcare workers. We must not let the NDP repeal this legislation. It must be vigorously defended.”

About Campaign Life Coalition  

Campaign Life Coalition is a national, non-profit organization involved in political action and advocacy for legal and cultural change in Canada with respect to protecting human life & the family. For more info, visit campaignlifecoalition.com.

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Pete Baklinski, Director of Communications, [email protected], 343-369-8772