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Glengarry-Prescott-Russell Riding Report

By Tony Gosgnach
See 2-page PDF version at http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006_docs/GlengarryPrescottRussellreport.pdf

The Liberals captured the riding by more than 5,000 votes in the 2004 federal election, but the situation may be far different when voters go to the polls in Glengarry-Prescott-Russell, Ont. this Jan. 23.

Current MP Don Boudria has decided not to run in the upcoming election. This follows his resignation from the position of minister of public works and government services in 2002, after it was revealed he had stayed at a luxury chalet belonging to the owner of Quebec firm Groupe Everest, which did much business with the federal government and was one of the entities at the centre of the sponsorship scandal.

Local voters tired of continuing sagas of scandal and corruption at the federal level - as well as their own MP’s role in them - may now look beyond Boudria’s successor for the Liberals, rookie candidate Rene Berthiaume, to an alternative in Conservative newcomer Pierre Lemieux. Lemieux's strong principles and emphasis on support for measures to defend life and traditional marriage project a trustworthiness that could push him past Berthiaume. Jo-Ann Fennessey of the NDP is also a candidate in the riding.

Glengarry-Prescott-Russell is Ontario’s easternmost constituency and has a large francophone and bilingual population. It stretches along the Ottawa River and the border with Quebec and includes the eastern part of the city of Ottawa.

The Candidates and Life and Family Issues

Conservative Pierre Lemieux	Liberal Rene Berthiaume	NDP Jo-Ann Fennessey	Green Party Bonnie Jean-Louis
Pro-life and pro-marriage, without exceptions. Endorsed by Campaign Life Coalition and Vote Marriage Canada.	Declined to respond to CLC questionnaire on life and marriage issues. Liberal Party takes pro-abortion, pro-gay "marriage" position.	Did not respond to CLC questionnaire on life and marriage issues. Party has official pro-abortion, pro-gay "marriage" position.	Did not respond to CLC questionnaire. Her website says "sexual diversity" has "intrinsic value." Party supports "fertility control" and "sexual diversity."

Conservative - Pierre Lemieux

Lemieux is a married father of five who retired with the rank of lieutenant-colonel after serving for 20 years as an officer in the Canadian Armed Forces. He has since started his own company, which provides project management and consulting services to government departments and charitable organizations.

Lemieux has demonstrated strong and unwavering support for all points of the life and marriage causes, without exception, throughout his campaign. “I recognize the importance of the family to society and that a strong nation is built on healthy families,” he said in a May 26, 2005 press release. “I fully support the traditional definition of marriage and I believe in the sanctity of life.”

Lemieux has received an endorsement as the recommended candidate for its members in the riding from Campaign Life Coalition, the national arm of the Canadian pro-life movement. On the other hand, he has received an “F” (failing) grade by the homosexual lobby group Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere (EGALE) for his lack of support for the homosexual agenda.

Liberal – Rene Berthiaume

Married with two children and one grandson, Berthiaume is a third-generation co-owner of Berthiaume Funeral Home Ltd. and has worked as a paramedic for over 25 years, receiving a governor-general’s Emergency Medical Services Exemplary Service Medal along the way.

Berthiaume declined to respond directly to a Campaign Life Coalition questionnaire sent to him to determine his position on the life and marriage issues. Instead, he forwarded it to the National Liberal Caucus Research Bureau for a response, but it never provided one. By his having sent the document to higher levels of the Liberal Party, it has been taken that Berthiaume subscribes to the party’s stock response to the CLC questionnaires, as contained in a document being distributed by some Liberal Party candidates in this election.

That document explicitly states that “the Liberal government supports a woman’s right to choose” and defends easy access to the abortifacient “morning-after pill,” which it describes as having “a long history of safe and effective use.” The document also defends the use of in-vitro embryos for research, but notes there are no plans to change the laws governing euthanasia and assisted suicide. However, it adds that the Liberals “continue to listen closely to the views of Canadians on these and other end-of-life issues.”

The Liberals have been given a “B” grade by EGALE regarding their support as a party for the homosexual agenda in Canada.

NDP – Jo-Ann Fennessey

Fennessey has a law degree and has worked in the field of “human rights” since 1977. She has maintained a private consulting practice for many years, providing training, mediation, investigation and other services.

Fennessey has not responded to a Campaign Life Coalition questionnaire to determine her position on life and marriage issues in this election campaign. However, a number of NDP candidates are distributing statements signed by party leader Jack Layton, who states it is the policy of his party to respond to surveys on behalf of its candidates.

The NDP response pledges the party and its candidates to anti-life and anti-family positions through commitments to “women’s right to self-determination in every sense, with respect to reproductive choices … in certain situations, physician-assisted death … (and) same-sex ‘marriage.’” The NDP has been given an “A” (top) grade by EGALE in its assessment of how friendly the party is to the homosexual agenda.

Green Party - Bonnie Jean-Louis

Jean-Louis is a Hawkesbury-based photographer, artist and “adventurer” who currently works in community service programs. She has not responded to a CLC questionnaire on life and family issues, but her website lists “feminism” and “diversity” as one of the “10 key values” of the Green Party. “All the cultural, sexual and spiritual diversity of the Earth’s people has intrinsic value,” says the website.

The official platform of the federal Green Party, as spelled out on its website, calls for equal rights for all individuals regardless of “sexual orientation,” eliminating the causes of population growth by giving men and women “greater control over their fertility,” honouring and valuing sexual “diversity” and the recognition of, and respect for, “sexual minorities.”

EGALE has given the Green Party an “A-“ grade for its support of the homosexual agenda in Canada.

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