OTTAWA, June 6, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Mr. Leon Benoit MP Vegreville-Wainwright, Alberta appealed a decision today to the Standing Committee on Procedural and House Affairs. Last week his Private Members Bill C-291 was deemed non-votable by the sub-committee. Bill C-291 would make it a separate criminal offence to harm an unborn child in cases where a pregnant mother is assaulted or murdered.
Mrs. Mary Talbot, the mother of Olivia Talbot who was six months pregnant when her assailant shot her once in the head and her child in utero three times, travelled from Alberta to speak to the committee, but was denied the opportunity to do so. Her daughter’s assailant was only charged with one count of murder. SinceÂthenÂMrs. Talbot has been seeking justice on behalf of her grandchild.
Talbot is reportedly dismayedÂwith the callous disregard withÂwhich her concern was received by the members of the committee.
The committee voted 7 against the appeal,Â1 in favour, with 4 abstentions. Attorney-General Vic Toews sent a message to the committee just prior to the vote that the Bill was unconstitutional.
In his defence of the bill, Benoit pointed out clearly how the charges of unconstitutionality were groundless.
Jim Hughes, National President of Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) responded to the nixing of the bill saying,“This very reasonable piece of legislation deserved to be debated and heard by the whole of Parliament…The Laci Peterson case in the United States proved that most reasonable people understand that two victims die at the hands of the murderer when the woman is pregnant.”
“When it was decided that all Private Members Bills would be votable, it seemed that the voices of the average MPs would finally be heard in Parliament,” said Mary Ellen Douglas, National Organizer of CLC. “But when a committee can so easily squelch those voices I wonder how much democracy we really have, no matter which Party is in power,” she continued.
Campaign Life Coalition has called on Parliament to give Mr. Benoit an opportunity to bring his Bill C-291 before Parliament for a debate and a vote in the House.