OTTAWA, March 27, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Conservative MP Mark Warawa is set to appear before the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs (PROC) today at 3:30 p.m. EST to appeal last week’s declaration that his motion to condemn gendercide was non-voteable.
The schedule for today’s PROC meeting gives Warawa 45 minutes, followed by a 15-minute in-camera session. The public portion of the meeting should be streamed at the website of Canada’s Parliament for those interested in watching.
CBC’s Kady O’Malley reports that the committee will likely make its decision and present it to the House of Commons by tomorrow morning.
Warawa’s motion, M-408, was deemed non-voteable on Thursday by PROC’s Subcommittee for Private Members’ Business, in a joint effort by the Conservatives, New Democrats, and Liberals.
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A non-partisan analyst from the Library of Parliament had told the subcommittee that the motion meets all the criteria, but the members argued that it fell under provincial jurisdiction and dealt with a topic already considered in this Parliament (they claimed M-408 and Stephen Woodworth’s M-312 both dealt with abortion).
Warawa accused the subcommittee members of “disregard[ing] the rules of Parliament” and vowed that he would appeal the decision “all the way.”
Pro-life advocates have been flooding the PROC members with e-mails this week urging them to declare the motion voteable.
If Warawa's appeal to PROC fails, then his last resort is an appeal to the House of Commons, which would vote by secret ballot.
The Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs is made up of seven Conservative MPs, four New Democrats, and one Liberal. Four of the Conservative members are rated pro-life by Campaign Life Coalition, including chair Joe Preston, but of them only Tom Lukiwski voted for Stephen Woodworth’s motion in the fall. The other three pro-life MPs – Joe Preston, Scott Reid, and Costas Menegakis – voted against M-312.
All of the other PROC members also voted against M-312.
Brad Trost, a Saskatchewan Conservative MP, told LifeSiteNews that he thinks the appeal will come down to a vote in the House, which would mean constituents should contact their individual MPs.
“It looked like it was a political decision made at the subcommittee,” he said. “If it was a purely political decision made, I suspect a majority on the broader committee would probably back it. If it’s purely political and not made on its merits. That is my expectation, but I haven’t spoken to any one personally. It’s just an observation.”
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