Confirmed: Advisory Council Has Voted to Award Order of Canada to Abortionist Henry Morgentaler

OTTAWA, June 29, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - LifeSiteNews has received confirmation through various sources that the Order of Canada Advisory Council has indeed voted to award the Order of Canada to notorious abortionist and militant atheist Henry Morgentaler today or tomorrow. There is reported to be a movement among Members of Parliament and others to attempt to stop the award or at least protest it as being inappropriate and against the opinion of a majority of Canadians.

In an article in the National Post today, columnist Douglas Farrow reports that "The decision, which is to be announced in time for Canada Day, is clearly not driven by popular demand. For example, an online poll by the Globe and Mail, with over 300,000 respondents, went 92% to 8% against giving the award to Morgentaler."

The public and leaders of various organizations opposed to the granting of the Order of Canada to Morgentaler seem to have been deliberately blind-sided by this sudden development over Canada's major annual holiday weekend when most are pre-occupied by family and community activities. Nevertheless, pro-life organizations are scrambling to get as many people as possible to inundate the Governor General, the Prime Minister and Canada's MPs with emails and telephone calls protesting the decision.
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I just spoke to one of the Prime Minister's assistants. She indicated that the Governor General's office is the correct office to contact on this issue, but took note of of my request that the Prime Minister and his government denounce this attempt to honor abortion as a "Canadian value". The GG's line is busy, but I will be emailing. Here's the contact info:

Prime Minister Harper

Note: The Prime Minister does not control who is nominated for the Order of Canada but can exercise a degree of moral persuasion upon the committee and could publicly denounce the decision.

1. Conservative Leader
Prime Minister Stephen Harper
pm@pm.gc.ca

Telephone: (613) 992-4211
Fax: (613) 941-6900
Another Ottawa EMail: Harper.S@parl.gc.ca

Constituency Offices
Telephone: (403) 253-7990
Fax: (403) 253-8203

2. The Governor General of Canada

Currently, at the time of this writing on Sunday, callers to the Governor General are very strangely being told by that office to direct their concerns about the Morgentaler nomination to Mary Ellen Douglas, National co-ordinator of Campaign Life Coalition. This does not appear to make any sense. CLC had issued a press release about the nomination on Saturday.

To Contact the offices overseeing the Order of Canada:
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A1
info@gg.ca
Phone: (613) 993-8200
or toll-free in Canada and the United States at:
1-800-465-6890
Fax: (613) 998-8760

It is also being urged that Canadians contact their own MPs (see http://www.lifesitenews.com/getinvolved/politics/canada/find...) on the matter and write letters to the editor of local and national newspapers.

The Advisory Council of the Order of Canada and the Governor General of Canada make the final decision on appointments.

The current members of the Order of Canada Advisory Council are:

* Beverley McLachlin PC, Chief Justice of Canada (Chair)
* Patricia Baird OC OBC
* Yvan Guindon CM FRSC FCIC, President, Royal Society of Canada
* Tom Jackson OC
* Karen Kain CC, Artistic Director, National Ballet of Canada[32]
* Judith A. LaRocque CVO FRHSC (hon), Deputy Minister of Canadian Heritage
* Daurene E. Lewis CM
* Kevin G. Lynch, Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet
* L. Jacques Ménard OC
* J.E. (Ted) Newall OC
* Bonnie M. Patterson, Chairman of the Board, Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada

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UPDATES:

• Political Eunuchary & the Order of Canada from SoCon or Bust
• Deborah Gyapong posts a letter to the PM from one of Morgentaler's "patients"
• Canada to Honour Serial Killer Morgentaler from Island Breezes
  
• Order of Canada for Genocide of Canadians? - Stand Your Ground (via Island Breezes)
  
• A Doctor Writes In - ProWomanProlife (via Island Breezes)
• Mass Murderer of the Unborn May Be Given Canada's Civilian Honour - HumanLifeMatters
• Morgentaler and the Order of Canada? - Holy Eucharist Parish