Tory candidate equates abortions to Holocaust, 9/11 in blog video

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This article was published 22/09/2015 (3662 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg South Conservative candidate has come under fire after a video surfaced in which he compares abortion to the Holocaust and 9/11.

In a blog posted in 2009 at a site attributed to the Horizon College and Seminary in Saskatchewan, Gordon Giesbrecht, better known as Professor Popsicle, states statistics on the number of people who were killed in 9/11 (3,000) and the Holocaust (six million), then notes how many abortions have occurred since it was legalized; which he states is over 42 million.

“That’s a 9/11 every day for the past 35 years,” he says in the video.

He goes on to state that the church needs to address this problem, but it is “seldom, if ever addressed” today in churches.

The video is titled, To Be or Not to Be — Abortion, and was posted on the blog associated with the post-secondary theological college based in Saskatoon. Giesbrecht served as the college’s president from 2006 to 2009, before returning to the University of Manitoba.

A request for comment was made to Giesbrecht’s campaign team, which said he was busy door-knocking and was not available for an interview.

“The prime minister has been clear, we will not reopen the debate,” his team said in an email, noting the quote could be attributed to Giesbrecht.

In 2012, Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth tried to get the House of Commons to set up a special committee to study the rights of the unborn.

The attempt failed by a vote of 203 to 91. Among those who voted in favour were 87 Conservatives and four Liberals.

In response to the video, Liberal candidate for Winnipeg South, Terry Duguid, said he is focused on jobs and the economy and “if Mr. Giesbrecht wants to focus on these things that’s his choice. I think comparing it to 9/11 and the Holocaust is most unfortunate and doesn’t deserve further comment.”

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau in 2014 said all Liberal candidates would have to support pro-choice position as a requirement for him to sign their nomination papers.

NDP candidate for Winnipeg South Brianne Goertzen called it “extreme” to compare abortion to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks or the Holocaust. She said women have the right to choose what happens to their bodies, and no one should presume what goes through a woman’s mind as she is making a very difficult choice.

“To me, as a woman, it’s troublesome that these comments are still being made,” she said.

Goertzen said it’s up to residents of Winnipeg South to decide whether Giesbrecht’s views will affect their vote.

Noting who the current MP is for Winnipeg South, Karen Busby, a professor of law and director of the University of Manitoba’s Centre for Human Rights Research, argued the release of the video isn’t going to be Giesbrecht’s swan song in the election

Conservative MP Rod Bruinooge was named chairman of the all-party parliamentary pro-life caucus in 2008, and was still re-elected in 2011; Bruinooge opted not to seek re-election this year so he could spend more time with his family.

“That didn’t make any difference for him (Bruinooge) being elected in that constituency,” Busby said Tuesday. “It might make a marginal difference and it is a swing riding, but it didn’t hurt Bruinooge before, so I don’t think it will hurt Giesbrecht now,”

Given the current legal interpretation of the constitution and current public appetite for reopening the abortion debate, Busby said it probably isn’t something that is going to come up further in this election

“I suspect that if an abortion law was reintroduced it wouldn’t survive,” she said. “Harper realizes that it is a wedge issue, he realizes if he opens it up, that is all anyone is going to talk about and he has too many things on his agenda.”

According to the Campaign Life Coalition, in a questionnaire filled out by Giesbrecht, he opposes abortion, but will not “strive” to introduce laws to protect unborn children from the time of conception.

However, he will “support” legislation that increases protection for the unborn.

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The national pro-life organization posted the answers to the six questions they are posing to all the candidates in the federal election.

They rated him as “supportable.”

His answers can be found here.

kristin.annable@freepress.mb.ca

— with files by Mia Rabson and Mary Agnes Welch