Bloc Leader Disparages Christians - Thursday, May 13, 2010

Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe delivered a speech in the House of Commons on May 6 that criticized the Conservative Government for pulling funding to a number of pro-abortion groups.  What surprised and offended some MP’s were comments that were obviously anti-Christian.

According to a John-Henry Westen article on the LifeSiteNews.com website: “With laughs and guffaws coming from opposition benches last week, Duceppe blasted the Conservative Government for the “ideological decision” to fund “religious groups that believe in the imminent return of the Messiah and translate the Bible into African and Asian dialects.”  Duceppe then asked “will it really help women to send preachers ... to Africa or to have the Bible translated?”  He added sarcastically “what a huge help and so essential.”

The Bloc leader said he was concerned with cuts to, as he put it, “pro-choice women's groups” and concluded “How can the government explain that it is spending up to $800,000 on religious groups or sects - because that is what they are - while cutting funding for organizations that are helping women battle poverty on the ground?”

After Duceppe’s comments, Minister of State Diane Ablonczy raised a point of order. She began by stating that she believed in freedom of speech, especially in Parliament, but felt that the Bloc leader’s statement “was what I consider to be an intolerant attack on Canadians who hold beliefs that are contrary to his own.  In my view, the remarks that he made were bigoted and divisive. This kind of rhetoric, in my view, is completely unacceptable in our pluralistic society.”

Ablonczy stated that freedom of religion is protected in the Canadian Charter of Rights and she found it “deeply disturbing that the Charter of Rights and the rights that are guaranteed to Canadians would come under attack in this very House through the very intolerant and specifically targeted words of the leader of the Bloc in question period.”

The Minister concluded: "I would respectfully ask the Bloc leader to reconsider his language in attacking in this House the Charter Rights of other Canadians.”

Mary Ellen Douglas of Campaign Life Coalition commented to LifeSiteNews: “How sad and deplorable that a Canadian political leader would disgrace Parliament with such anti-Christian comments. She praised Minister Ablonczy for “standing up against the bigoted approach.”

Duceppe’s comments are available online here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NbPQkb0GaY&feature=player_embedded

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