NEWS RELEASE  

March 14, 1996   For Immediate Release  

BREITKREUZ CALLS FOR NATIONAL REFERENDUM ON TAX-FUNDING FOR ABORTIONS  

"Taxpayers should decide which medical services are essential and which ones are not."  

Ottawa - Yorkton-Melville M.P., Garry Breitkreuz' Private Members Motion 91 has been selected for debate in the House of Commons. Motion 91 reads: "That, in the opinion of this House, the government should enact legislation which would require that a binding, national referendum be held at the time of the next election to ask Canadians whether or not they are in favour of federal government funding for abortions on demand."  

This week, Breitkreuz tried to convince a House of Commons Sub-Committee to make his Private Members Motion "votable". He argued, "Motion 91 is not just about abortion, it is about democracy. It's about giving voters a real say in how they want their scarce health-care dollars spent. It's about voters deciding which health-care procedures they consider "essential". It's about voters making these tough decisions for themselves, not having politicians and bureaucrats make these decisions for them." 

Breitkreuz continued, "We are debating whether voters have the right to direct federal government health care funding to medical procedures they think are most essential and of the highest priority. We are debating whether Parliament should decide for the people, or whether the people have the right to decide for themselves. In the 1991 provincial election in Saskatchewan, two-thirds of the voters voted in a plebiscite to "de-insure" funding for abortions. A January 1995 poll conducted in Alberta produced similar results with 73% of women and 69% of men opting for de-funding abortions."

Breitkreuz referred the Sub-Committee to a Library of Parliament research paper which found that approximately 100,000 therapeutic abortions are being performed each year in Canada. About 70,000 abortions are performed in hospitals at a cost of $500 each or about $35,000,000 per year. Another 30,000 abortions are performed in free-standing clinics at a cost of $250 each or about $7.5 million. Physician fees were calculated in 1992/93 fiscal year to be $9.1 million. [Research Branch, Library of Parliament, "Cost of Abortions in Canada" - September 7, 1995] 

Breitkreuz disagreed with those who say that this is a matter for the provinces to decide. "As long as the federal government is paying part of the province's medicare bills, then federal politicians have a responsibility to ensure that scarce taxpayers dollars are being spent on medical procedures that voters think are the highest priority. The Reform Party is on record saying we want to define 'Core Services' which are covered by Medicare. Is this a decision best left to politicians and bureaucrats, or to the people? I say it's the people who should decide and that's just what would happen if Motion 91 were passed."  

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See Explanatory Note attached  

For more information please call: 

Yorkton: (306) 782-3309 

Ottawa: (613) 992-4394 

EXPLANATORY NOTE  

Process for Debating Private Members Bills and Motions  

Private Members Motions or Bills are selected for debate in a lottery-style draw. If and when a M.P.'s name is drawn the Member must then appear before the Private Members Business Sub-Committee of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs. The M.P. has five minutes to convince the four members of the all-party Sub-Committee why his or her Motion should be declared "votable" when the motion comes up for debate in the House. The Sub-Committee reviews each Motion against eleven "criteria for selection of votable items". Only five of the fifteen Motions will be declared votable by the Sub-Committee. Non-votable Motions receive one hour of debate and are then dropped from the business before the House. Votable Motions receive three hours of debate and are then voted on. All votes on Private Members Motions or Bills are "free votes".