Here's where UCP leadership candidates stand on abortion and access to it
Here's where UCP leadership candidates stand on abortion and access to it
Here's where UCP leadership candidates stand on abortion and access to it
After the U.S. Supreme Court stripped away constitutional protections for abortion Friday by overturning Roe v. Wade, NDP Leader Rachel Notley demanded that everyone running to become the next leader of the UCP clarify their stance on the issue.
"I am horrified. Lives will be ruined as a result of this court decision and make no mistake, people will die," Notley told reporters.
"I call today on every UCP leadership candidate…to definitively state that they will never do anything to undermine the fundamental right to reproductive healthcare for women, girls and people who can become pregnant."
Abortion laws in Canada are federal jurisdiction but provinces fund services and Alberta Health Services decides what services will be offered and where, Health Minister Jason Copping said recently..
There are three abortion clinics in Alberta, one in Edmonton and two in Calgary.
Copping promised Friday that services in the province will stay the same. That may change when a new leader, and premier, is chosen in October.
Eight people were registered for that race on Saturday.
LEELA AHEER
The MLA for Chestermere-Strathmore, called the U.S. decision calling it "devastating on so many levels" in a Friday Twitter video.
"We, as elected officials, must protest women's rights locally, nationally and internationally," an impassioned Aheer said.
"Abortion will happen, regardless of the decisions that are being imposed. The overturn of this decision undermines choice or the ability to get support."
BRIAN JEAN
The former Wildrose Party leader did not react directly to the Supreme Court decision or clarify his stance on abortion.
"Nothing that happened in the United States today changed any law, regulation, or rule in Alberta or Canada," he wrote in a statement to CTV News Edmonton.
"Any politician or leftist activist who implies otherwise is simply trying to create divisions amongst Albertans."
RAJAN SAWHNEY
The MLA for Calgary-North East wrote in a statement Saturday that, “abortion is a federal matter. Having said that, my government will not make any legislative changes on abortion.”
REBECCA SCHULZ
The MLA for Calgary-Shaw promised to protect access to abortion in Alberta.
"As a woman, I believe all women should have the freedom to choose and have access to the health care services they need. Under a Schulz government this will not change," she wrote in a statement.
DANIELLE SMITH
The former Wildrose leader included vaccines in her pro-choice statement.
"This is an American court decision that has no bearing on what happens in Canada or Alberta," Smith wrote to CTV News Edmonton.
"That said, I am pro-choice, and that includes supporting a person’s right to make choices on what do do with their own body, such as medical treatments and vaccines. I feel so strongly about this it is why I announced last week I would amend the Human Rights Act to protect an individual from discrimination for their medical choices or political beliefs."
TRAVIS TOEWS
The former finance minister stated that he is pro-life in a recent Postmedia article and a spokesperson for him sent the same statement, and only that, to CTV News Edmonton.
“My personal views would put me in the pro-life camp on that issue, but I have no intention or agenda on limiting access to health care with respect to abortion. I’ve shared my personal views but what really matters is how I would lead in this area,” Toews said.
The campaigns for Todd Loewen and Bill Rock did not respond.
Canada's privacy commissioner says the belated disclosure that RCMP has for years been using spyware capable of accessing cell phone and computer microphones, cameras and other data as part of major investigations, is a clear example of why Canada's Privacy Act needs updating.
A housing correction which has already led to four consecutive months of price declines in the previously overheated Greater Toronto Area market could end up becoming 'one of the deepest of the past half a century,' a new report from RBC warns.
For millennial and gen Z Canadians, owning a home in this real estate market might seem like a pipe dream. In an exclusive column for CTVNews,ca personal finance contributor Christopher Liew offers some strategies to consider if you can’t afford the housing market yet.
Alberta Health Services has issued an enforcement order against a Banff home after an inspection discovered that as many as 42 people were staying inside the property, saying the maximum number of occupants of the facility 'was exceeded.'
Climate hazards, such as flooding, heat waves and drought have worsened more than half of the hundreds of known infectious diseases in people, including malaria, hantavirus, cholera and even anthrax.
When Chris Rod and other fellow organizers first met three years ago to discuss what would become The Saskatchewan Filipino Music and Food Street Fest, he never imagined what he saw all weekend at Kiwanis Memorial Park.
A state of emergency remains in place for central Newfoundland, as well as a provincewide outdoor fire ban, as a long-burning forest fire continues to grow.
Two people have been killed in a motorcycle crash in Guysborough County. The RCMP and emergency crews responded to the single-vehicle crash on Highway 7 in Melrose, N.S., around 5 p.m. Sunday.
A housing correction which has already led to four consecutive months of price declines in the previously overheated Greater Toronto Area market could end up becoming 'one of the deepest of the past half a century,' a new report from RBC warns.
A suspect already in handcuffs managed to overpower a Toronto police officer and steal their SUV, sending police on a wild early morning chase in the city’s midtown area on Monday.
Montreal police are investigating the suspicious death of a man discovered in a bin during recycling collection in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve Monday morning.
Bob Chiarelli is promising to freeze property taxes and fees in the first year of his mandate if elected mayor of Ottawa this fall, saying he believes efficiencies can be found in the city's multi-billion dollar budget to cover costs.
Environment Canada has issued a heat warning for most of southwestern Ontario, including Waterloo-Wellington, with local temperatures expected to climb into the high twenties or low thirties.
The Trans-Canada Highway is closed in both directions between Ba Sa Gim Road on Highway 69 in Shawanaga First Nation and the intersection of Highway 400 and 559 in Nobel on Monday morning following a crash, police say.
A 25-year-old Toronto man has been arrested and brought to northern Ontario following a phoney bomb threat at the Sudbury courthouse Friday, police say.
A Metro Vancouver shelter held what it called a 'pity party' for a dog who's been waiting to be adopted for more than a year - the first dog at the facility to wait that long in about even years.
