Conservative Leader Backs Bill Banning Pornography Access for Children
The Story: A future Conservative Government will act to block access to pornography for minors, according to Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre. When asked by a reporter if his Government would require age verification for pornography access, he simply responded, “yes”.
Bill S-210, a bill to accomplish this, was introduced by Independent Senator Julie Miville-Dechêne, has successfully passed in the Senate, and has now been sent to a House of Commons committee by the Conservatives, Bloc Quebecois, NDP, and a small cohort of Liberal MPs.
Polievre’s answer to the affirmative confirmed that a future Conservative government will require age-verification on pornographic websites, regardless of the outcome of Bill S-210. This comes after the world’s most viewed porn site, Montreal-based Pornhub, threatened to block access to all Canadians if meaningful age verification rules were implemented.
The Significance: A single word from Pierre Poilievre ignited an online fury. However,the majority of Christians and, indeed, most Canadians understandably believe that meaningful steps to block children from accessing violent and degrading sexual content is a good thing—much like blocking children from smoking, drinking or doing drugs. Pornography has been proven to be severely damaging to a child’s development, their views on human sexuality, and their entire understanding of what it means to be made in God’s image.
However, there are some Canadians who, having seen previous Liberal abuses of power, are concerned that any government control is a bad thing. We cannot, however, allow the failings of a previous government to stop a future government from fulfilling our duty to protect the children God has entrusted to us.
Finally, Pornhub’s response should raise alarms for Canadians. The porn giants are so afraid that they won’t have children’s eyes on their site that they would rather block all of Canada from accessing the site than lose their youngest viewers—as they already have in some American states. It’s fair to ask: why are under-age viewers so crucial to the success of their business plan?
Read More: The Canadian Press, “Conservative government would require websites to verify age to watch porn: Poilievre”
Elon Musk Announces Success of First Neuralink Procedure
The Story: Elon Musk, co-founder of Neuralink, has announced that the first human test subject of his company’s brain implant chip is doing well following the procedure. The patient can interact with computers via a “Brain-Computer Interface” (BCI) by moving a cursor and “pressing” buttons. Neuralink will be starting clinical trials for the chip soon, with a focus on individuals with quadriplegia from spinal cord injuries.
The Significance: The benefits of a BCI and genome editing are clear: therapeutic use can allow those who suffer from bodily afflictions to regain functions and take part more fully in the beauty of creation.
Obscured, however, are the pitfalls of this technology if taken too far. Transhumanism is an ideology which seeks to go beyond therapeutic use of technology and instead use it to “enhance” humanity, attempting to find immortality through things like uploading “consciousness” to a computer. The nature-defying tendrils of this ideology are already present in some aspects of society today: attempts to separate sex and procreation through contraception, eugenic abortion, smartphone addiction, and a rapidly developing reliance on artificial intelligence.
Like transgenderism, transhumanism is a rejection of Man as created in God’s image, a denial of the eternality of the soul, and a Gnostic rejection of the body as integral to the person. It replaces God with Man and demands that he seize control of nature. In the 1940s, C.S. Lewis warned against the then-nascent transhumanist ideology: “For the power of Man to make himself what he pleases means, as we have seen, the power of some men to make other men what they please.”
In rejecting God, we do not become freer, but rather slaves to whatever or whomever has drawn us away from Him—possibly even our own creations. Christians should be wary of that which seeks to change the human condition, and utterly reject anything that seeks to escape death via technology. Christ has already done what technology never could: He has conquered death, so that to “live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
Read More: Jon Brodkin, Ars Technica, “Musk claims Neuralink patient doing OK with implant, can move mouse with brain”
Conservative Leader Announces Support for Women’s-Only Spaces
The Story: Federal Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre stated during a recent press conference that “female spaces should be exclusively for females, not for biological males.” Poilievre indicated that, because many gender-based facilities are regulated by provincial and municipal governments, he is unsure what role a future Conservative federal government would play in protecting women’s only spaces. He asserted, however, that “obviously, female sports, female change rooms, female bathrooms should be for females—not for biological males.”
The Significance: As with his recent condemnation of puberty blockers for children, Poilievre’s support for properly maintaining women’s only-spaces is a sign that the nation’s attitude has shifted toward support for biological reality. This shift is likely due, in part, to repeated instances of male invasion in female-only spaces. This week, the City of Vernon, BC, defended policies that allow biological men to enter women’s facilities after two teenage girls were exposed against their will to male genitalia at a local swimming pool.
This and other instances have only further revealed that, although human beings may try to create their own reality, God’s undefeated design always thwarts their attempts at intervention. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,” “male and female he created them,” and “the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.” This is our Father’s world and the path to living well in His world is not hopelessly trying to create our own reality. Instead, we find freedom when we choose submission over self-identity, repentance over pride, and new life in Christ over disobedience to God’s good law.
Read More: Catherine Lévesque, The National Post, “Poilievre says female spaces should be exclusively for females, ‘not for biological males’”
Ontario Teachers’ Union Warns of Consequences for Conservative Viewpoints
The Story: The Limestone District School Board teacher’s union has warned its members of potential disciplinary action for espousing unapproved political views. John Vince, representing District 27 of the OSSTF, sent an email to all members warning them that they could face consequences for “[s]upporting a so-called ‘right wing’ political view (example: Parental rights),” saying that only women should compete in women’s sports, or stating that they believe “[t]he notion that there are only two genders.” Other viewpoints listed as unacceptable include believing that some cultural practices are superior to others, using the term “blind spot,” or telling students to put their phones away. Vince also said that it is acceptable for teachers to keep secrets from parents.
Situations like this have resulted in court cases, including a new case wherein a Quebec teacher is suing the provincial Education Ministry for requiring him to lie to a child’s parents about their child’s social transition.
The Significance: Despite how aware many of us are of the rot in our education system, events like this are almost unbelievably absurd. It’s shocking that a teacher could be fired for telling a parent that their child is using drugs, or that a teacher had to go to court to fight for the right to tell a parent that their child is socially transitioning. “Wrongthink,” once only present in George Orwell’s 1984, is clearly becoming a reality in our educational system.
These stories underline the vital importance of the parental rights legislation being enacted around the country and highlight the need for those rights to be expanded into other provinces like Ontario and Quebec.
They also serve to remind us of the central biblical role of parents in raising their children. We often apply Christ’s warning against misleading the “little ones” only to others—abusers, politicians, etc.—but the truth is that, should we fail to defend our children, it could just as easily be us being fitted with the millstone.
Read More: Noah Jarvis, True North, “Kingston union warns teachers they can be disciplined for ‘right-wing’ views, saying ‘boys and girls’”
City of London Pushes Ban on Abortion Images
The Story: City Councillors in London, Ontario, are continuing their attempt to ban abortion victim photography despite warnings from City staff that they may not be able to implement the ban.
The Community and Protective Services committee expressed its displeasure with a staff report that states any attempts to ban the so-called “graphic images” would be almost impossible to implement and would likely fail freedom of speech challenges under the Charter of Rights.
In response to the report, all but one councilor demanded the staff “do more work” to find a way to implement a ban.
The Significance: The persistence of the London councillors highlights how, even in our contentious times, some people are able to handle a diversity of opinions on anything but abortion. As the one dissenting councilor pointed out, Canadians are currently using graphic images of people being harmed in Israel, Ukraine, and around the world in order to draw attention to atrocities and call for action.
And yet showing the violence committed against our youngest, most vulnerable citizens is simply going too far for Canadians who don’t want to accept the violent, bloody effect of abortion on precious babies.
While some Christians might be worried that confronting people with an unpleasant truth is unloving, the Bible commands us to “open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute” (Prov. 31:8). There is no one more helpless and voiceless than the unborn. Speaking up on their behalf is not only just, it could be described as mandatory.
Read More: Randy Richmond, The London Free Press, “Staff reluctant, but politicians press ahead on graphic images ban”
Quick Hits
Suspect arrested for arson over Regina parish burning: Police have arrested a 31-year-old man in connection to last week’s arson of the Blessed Sacrament Parish in Regina, Saskatchewan. In video footage of the incident, a masked man, who police believe to be Jordan Willet, can be seen emptying a jerry can inside an entryway to the building. Willet has been charged with “arson with disregard for human life, disguise with intent, and two counts of failure to comply with a probation order.” This is one of only a handful of arrests made in connection with the over 95 arson and vandalism attacks on church buildings since 2021.
Read More: Caitlin Brezenski, CTV News, “Suspect in Regina church fire arrested”
Putin opponent Alexei Navalny dies in prison: Alexei Navalny, a 47-year-old Russian political prisoner and main political opponent of Vladimir Putin, has died at a prison camp in western Siberia. According to a statement from the Federal Penitentiary Service, Navalny died suddenly following a walk. Many, including the leaders of all three major Canadian political parties, have attributed Navalny’s death to Vladimir Putin. Navalny, a professed Christian, had spent more than a decade protesting the Russian government and advocating for freedom inside the nation. During a 2021 show trial, Navalny told a judge, “If you want, I’ll talk to you about God and salvation… The fact is that I am a Christian, which usually rather sets me up as an example for constant ridicule in the Anti-Corruption Foundation, because mostly our people are atheists, and I was once quite a militant atheist myself. But now I am a believer, and that helps me a lot in my activities, because everything becomes much, much easier. I think about things less. There are fewer dilemmas in my life, because there is a book in which, in general, it is more or less clearly written what action to take in every situation.”
Read More: Jonathon Van Maren, The European Conservative, “Russia’s Christian Dissidents”
A Truth To Consider
