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642 Canadian babies were born alive and left to die

A Canadian pro-life researcher has found that, in the past five years in Canada, 642 babies were born alive after a failed abortion attempt. The data comes from the Canadian Institute for Health Information and doesn’t include statistics from Quebec.

When news of live births after abortions first broke over ten years ago, abortion proponents justified it by saying that it simply meant that the fetus exhibited a heartbeat or signs of motion after delivery, even if it had no chance of survival. Although three Conservative MPs called on the RCMP to investigate these deaths in 2013, nothing public has been done. Even sadder, when the statistics are updated each year, it hardly gets noticed.

Canada’s Criminal Code defines a human being as “a child that has completely proceeded from the body of its mother in a living state, regardless of whether it has breathed, has independent circulation, or the umbilical cord is severed.” It follows that up with “A person commits homicide when he causes injury to a child before or during its birth as a result of which the child dies after becoming a human being.” In other words, even Canada’s lax law – which offers no protection for the unborn – does declare that these born babies have been murdered.

Regardless of what stage an abortion occurs at, a life has been taken, and over that same 5-year time period somewhere around a half million Canadians were murdered in the womb. But they had no protection under the law. What’s different here is that these 642+ deaths prove that our Criminal Code definition of a human being can be tossed aside if it gets in the way of our choices.

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Saturday Selections – May 3, 2025

Be Present  Reformed rapper Propaganda with a message that'll hit everyone hard: "I guess you could say I've been through a divorce now – me and my phone are no longer married." p.s. "finna" means "going to" An encouraging message for Canadian Christians after election night The same God who promises to turn everything to our good (Romans 8:28) was sovereignly in control when Mark Carney got voted in. So we know this is right, and to our benefit, even if we don't understand... at least in full. One possible benefit – an evident silver lining – is the 90 pro-life MPs that RightNow says were elected. Pro-life candidates are banned from the NDP and Liberals, so these must all be Conservative, and 90 out of the 144 elected Conservatives is quite the sizeable segment. And being in opposition can be freeing, as it may allow these MPs to speak against government abuses more openly than they'd ever be allowed if they were government. Maybe some will start talking about the unborn, not just to fellow pro-lifers, but to the muddled middle who might yet be convicted of the wickedness of this slaughter. Encouraging coverage of ARPA Canada This week ARPA Canada got to make a presentation in the BC legislature with around 20 MLAs present, and this mainstream media account covered it straight up. Want to improve your life? "Open the Bible at least four times a week." Stop valorizing doubt! (10-minute read) As Trevin Wax notes, "Honesty about our doubt is a virtue, but it’s the honesty that’s commendable, not the doubt itself." Syncretism is a pressing temptation As Pastor John Van Eek notes in the video below, syncretism is the mixing of any two (or more religions) to form a completely new religion. Or to put it another way, Christianity plus anything isn't Christianity anymore. In the past God's people might have mixed their true religion with Baal worship, but today's syncretistic temptation involves a very different religion: secularism. In the public square, the demand is that Christians limit ourselves to sharing a logical, scientific, or maybe "common sense" perspective, but never an explicitly Christian one. Now, Christianity is logical, and lines up with science (when properly understood) so this might seem a demand we could accommodate. But when we understand that the secularism making these demands holds that man's reasoning is the source of all knowledge, including what is good, right, and meaningful, then we can see how secularism is another religion. And then we can also start to see the syncretistic element here. If Christians agree to act and argue as secularists do – with no mention of the God we were created to glorify (WSC Q&A 1) – then even when we are pursuing good ends, like fighting a trans agenda or trying to stop abortion, we are doing so by mixing secularism with our Christianity. And then is that Christianity still? ...

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Saturday Selections – April 26, 2025

Christianity & global warming (10 min) Some Christians think global warming is a scientific, and not a theological, question. To that, Jeff Durbin replies: "I'll approach it as an atheist...As an atheist with an atheist worldview that believes that all of us are cosmic accidents and that our ancestors were bacteria and then into fish and then to African apes into where we are now, I have a question: Why should humans care? Right? Not a theological question? Really?" Your phone habits aren't just about you "The worst thing about collective action problems is that even those who are most resolute in opposing the trend have no choice but to either join it or suffer its effects anyway: if I decide to stubbornly hold out as the one person in the room not bending over my phone, I’ll only have the pleasure of looking at the tops of everyone else’s heads." Ontario's top court rules against a COVID-era gatherings ban "This is the first major court ruling that found COVID-era restrictions on gatherings unconstitutional..." Coming away cold "'The reason we come away so cold from reading the Word is, because we do not warm ourselves at the fire of meditation.' We must slowly ponder it, we must diligently apply ourselves to it, we must let ourselves meditate upon it until we have grown not only in information but in wisdom." The Golden Rule's 3 impacts on a business's bottom line So many employees hate their jobs. Changing that might be hard but it isn't complicated: follow the Golden Rule. Taking down the arguments for tariffs (15 min) Trudeau, Carney, and Poilievre have all agreed to impose tariffs on the US in response to Donald Trump's tariffs. So what's the other side (Prov. 18:17) you aren't hearing? As British economist Daniel Hannan notes, "Just because somebody else is shooting himself in the foot, the worst possible response is to take aim and blow off a couple of your own toes in order to show them." He notes free trade, rather than tariffs, always makes countries richer. So why isn't free trade more popular? While Hannan says free trade is unpopular, he doesn't go too deep into why. One reason might be because it runs up against our sinful instincts. Those in power seem incapable of, or too arrogant to, consider a problem might be made worse via their active intervention. And citizens facing difficulties likely wouldn't accept their government doing nothing – tariffs might not make economic sense, but hitting back makes great political sense in the midst of an election. In the secular world, government is a God-substitute, and the world wants their god to act. ...

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Abortion deaths reach 10-year high

According to the Canadian Institute of Health Information (CIHI), the number of abortions reported in Canada increased to a staggering 101,553 in 2023, the highest number of deaths in the past decade. It is important to recognize that these are just the reported abortions. The real figure could be much higher, as abortion clinics are not required to report their data. The numbers also don’t account for the fact that Canada has allowed “emergency contraceptive” drugs like Plan B since 2005, which can prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus, ending the life of a tiny human being. These drugs are now being handed out freely in parts of Canada. Pro-Life group We Need a Law, a campaign of ARPA Canada, explained that the reasons for the increase are varied and not entirely clear. One reason could be the increased population in Canada. But the population has been growing for decades now, while the number of abortions peaked in 1997. Another reason they cite is that CIHI has adjusted its methodology for how it reports abortion, leading to more accurate reporting. ARPA Canada was part of a successful court challenge in 2017, when a court ruled that the Ontario government was wrong to hide abortion statistics from public access. Another possible reason We Need a Law cites is the turmoil pregnant women experienced in the past five years, from Covid concerns to surging inflation. There was one glimmer of hope. Until 2013, the most likely age group to have an abortion was women under 25. Their rate is now half of what it used to be. This gives hope that their increasing resistance to abortion will continue as they age. In contrast, as the chart shows, it is women over the age of 30 that are having more abortions. Although the data remains murky, the matter itself is very clear. Whether they acknowledge it or not, many of the women we meet and know are living through the pain and grief of their choice, or the choice that was inflicted on them, to end the life of their precious child. If they haven’t already repented and experienced forgiveness and peace through the cross of Christ, there is a pressing need to share this message with them. And these preborn children, our neighbours, deserve the same love and protection that we all do. Simply acknowledging their death is a very small step in this direction. Graph used with permission of We Need a Law....

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Pierre Poilievre: sometimes access comes with too high a cost

During the English-language leaders debate on April 17, the Conservative Party’s Pierre Poilievre was challenged to explain why he hadn’t gotten his top-secret security clearance. Prime Minister Carney noted that the other three party leaders on the stage had gotten their clearances, so why had Poilievre refused to do so too? The Conservative leader explained, “…when the government made this recent offer, they said that if I got the secret security clearance briefings that I would be gagged under the security law and I could be prosecuted if I spoke freely about matters of foreign interference. Now, given that Canada has experienced Chinese interference by Beijing, the government of China, in two consecutive elections, I needed to do my job, to speak freely without fear of prosecution, and that was not something I would be allowed to do.” He's presenting a principle – silence can be too high a price to pay for access – that Christians need to take to heart too. It’s safe to say that this magazine’s readership has very little interest in the other three parties represented on the debate stage. The Bloc Québécois, NDP, and Liberals all ban pro-lifers from running for them – only the Conservative Party is open to Christian participation. But what does the Conservative Party expect of Christians when we join its ranks? During the campaign Poilievre made this pledge: “I can guarantee you there will be no laws restricting abortion passed when I'm prime minister…. There will be no laws or other restrictions imposed on a woman's right to decide to do with her body as she wishes and that is something that I am guaranteeing to you and to all Canadians." He’s allowing more than 50 pro-life candidates to run for his party, but should he win, does he want any of his MPs, or any of their supporters, crying for justice for the more than 100,000 preborn children who are killed each year? He’s offered us memberships in his party, and the chance to have our people run for elected office, but he certainly wants something in exchange: don’t embarrass your party leader by demanding that the unborn’s blood “be precious in his sight” (Ps. 72:14b). But like Mr. Poilievre, we mustn’t let our silence be bought. What can we do instead? God’s people can take a page from the persistent widow of Luke 18:1-8 who wouldn’t stop presenting her pleas, even though the judge wasn’t interested in delivering justice. Why did he eventually hear her? Because she would not be quiet. So if Poilievre wins, we need to be every bit as loud as we can be, no matter what access it might cost us. If God’s people won’t advocate for the unborn, who else is left? Of course, the primary lesson of this passage in Luke is not about persistence in politics, but in prayer. We can try what we might, but God can do what He will. And God tells us we should never stop praying to Him, because unlike the unjust in positions of power, He is sympathetic to our pleas: “Will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night?” That’s something Mr. Poilievre also needs to hear from us, lest he ends his days standing before this just Judge in blood-soaked robes. ...

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Saturday Selections – April 5, 2025

Click on the titles to go to the linked articles. Broken Window Fallacy explains what government gets wrong Politicians can always point to the results of their spending. But what we don't see is what would have happened with that same money if they hadn't taken it from businesses and families and individuals in the first place. The jobs we would have created are unseen, because those jobs didn't happen – the government didn't let them happen. So any time a government brags about creating jobs, it's akin to a company bragging about its revenue while refusing to account for its costs (Prov. 18:17). Beast Games: family fun or mammon worship? A bit of a late warning, but if you haven't already checked it out, here's why you shouldn't bother. How murderous are you when even the UN says, "Whoah now, that's enough"? Canada has murdered its millions – nearly 100,000 unborn babies a year for decades now – and that's nothing compared to what the United Nations (UN) is responsible for due to their own promotion of abortion worldwide. But when it comes to euthanasia, even the UN is shocked at what Canada has been up to, in looking to expand it to the mentally ill too. Trump goes 0 for 3 on trade knowledge The Fraser Institute with one way Trump's tariff rhetoric contradicts itself, and a couple ways that his tariffs will hurt not just Canada, but the US too. The government is handing out more money to the media ...but why aren't we hearing about it? Maybe it's because we know that typically he who pays the piper calls the tune – this is media being bought and paid for. That's why The Hub is donating the $22,000 they've received so far to charity. (And no, Reformed Perspective wasn't sent any of this cash.) Defending the unborn as Christians (10 min) What does it look like to defend the unborn as an unabashed, God-glorifying Christian? It means starting with God, and then stacking the science, the logic, the biological reality, all atop that firm foundation of our Lord. Jeff Durbin shows us how it is done. ...

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Saturday Selections – Mar. 29, 2025

Propaganda techniques (10 minutes) This 1948 or 1949 movie highlights seven different propaganda techniques, and to be forewarned about them is to be forearmed. This could be great for a high school English class. Click the title above for the full 10-minute color presentation, or watch a 7-minute B&W abridgment below. News or narrative – when the truth-tellers can't be trusted What with images and video that can be faked so quickly and so skillfully, the biggest problem with our news consumption might be the speed at which we imbibe. When we just hit headlines, or read whoever the algorithm puts in front of us, we can't know if they are trustworthy – we can't know that this is true. So... slow down. The slippery slope of theistic Darwinism Howard Van Till was a physics professor at Calvin College who used to be "the pre-eminent example of an evangelical Christian scientist in the 1990s who defended Darwinian evolution." Until he stopped being Christian. Or even a theist. Doctor Google, influencer moms, and the local Church "I recently saw some Christian influencers offer a course on marriage, though they had been married for less than two years. They had paltry experience and undoubtedly little wisdom, but they did have a big platform. And many were eager to learn from them. God has carefully constructed his church so that, as much as we may benefit from those who are far off, we are likely to find the greatest and most credible help nearby. Your church has many seasoned saints who have spent their whole lives following the Lord and whose godliness is on display each and every time the church gathers." - Tim Challies A mid-life assessment A pastor's wife discovers with age comes new: "...temptations to impatience, ungraciousness, pride. This had surprised me then, but I now see this is true not just in ministry. I used to imagine I’d have to fight the same besetting sins my whole life, and while some old struggles still remain, I’ve found I need to also be vigilant for new ones." Rend Collective: Build Your Kingdom Here A song and a prayer. ...

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Saturday Selections – Mar. 22, 2025

One question to confound the evolutionist Which came first, the chicken or the egg? It's a famous enough conundrum but quite the dilemma for the evolutionist. You need an egg-producing chicken to get eggs, and a chicken-producing egg to get chickens, so how does this circle ever start via evolution's small incremental changes? This can be likened to the many "irreducibly complex" systems needed for life to survive – it all has to work together or it doesn't work, so there's no stepwise way to get here. Christian college wins Canadian women's championship over team with men The Columbia Bible College's women's basketball team lost in the regional finals to a team with two or more men on it. They also lost their coach, Taylor Claggett, to suspension for the season when she had questions about the safety of men playing women's sports, but was then accused of directing her players to hurt the male star on the other team. In other words, the team with guys on it was claiming their players were in danger. Fortunately, the top two teams from the PacWest went to nationals, and the CBC Bearcats made use of this second opportunity to win it all. And, blessedly, they didn't have to play the team with the men on it again, as it never made the finals. Canadian Reformed player Elissa Vreugdenhil was the playoff MVP. CBC spokesperson Derek Rogusky noted just how tough the season had been: "This team is an amazing group of young women....They have endured false accusations, online abuse and vitriol that no young woman should have to experience. They had their coach taken away from them for the entire playoff run and were stripped of the chance to host PacWest conference playoffs. However, they did not fold. Instead, they focused on playing for each other, they turned the other cheek, and in the end, they persevered to win a hard-fought national title. They are deserving to be called true champions and have earned a spot in Bearcats history." This battle has been about what Coach Taylor did or didn't do or say, but it's not really about her at all. It's not even about the safety of the players she leads, and it's not about fairness either. The heat here is all about the Who behind it all, and whether God defines reality or we do. It is about whether what He says in Gen. 1:27 is true and trustworthy. We can certainly talk about all the other issues, but we need to lead with what the world most needs to hear, and with what would most glorify God: that the choice here is between Christ or chaos. These ladies have triumphed on the basketball court, and we can pray they'll now be given the opportunity to glorify God in a different court as this matter moves on to the legal arena (Matt. 5:11). The man who saved two million Australia's James Harrison had special blood. It contained a rare antibody "which is used to make the life-saving medication given to mothers whose blood is at risk of attacking their unborn babies..." Harison donated blood over a thousand times and didn't receive a dime for it. But he was happy to have a role in saving as many as two million babies. The People’s Party of Canada wants to talk about the unborn To be clear, the PPC isn't taking a pro-life turn – all they want to do is talk. But even a willingness to talk about abortion has them standing in sharp contrast with the other federal parties who are either unwilling or afraid to talk about the plight of the unborn. Random thoughts on being a dad Tim Challies with a collection of quick thoughts every dad will benefit from. Small toys taking on big government? There was a time, about a dozen years back, when your little brother could have had toys that took on Big Brother. This line of "Kronies" action figures highlights how the government has fearsome powers that can be used to compel compliance ("Mandated!"), restrict consumer choices ("Tarrified!") and ensure "taxpayer loses; crony gains!" You don't have to be Christian to see how government can abuse its powers. But as a Christian we can understand the pressing need for government to shrink rather than grow. God has given authority to more than simply those in the political sphere – the Church, parents and even self-government are other authorities – and the government can only grow by taking from others the power God has given to them. These toys might not be available but thanks to YouTube, their legacy lives on. ...

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Saturday Selections – Mar. 15, 2025

House of David show is making things up Wretched TV's Todd Friel doesn't hold back on Amazon's new biblically-based series about King David. His arguments are both theological and practical. Even the best-intentioned scriptwriters, in writing a series about the family life of David, will need to make all sorts of stuff up. Even for events that the Bible lays out in more detail, as happens with The Chosen, which has four Bible books to work with, they still have to make all sorts of things up. The indiscipline of overwork I read this at first thinking it was by a Christian (it probably isn't) because it just made so much sense: don't abuse the gifts God has given you. What Spiderman got right and Wicked got wrong Today's stories – the movies (and books too) that Christians will feed their children – are more and more often blurring good and evil. As John Stonestreet writes: "In Maleficent, the bad queen is working through her trauma of not being invited to Sleeping Beauty’s christening. In Wicked, the wicked witch is a victim of discrimination and corruption. Likewise, Mufasa explores the sympathetic backstory of Scar and offers good reasons why he became evil. In this brave new world, the heroes and villains aren’t all that different after all." As dissenters exit, the CRC resists same-sex affirmation We can praise the Lord that the CRC seems to be taking steps back from liberalism, which has been made easier by the exit of some of the most liberal congregations. But while these congregations' exit is something to rejoice over, they need our prayers that God may yet turn them back from their sinful arrogance. And we should pray, too, that the Lord will keep us from succumbing to arrogant pitfalls of our own devising (1 Cor. 10:12.). Besides being our new prime minister, who is Mark Carney? ARPA Canada on Carney's view of government, and what values he thinks should guide it. Trump's tariffs didn't help the US last time he was in power The last time Trump was in office, he implemented tariffs then too. And while it helped the American steel industry, it hurt the other parts of the American economy that use steel: car manufacturers, construction companies, washing machine makers, and more. All of them had to raise their prices and, consequently, saw fewer sales than they might have otherwise. So, as this video explains, America's tariffs hurt their country much more than they helped it. That means our former prime minister Justin Trudeau got one thing right when he said tariffs are "dumb." But if tariffs are dumb, why would Canada try to counter them with our own dumb tariffs? And export tariffs on our energy? That's akin to punching yourself in the face to save the bully the trouble. Free, unfettered trade – on our part, even if others don't reciprocate – recognizes that what Canadian citizens produce and what they buy is their business. A government that thinks it should limit what cheese you can buy is a government that recognizes no limitations to its reach. ...

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Saturday Selections – Feb. 15, 2025

Charles Darwin's birthday was Feb. 12, so for this edition we are marking that event by featuring a collection of very different rebuttals. Click on the titles for the linked articles. Your cells are constantly being recycled and repaired... even as they keep running Every day your DNA experiences 10,000 lost letters of code in every single cell of your body. Your body is like a library of information... that's constantly on fire. As fast as the environment burns down your DNA, a host of DNA "librarians" in your cells builds back what was being burnt down. That means that, right from the beginning, our DNA needed these repair mechanisms. But these mechanisms need all sorts of DNA to be formed. It's a chicken and egg dilemma – which came first? Both need to have been in place from the beginning, and couldn't have evolved one at a time. Better science without Darwin When you presume that all the life around us came about by random mutation, acting without design or purpose, then you're not liable to look to Nature for brilliant design. And devotion to Darwin might have you falling for all sorts of mistakes, like believing that much of our DNA is just junk left over from our previous evolutionary incarnations. Or you'd be liable to look for and try to point out flaws in our design. But you'd be wrong. What if, instead of looking to Nature for bad design, scientists starting looking to it for Inspired design? That's what the field of biometrics is all about – looking to Nature for inspiration, because of the brilliant engineering on display. Evolution can't explain why we blush Does blushing make you fitter? Nope. In fact, an argument could be made that this honest unconscious reaction might put someone at a disadvantage. That's why Darwin was perturbed by it, because even blushing exposes the insufficiency of his evolutionary theory. The astonishing self-organizing human embryo You start as a single cell that then subdivides into all sorts of other different types of cells. But how does the one decide to become all the others? "...how exactly does an organism without any central control self-organize?" The more we learn, the more apparent it is, that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. The Darwin devotion detector Some years back author and scientist William A. Dembski crafted a test that paired statements – one devoted to Darwin, the other not – that could be used by a person to gauge how devoted or not they might be to Darwin. I think this 40-question test could be used by Christians in university to confront classmates willing to listen (interested opposition, not fingers-in-their-ears fools) to expose to them their blind devotion to Darwin, and how it isn't anything to do with science. Here's one pairing, as an example, with the first showing Darwin devotion, and the second lining up better with reality. Darwin’s theory of evolution is as well supported scientifically as Einstein’s theory of general relativity. Putting Darwin’s theory of evolution in the same league as Einstein’s theory of general relativity is an affront to the exact sciences. The age of the arches As the article above notes, Arches National Park has about 2,000 natural rock arches, with roughly one collapsing each year and none forming. So, unless there were  millions of arches to start, that makes it seem that these are not the millions of years old they are purported to be. And the article below highlights how they were not formed as they were purported to be either. ...

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Young Canadian defends Scripture to the world

Things can change quickly when you have the courage to seize an opportunity, and are blessed by God. 33-year-old Wesley Huff is serving as the Central Canada Director of Apologetics Canada, while doing his PhD in New Testament at Wycliffe College in Toronto. Although he is well-respected by the relatively small audience plugged into the work of Apologetics Canada, that was about the extent of it. That is, until a few months ago. Last fall, Huff agreed to a last-minute request to come onto a podcast the next day to debate Billy Carson, someone who is well-known worldwide, but for all the wrong reasons. Carson is a proponent of New Age teachings and argues that ancient texts disprove the deity of Christ. It wasn’t long into the podcast before Huff humbly and respectfully dismantled Billy Carson’s arguments. Reflecting on the debate later, Huff said that what surprised him was that he expected a rebuttal from Carson. But there wasn’t one. “People like Billy are confident in the way that they say things, but that confidence isn’t always backed up by the reality of the evidence and so confidence and competence are not the same thing.” It went so poorly for Carson that he sent a legal “cease and desist” letter, to try to prevent the podcast from getting released. But it went public, and got noticed – it’s had millions of online views. One of the people who noticed it was Joe Rogan, who runs what might be the most popular podcast in the world. Earlier, in 2024, he’d interviewed Billy Carson, and seeing Wes Huff dismantle Carson got his attention. On Christmas Eve, Rogan sent an invitation to Huff to come down to his studio in Texas within the week to do an interview about the historical accuracy of the Bible. “There is no way I could have orchestrated any of the events leading up to this moment,” Huff told Faith Today. “I could not have gotten myself on Joe Rogan's podcast by my own volition, and so beforehand, I was really trying to just trust, leaning not in my own understanding, but leaning on the fact that this is a situation that the Spirit has designed.” The interview with Rogan went for over three hours and has currently been seen 5.9 million times on his YouTube channel (not including so many other clips and versions). Huff’s personal YouTube page went from relative obscurity to 482,000 subscribers. Huff shared with Faith Today that the interview with Rogan is an indication that people are warming to Christianity. “Seven to 10 years ago he was mocking Christianity and religious perspectives to now, I think he himself has seen that there has to be more.” Although he has been inundated with requests for more debates, Huff shared on his personal YouTube channel that he will be declining almost all of them as his priority is to keep serving as a husband, father, student, and employee....

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Taxpayer-funded drug trafficking exposed in BC

BC’s NDP government and provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry have long denied or downplayed the concern that the free drugs they are giving to addicts are being trafficked. However, a leaked document from BC’s Ministry of Health now admits that “a significant portion” of the drugs are being sold and trafficked “provincially, nationally and internationally.” When confronted by reporters about the revelation, BC’s Health Minister Josie Osborne admitted that “there’s absolutely no denial of it.” As the opposition Conservatives pointed out, this means that the BC government is guilty of “taxpayer-funded drug trafficking.” The BC government has been operating a so-called “safer supply” program since 2020. The leaked document revealed that from 2022 to 2024, the government gave out the equivalent of 2.5 million hydromorphone 8-mg pills and 70,000 20-mg oxycodone pills. As an addiction outreach worker explained to the National Post way back in April of 2024: “You can stand in front of just about any of these pharmacies that are involved in this – usually close to the safer supply prescribing office – and you can sit outside for five minutes and watch all kinds of transactions going down.” In 2023, BC’s provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry acknowledged that “some diversion is occurring” but her suggestion was to expand the program and make the drugs more powerful so that addicts wouldn’t want to sell them for something stronger. The BC government’s drug strategy has been built on a worldview that does not acknowledge sin and its resulting misery. The “harm” that they are trying to reduce is not the misery resulting from wrecking our bodies and lives through drugs, but the stigma (i.e., shame) associated with drug addiction. It has only taken a few years and the world has witnessed just how devastating this strategy has been. One of the root issues is that shame is not something to be minimized or avoided, but instead heeded. It is an alarm from our conscience and God telling us we need to stop. Trying to reduce stigma is akin to putting our fingers in our ears to deal with the noise from our fire alarm – that avoids the real issue, to our harm. The 6th commandment gets to the heart of true treatment. Here God reveals His high regard for the value of every human life. The Heidelberg Catechism explains that the commandment not only condemns murder, but “I am not to dishonor, hate, injure, or kill my neighbour by thoughts, words, or gestures, and much less by deeds.” It also adds “moreover, I am not to harm or recklessly endanger myself.” A loving God wants to protect us from things that harm and kill us. A deceitful Satan wants to do the opposite....

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