As I was mulling over what to write for today’s Communiqué, I jotted down the above title and then was reminded of a small book written many years ago by a young congressman by the name of John F. Kennedy. The book was titled Profiles in Courage and as I revisited it, I opened it up to the first chapter, and there was the same title you see above. The point is, there’s nothing original about joining these two words together, but it is apparently a rare enough combination to warrant special attention by different authors. We have many examples of individual courage, both in Canada and abroad. Think only of the Christian pastor in Iran facing the death penalty or people such as Linda Gibbons keeping her lonely vigil in front of abortion clinics or William Whatcott defending his right to speak out on unpopular topics such as homosexuality and who now faces a Supreme Court fight. These are just some recent examples that come to mind and many more could be mentioned in other fields such as communication and the media. However, when it comes to courage demonstrated by someone in the political arena, what names come to mind? Well, we could cast our minds back many years and mention the name of William Wilberforce, the man who championed the abolition of slavery in the British parliament for many years. As John Kennedy demonstrated in his book on a number of American senators from the past, the price of political courage can be steep in terms of the effect on one’s reputation, influence among colleagues, or ability to get re-elected (a very important motivation for politicians). We should not underestimate the pressures on all politicians to toe the party line, to support their leaders, to get along with their colleagues, and to be content with incremental gains. It’s not an easy decision to make to go against your own leaders, your own colleagues, or your party’s policy and become a maverick. All the more reason, then, to applaud two MPs from the Conservative Party of Canada, Brad Trost and Maurice Vellacott, who broke ranks with their government and criticized the recent funding to Planned Parenthood for work overseas. They felt it was a betrayal of previous commitments made by the government not to directly or indirectly fund the ‘abortion agenda’ of Planned Parenthood. So for that we should applaud these two MPs. It wouldn’t hurt to let them know that we appreciate their actions either. It does beg the question of where the rest of the so-called ‘pro-life’ caucus was on this issue. Perhaps they were working behind the scenes to try to undo the policy decision; that’s possible but evidence from previous skirmishes makes it fairly clear that those efforts have not borne any fruit. There’s no doubt that it takes a certain amount of courage to stand up for your convictions in the political arena and we salute those willing to do so. If, however, such efforts are to no avail working within existing broader tent parties, we as CHP Canada welcome such individuals to join our ranks and become our standard bearers. We are ready to embrace and support men and women of principle who have the political courage to stand up for the rights of the unborn and promote the cause of the oppressed. Why not encourage them to join us? If your MP is one of those I’ve described, send them a letter or email them today.