Mr. Speaker, there is tremendous irony in having this debate scheduled today, December 6, the National Day of Remembrance and Action to End Violence Against Women. We in the NDP made it clear today in the House that we demand action from the government to end violence against women and also, very importantly, that it work toward achieving equality for women in Canada.
There is no doubt that in recent decades great gains have been made, but we are losing ground. One of the areas in which that is clear is reproductive rights, which is fundamentally about women having control over their own bodies, women having a say over their own future, and our recognizing that this is part of their achieving equality. I remember growing up knowing that women and men in Canada fought to ensure that women could have that kind of control over their own reproductive rights. As a young woman now 30 years old, I am better off that decisions like those happened years ago.
Perhaps the most disturbing part of this conversation is that Motion Nos. 312 and 408, both back-door attempts at reopening the abortion debate, have been presented to the House and the Canadian public. There are all sorts of efforts being made to introduce other spin on these motions or legislation being put forward, when in reality everyone knows that it is about reopening the abortion debate. I would note that that debate took place in the late 1980s with the Supreme Court ruling, and it is something that Canadians have moved on from. We gauge that from the conversations we have in our constituencies. We know it from the polls. We know that this is something that Canadians have moved on from. In fact, when it comes to equality, so many Canadian women want to see the government taking specific action to achieve equality rather than rolling the clock back.
Many of us were encouraged that Motion No. 312 was defeated, thanks to the NDP's leadership. Unfortunately, many government members, including the Minister for the Status of Women and the minister of international aid, a department that is involved with funding around reproductive rights around the world, both voted to reopen the abortion debate. Then we found out a few hours later that yet another government backbencher was attempting to do the very same thing. To so many of us, this speaks to the double-speak of the Prime Minister telling us that he does not want to reopen the debate and yet there is another private member's bill attempting to do the same thing.
When will the government either come clean with its agenda or listen to the majority of Canadians and move on to achieve true gender equality for women in Canada?