Family planning is a divisive issue among politicians and always has been. Michael Ignatieff ran a dangerous risk and lost when the liberal opposition lost a vote on a motion they introduced in the House of Commons.
As reported in the media the motion called on the government to include a broader range of programs, including contraception, in the maternal health initiative for developing countries it is presenting at this summer's G8 summit. It is risky enough when politicians touch on these matters relating to women in Canada. When it deals with women in developing countries it becomes even more risky. This is usually a divisive issue among conservatives, but this time it seems to be as divisive among liberals as some of Ignatieff’s MP’s voted against their own parties motion.
Michael Ignatieff apparently needs to be reminded that governments usually defeat themselves and there is most often not much an opposition can do to hasten the process. It may be that Michael Ignatieff and the liberal opposition became tangled in the very rope he was attempting to reel out to ensnare conservatives. It is not the role of the opposition to get too creative, but to closely monitor the government and be a constant guardian of the public purse.
