Canadian pro-life officials
are wary of news that an English-language version of the political affairs
magazine Cité libre will be available throughout Canada.
Founded in 1950 by former
Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Gerard Pelletier, Cité libre at
one time enjoyed tremendous influence in Quebec's intellectual and cultural
elites. Cité libre has also been described as a catalyst in shaping
Quebec's "Quiet Revolution" in the 1950s and 60s.
The magazine today is billed
as a voice for liberal values, social justice and national unity. It seeks
to "break down the wall of silence" between English and French Canada by
publishing identical commentary in both official languages.
Although the magazine's influence
waned during Trudeau's years as prime minister (1968-1979, 1980-84), it
regained strength as a federalist voice in Quebec in the late 1980s.
It now seeks to counterbalance
the prevailing view among Quebec intellectuals that separatism is the only
viable option for the province.
The English version of Cité
libre was launched at a Jan. 19 gathering in Toronto with Trudeau and a
host of his former Liberal cronies on hand. Similar launching ceremonies
were scheduled for Ottawa, Halifax and Vancouver.
In the 1950s, Cité
libre was highly critical of former Quebec premier Maurice Duplessis' stranglehold
on the province's political power. At the same time, the magazine opposed
what it called the "repressive power" of the Catholic Church in Quebec,
calling instead for a modern, pluralistic state.
Some see a link between this
rush to embrace secular-humanist values and the sorry state of pro-life
affairs in Quebec in the 1990s.
In his 1985 booklet The Secular
State, Catholic Insight magazine editor Father Alphonse deValk suggested
Trudeau was all too ready to relegate religion and faith to the private
sphere.
"Pierre Trudeau, on assuming
office as minister of justice in 1967, showed himself ready to accommodate
the new intellectual and moral order by introducing permissive legislation
for divorce, homosexuality and abortion," Father deValk wrote. "In private,
he could be guided by religion, but not in public."
Father deValk concludes in
the booklet that "Trudeau's contribution to political secularism, in all
its impossibility and with all its contradictions, is more significant
than anything else he did."
While Canadian pro-lifers
welcome any initiative supporting national unity, some are troubled by
the secular-humanist values espoused by the magazine's founders.
