The Backbench Spring: Mark Warawa wants to make a statement

The Conservative MP is planning to make a statement on Thursday about sex-selective abortion.

On Thursday, Warawa intends to stand up in the House to talk about female “gendercide” –  the systematic killing of women, which includes aborting females. And he will do it without a spot on his party’s speaking list, by catching the eye of Speaker Andrew Scheer, who in a landmark decision ruled late last month that MPs are allowed to make statements and ask questions without their party’s consent.

If Scheer recognizes him on Thursday, Warawa will be able to make his statement weeks after the issue of MP freedom was brought to the forefront of Parliament. “My involvement with speaking up against gendercide continues,” Warawa said in an interview.

The government would thus seem to have two options. It can, as it seemed to do two weeks ago when Mr. Warawa previously promised to stand and attempt to catch the Speaker’s eye, put him on the whip’s list for Thursday. In which case, he wins. Or it can ignore his stated intention and Mr. Warawa can stand of his volition until the Speaker recognizes him. At which point, he wins.

See previously: What the Speaker’s ruling means