Tory MP: Ottawa Will Cut Planned Parenthood Funds

A backbench Tory MP said the government wouldn't renew money for the maternal-health charity, but Conservative staffers said no funding decisions were offical.

The Tories scrambled to clarify comments made by a Saskatchewan MP who told a campaign crowd that Ottawa would be cutting funding to Planned Parenthood. Brad Trost, running for re-election in the riding of Saskatoon-Humboldt, was speaking at a pro-life association meeting when he said government funding for the International Planned Parenthood Federation was not going to be renewed. The charity, which funds abortions, among other family-planning initiatives, last received an $18-million grant from the federal government that ran out in 2009. Conservative party officials said after Trost's statements came to light that no decision had yet been made on whether to fund Planned Parenthood.