Why not just post "an election is no time to discuss important policy questions" and be done with it?

Enter Stage Right also blogs their exasperation with pro-life Tories who just won't shut up:

People, during an election you're going to alienate more people than you'll attract when you make those kind of comments. You can't make policy sitting in the opposition benches.

Wouldn't it be better, if you are a pro-life politician, to talk about your pro-life views, instead of giving a nasty surprise to pro-choice voters when you help pass laws restricting abortion after never discussing the issue for 20 years?

Perhaps I am old-fashioned, but I think that fooling voters is a bad thing.

Update: Steve of Enter Stage Right clarifies what he meant:

What I meant in that blog entry was not that pro-life Tories shouldn't publicly advocate restrictions or even a total ban, simply that some of them, like Gallant, used overly inflammatory language to advance their position. Comparing abortion to the slaughter of a human being by terrorists seeking to destroy the very notion of the West isn't a good way to get your point across in my opinion. It's hard to argue that a 'moderate' people like Canadians would hear that and agree.

This is an excellent point, which I am happy to concede.

However, in the current electoral climate all the parties of the left are using abortion as the nasty "n-word". Mr. Harper should be careful to keep his apparent "Canadians have a right to vote to restrict abortion if they so chose" stance if he feels a need to reprimand his MPs.

Always happy to clarify, though. [Rick passes out from surprise after fielding a piece of reader e-mail *THUD*]