If you really want to burst the media narrative on Canada’s so-called anti-Islamophobia motion, take a look at how they covered a little something called M-312 in the last government.

Back in 2012, the House of Commons voted on a motion by Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth that called for the formation of a special committee to revisit a section of the Criminal Code that states a child becomes a human being only at the moment of complete birth.

It lost by a 2-1 margin but not before substantial media controversy. This was, we were told, the beginning of a plot to ban abortion in Canada.

Now, at face value, this was not true. The motion did not once mention abortion. Nor did it propose any changes to any laws or federal policies, aside from calling on the committee to recommend potential revisions to that section of the Code. These recommendations could then be ignored and, as happens all the time, the report left to collect dust.

Yet it’s not like these caveats caused critics, or the press, to play down their coverage. They went full steam ahead, drumming up fear from coast to coast. And they were well within their right to do just that.

After all, Woodworth was a vocal social conservative at a time when his like-minded MPs in caucus were frustrated to discover that, even though their government had reached the promised land of majority status, Stephen Harper would not be advancing any socially conservative legislation.

Canadians have a right to know the potential long-term ramifications of even the smallest of gestures coming from their parliamentarians. This is what the media did with M-312. Yet they’re doing the exact opposite when it comes to M-103.

The current motion, that was debated last Wednesday evening and will be voted on in the coming weeks, is nominally about discrimination of all stripes but singles out the nebulous buzzword "Islamophobia" and calls for a committee to study these problems.

A key issue with this, as I’ve pointed out before, is that in some parts of the world Islamophobia is considered any criticism of the growing monotheism. A full quarter of the countries in the world have some form of blasphemy laws, many of them directed at this broad definition of Islamophobia. And Canada welcomes tens of thousands of people from these countries every year.

For those who are coming to Canada to escape such nonsense, we owe it to them to be on guard against anything similar cropping up here. For those who have come to Canada and think such laws in their home country are worth emulating, we owe it to them to set them straight.

It’s that simple. And while the motion could likely be, just like Woodworth’s, much ado about nothing, it takes an informed and vocal public to see that it stays that way.

Yet instead of appreciating why people from all political backgrounds and religions, including many liberal Muslims, have questions and concerns about M-103, the consensus media has taken to chastising and shaming the very people they’re tasked to serve.

Sure, I’ve heard from some people who I’d say are overreacting. I don’t think this is Justin Trudeau’s first move in a plot to turn Canada into a de facto caliphate nor do I think it’s right that Iqra Khalid, the Liberal MP behind the motion, is receiving abusive messages just as Woodworth did five years ago.

But these don’t excuse why mainstream voices have so sorely dropped the ball. Why didn’t Khalid respond to media requests from the Toronto Star, CBC and yours truly to further discuss the motion? Why is she refusing suggestions from the likes of Conservative leadership candidate Erin O’Toole to find common ground? Why did she reportedly tell other MPs she’d have to check with the PMO before altering her supposedly independent motion?

Plug “Islamophobia” into Google and here’s what comes up: “dislike of or prejudice against Islam or Muslims, especially as a political force.” Its online dictionary uses the Oxford system as its backend, which is the most authoritative set of dictionaries in the English language.

I’d wager many millions of Canadians from all walks of life have a dislike of Islam as a political force. As they damn well should. Is this what the motion seeks to denounce and study with a critical eye?

Hopefully not. But, right now, we just don’t know. Too bad my colleagues in the media have made it even harder to find out.

afurey@postmedia.ca

www.furey.ca