This is a very interesting story from The Globe and Mail about a split developing within the federal Tories over social issues like abortion and gay rights.

An excerpt:

An internecine battle within the Conservative Party has set the stage for a nasty showdown over emotionally charged issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage that could be waged on the floor of the party's policy meeting next month in Montreal.

Moderate Conservatives say they are being frozen out of the convention by leader Stephen Harper, whom they accuse of controlling delegate selection and allowing many of the spots to go to hard-line social conservatives.

But they have also taken some provocative measures, including a motion to be debated at the Montreal meeting that, if accepted, would ensure abortion rights. Another motion would spell out the cases in which the party would use the notwithstanding clause -- a measure aimed at protecting same-sex marriage.

It is up to party officials to determine whether those motions will be heard but they are bound to inflame Conservatives with roots in the former Canadian Alliance.

The brewing hostility has caused some members to suggest the party, formed less than a year ago through a merger of the Alliance and the Progressive Conservatives, may undergo a split similar to the one that occurred in the late 1980s when the Reform Party broke away.

Others fear Mr. Harper's social-policy agenda will reinforce the intolerant image that has made the party unpalatable to many in Central and Eastern Canada.

"Ironically, one of the things that the Reformers were standing for when they broke away was excellent democracy within the party, which is not being followed at all under Harper," said Elizabeth Harvey, a former secretary for the association of 43 Conservative riding associations in and around Toronto.

"Right now I just don't feel that members are being given a real chance to be heard because the circle around Stephen Harper is very tight and they are very closely controlling it."

Now, let's go back to Monday and a Toronto Star story entitled Conservative Policy a Growing Concern. Here's an excerpt:

At a breakfast meeting of top Conservative party organizers in the GTA a few short weeks ago, leader Stephen Harper addressed some of the key people he needs onside to help him turn Liberal ridings into Conservative seats.

As Harper launched into a talk about how he sees fiscal and social conservatives as the underpinnings — the "pillars" — of the new party, eyes rolled, according to one participant.

Someone heckled, "You're in the GTA."

"I never heard the rest" of Harper's speech, said the party source, who refused to be identified. "He doesn't get it."

Now, in the interests of fairness, here's a Thursday Globe story about the fractiousness within the Liberal caucus over same-sex marriage:

The sparks flew yesterday inside and outside the Liberal caucus over same-sex marriage as the Prime Minister was told by one of his MPs that it had now become "personal" between them.

In the closed-door session, Toronto MP Tom Wappel, who is strongly opposed to legislation that will redefine marriage to include same-sex couples, accused Paul Martin of reneging on his promise to address the so-called democratic deficit by not allowing cabinet ministers to vote freely on this issue.

"I'm profoundly disappointed with you," Mr. Wappel told Mr. Martin, according to an insider. "I've known you since . . . 1988 and I just don't understand how this can be, and it's now personal between you and me."

Later, caucus chairman Andy Savoy told him to take his complaints "outside."

The fractious atmosphere in the caucus room yesterday was also underlined by a subtle shift in the way in which the Prime Minister and his cabinet are now defining and trying to sell the issue.

The language around same-sex marriage has suddenly changed; some MPs believe it is an attempt by the Prime Minister to soften the issue and make it more palatable.

Mr. Martin, for example, is now referring to same-sex marriage as "civil marriage."