Conservative leadership vote
Leslyn Lewis Derek Sloan
We join Campaign Life Coalition in endorsing Derek Sloan and Leslyn Lewis as the only choices conscientious pro-lifers should cast a vote for in the Conservative Party of Canada preferential ballot. They are both good candidates and as we report on the leadership race (“CPC leadership race set, CLC releases Voter’s Guide,” p. 3) both Sloan and Lewis have much to offer on the pro-life and pro-family front. Both are clear in their opposition to abortion, euthanasia, and the radical LGBQT+ agenda that is politically fashionable right now.
Both Sloan and Lewis have offered pro-life platforms, a solid suite of policies to advance the pro-life cause. Both have promised to rescind the most troubling elements of Justin Trudeau’s pro-LGBQT+ agenda, including repealing C-16, which established a “right” to gender identity and gender expression, and C-8, the conversion therapy ban, outlawing medical, psychiatric, or spiritual counselling for unwanted same-sex attraction or gender dysphoria.
Sloan and Lewis deserve the support of pro-lifers. The supposed frontrunners, Peter MacKay and Erin O’Toole, may appeal to some pro-life Conservatives because of some principle they say they hold (but do not backup with policy) or rhetorical acknowledgement of the importance of social conservatives to the Tory “Big Tent.” But it would be a mistake to cast a vote for either of them as #3 on the pretense that one is better than the other. Our votes should not be based on calculations (that may not even be correct), but principles. And neither MacKay nor O’Toole share our pro-life and pro-family principles; they both support abortion as a “right” (although O’Toole opposes euthanasia), and both allow Trudeau’s LGBQT+ changes to remain intact (most notably C-16 and C-8).
Furthermore, whether MacKay or O’Toole are sincere in their promise to allow free votes (although MacKay does so with the caveat that this will not apply to cabinet ministers), they hardly deserve support for saying they would respect the way Parliament is supposed to work when it comes to matters of conscience in which MPs have historically been freed from the party whip.
We are saddened that we do not have Richard Decarie nor Jim Karahalios on the ballot because of behind-the-scenes shenanigans to either bar or disqualify them from running. We understand the temptation to say “to hell with the party” and refuse to vote or rip up your membership. This would be a tragic error, effectively punishing the remaining pro-life candidates for the foolishness of the party. As we editorialized in April, don’t get mad, get even. Show the party elite that it was a mistake to disqualify these two principled pro-life and pro-family candidates by ensuring that the remaining pro-life and pro-family candidates exceed expectations when the results are announced.
Lastly, and relatedly, we urge you to ignore the polls and conventional wisdom. The pundit class is writing off both Sloan and Lewis, insisting this is a two-way race between MacKay and O’Toole. Polls indicate that. But we remind you that polls and pundits dismissed the leadership candidacies of Brad Trost and Pierre Lemieux in the 2017 Conservative leadership race; Trost finished a strong fourth and Lemieux finished seventh. We remind you that Tanya Granic Allen almost finished ahead of early favourite Caroline Mulroney in the 2018 Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership contest. Pundits, and party leaders do not understand the Conservative Party’s base and polls do not capture the persistence of pro-life and pro-family voters. It is foolish for pro-lifers to base their votes on presumptive winners when the experts who make such predictions repeatedly ignore the power of social conservative voters.
But we diminish our collective power when we dilute our votes. The preferential ballot means that a vote for either Sloan or Lewis – as long we also vote for the other candidate second – does not harm the pro-life candidates or the pro-life cause. But voting for MacKay or O’Toole does. It signals that our principles are conditional or ignorable. And while MacKay, O’Toole or countless other politicians might ignore our pro-life and pro-family values, it would be truly baffling if we decided those principles did not matter.
When you receive your ballot, we strongly urge you to vote for Sloan and Lewis in the first two spots and leave the rest of the ballot empty.
