Josie Luetke:
Interim writer, Josie Luetke, Talk Turkey
Last year, the only pro-life MP to attend the National March for Life was Arnold Viersen (CPC, Peace River—Westlock). Bill C-311, the Violence Against Pregnant Women Act, tabled by MP Cathay Wagantall (CPC, Yorkton—Melville), was being debated at the time, and the mainstream media and leftist politicians were taking pains to paint it as an anti-abortion bill (even though it made no mention of abortion or the pre-born whatsoever). I understood, then, why other pro-life MPs would make themselves scarce for the event.
Last year, I thought, was an exception. Now, however, it appears that it was the beginning of a pattern.
The only MPs at this year’s march were Viersen and Wagantall. That’s two out of 40 members of parliament identified by Campaign Life Coalition as pro-life. That’s two out of 118 Conservatives.
And yet, the Liberal Party still made hay of their presence at the rally, with post after post on social media, bragging, “Unlike Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives, we’ll always be pro-choice.”
That the Liberal Party wants to convince voters that the Conservative Party will re-open the abortion debate is unsurprising; their script is well over a decade old, having survived Stephen Harper, Andrew Scheer, and Erin O’Toole. One would expect these lines to fall on long deaf ears.
So, if the left will ritualistically trot out this decrepit boogeyman regardless, why didn’t more pro-life MPs show up?
More recently, on a podcast hosted by MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith (LPC, Beaches—East York), Viersen said that he opposed gay ‘marriage’ and abortion. His comments should be completely unsurprising for anyone who has been paying attention, but fabricated outrage followed anyway and Viersen was forced to put out a statement distancing his views from those of the party and Poilievre.
From the intensity of the backlash, you would almost think that he had been caught sexually harassing a woman, wearing blackface, or committing treason.
No. The scandal is this. Believing that all human beings deserve protection from lethal violence. Believing that marriage is between one man and one woman.
These beliefs should be universal and uncontroversial. In a world where they are not, they are something to tout proudly. Not something of which to be ashamed.
Do not hide. Do not apologize. Hold your head high. Take up space.
Because if you shrink, you shrink that space for all pro-life MPs to come. Your cowardice today condemns the would-be pro-life politicians of the future. At what point will no Christian be allowed to be a Parliamentarian?
Being secretly pro-life is useless. God is not giving out gold stars to those who confess in their diary: “I actually, maybe, might be against abortion a little bit.”
Relatedly, a number of political candidates (who shall unfortunately remain nameless) have refused to sign Campaign Life Coalition’s questionnaire because they think a green light would hurt them more than help them.
To that, I say: Shame on you.
Do we want people to vote pro-life or not? If so, we need to give them the opportunity to do so. If you refuse to be publicly identified as a pro-lifer, you’re essentially telling voters that they should be deciding how to vote not with the aim of ending the greatest human rights injustice in our country, but on some other basis—the economy, housing, immigration, etc. In so doing, you betray the pre-born. You relegate abortion to a trivial status—as irrelevant as your stance on the regulation of water sports, Armed Forces’ uniforms, or Dutch elm disease.
While I’m at it, I’m sick and tired of politicians saying they’re only interested in reflecting the will of the people as if they’re mere automatons programmed by the polls.
Whatever happened to the ambition to be great? To inspire a nation? To present a vision and convince your constituents to believe in it too?
If you lack the cojones, then get out of the way. To paraphrase Pope Francis (always a risky affair), the men in trousers have things to say.
But, you protest, abortion is a losing issue.
Of course. That’s the prevailing sentiment amongst the pro-abortion media and political class. But the idea that “pro-lifers” would spread the sickness of this defeatist attitude is daft. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. Former Conservative leader Andrew Scheer’s socially conservative views were the “stinking albatross” around his neck because, convinced they would weigh him down, he killed the albatross instead of letting it soar. His burden of guilt arose from smothering his views instead of freeing them.
Do you have so little faith in the pro-life argument that you’re already convinced it will fail? Because people (myself included) are having conversations on the streets and changing minds. You can too. You can do so from a much bigger platform, actually.
Could our country do a 180 degree turn on abortion overnight? Not likely. But can there be a greater openness to the pro-life position and pro-life legislation? Easily and always, every time it’s talked about lovingly and firmly, and normalized.
And again, the alternative? If you fold when your hand gets slapped or if you refuse to talk about your pro-life views, or do everything to mitigate and downplay them, they’ll only be seen as more toxic, more fringe, and more indefensible.
Anyway, the excuses are endless. I can rhyme them off: I’m not in Ottawa; I don’t understand what it’s like; Politics is the art of compromise; You don’t want to be ejected from caucus as Derek Sloan was.
If they’re going to drive you from the party, let them. Do not voluntarily shut up as “pro-life” Liberals did, once Justin Trudeau became leader. That’s harmful to the cause, and disastrous for unborn babies. The message that communicates is that you don’t truly believe abortion is a human rights injustice.
But if you do believe that? Then know that you’re not there to make friends. You have a job to do and the clock is ticking. This is not going to be a career if you do it right. For now, you’re cannon fodder—go over the top, get blasted by artillery, and be replaced by the next man. You’ll get your pat on the back and a gruff “Job well done” at the next National March for Life Rose Dinner. This is the calling. This is the task. Up and over, soldier… until pro-life is so mainstream that it won’t cost you anything, and abortion will end.
So, at next year’s march, I want to see 40 MPs there, plus a few extras who look down one day and discover a God-given pair. And when the hail of bullets fly, you better be nothing but honoured.
