We have already editorialized on the unique opportunity pro-life and pro-family Canadians have with the Conservative leadership race but it is worth mentioning again. While pro-life candidates have run for leader of parties in the past, we have never had the chance to support two candidates who are running on socially conservative issues. Brad Trost and Pierre Lemieux not only declare themselves pro-life and have stellar pro-life records in their political career, both are promising to do something on moral issues if they become leader and form government. This is certainly worthy of the support of every reader of The Interim.
Trost and Lemieux have raised conscience rights, gendercide, valuing the lives of people with Down syndrome, judicial activism, foreign aid funding of abortion, and rescinding C-16 (special transgender rights) during this leadership campaign. Typically in leadership campaigns, socially conservative candidates politely answer media inquiries about whether they are pro-life and pro-family but do not make promises to act on their views. Never have there been two candidates this bold, this courageous in one race.
The unique opportunity in this leadership campaign is not only are there two strong candidates, but with the ranked ballot socially conservative voters can support both of them. The ranked ballot allows eligible party members (anyone who bought a membership before March 28) to order as many of their preferences among the leadership contenders as they want. If you prefer Trost over Lemieux or vice versa, you can still support the other, and it will not measurably hurt the chances of electing a leader that shares our values. Indeed, it increases the odds.
In a ranked ballot, the candidate with the fewest votes is dropped from the next count of the ballot and those ballots’ second choices are then counted. This process continues until one person wins a majority. Presuming most of Trost or Lemieux’s supporters will back the other candidate, the pro-life vote will not be divided and weakened.
The Interim encourages readers to purchase a membership for $15, a small price to pay to potentially help elect a pro-life leader to a major party. Ontario voters might still be stinging from the experience of voting for Patrick Brown as leader of the PC Party of Ontario. We understand. But Brown did not have the history of speaking out and standing up the way Trost and Lemieux have. If pro-life and pro-family voters do not support these two principled and courageous leadership contenders, it will be that much more difficult to convince socially conservative politicians to address these issues in the future. In many ways, the future of Canadian politics is dependent on what we do today.
