It was incredibly disappointing to see Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Doug Ford throw Tanya Granic Allen under the bus after the Liberals released videos showing the former PC leadership contender and PC candidate for MPP in Mississauga Centre saying some politically incorrect things about the gay community (see page three for the story). We would have obviously preferred to see Ford stand up to the Liberal bullies who think any criticism of the homosexual lifestyle is a sign of “homophobia” which must be immediately stamped out. But he didn’t. Many pro-life and pro-family Ontario voters certainly felt like doing to the Ford Tories what the leader did to Granic Allen: dismiss them completely. That would be a mistake. The advice this paper gave last month still stands, although your calculation may change.
In the May edition our editorial stated that pro-life and pro-family voters must support their local pro-life candidate for MPP if there is one, regardless of party affiliation. For those fortunate enough to have more than one pro-life candidate, voters could then consider issues and choose among the pro-life candidates that best represents their overall views. Unfortunately, not many voters ever have the opportunity to do this and according to our analysis of Campaign Life Coalition-supported candidates in the 2018 Ontario election, there are only a few ridings in which there is more than one pro-life candidate, although there are pro-life Liberal, PC, Libertarian, Ontario Party, No to Sex Ed Party, and independent candidates that deserve support. Check the Campaign Life Coalition website or call CLC to find out if there is a pro-life candidate in your riding.
Pro-life voters have a difficult decision to make when there are no pro-life candidates. Our advice when there is no pro-life candidate is that pro-life voters discern for themselves what to do after considering several strategies: vote to defeat the pro-abortion incumbent, decline the ballot, spoil the ballot by writing on it that there is no pro-life candidate, or stay home. Last month we noted: “Defeating the pro-abortion incumbent punishes representatives for failing in their primary duty to uphold good moral principles. Refusing your ballot signals that you do not want to compromise your conscience by supporting a candidate who does not share your views. Spoiling your ballot by explaining why sends a message to the parties’ scrutineers that their candidates lost votes because of their pro-abortion views.”
We appreciate many readers will want to vote for somebody and last month we noted: “The Kathleen Wynne government has pushed a radical anti-life and anti-family agenda upon the province for the past five years. The record of the Liberal government is egregious. Replacing Wynne and her radical ideology at Queen’s Park gives, at the very least, the chance for Ontario to take a break from social engineering experiments. It punishes the government for ignoring parental rights in education, trying to inculcate an immoral sexual lifestyle and worldview among our children in elementary schools, and violating the free speech rights of pro-life Ontarians through the implementation of bubble zones that outlaw pro-life activity near abortuaries.” The NDP is not an alternative to the Liberals because it is committed to the same attacks on life and family. For most voters, the alternative is the Progressive Conservatives.
Is that a viable alternative after Ford scuttled Granic Allen’s candidacy? That is for each pro-life and pro-family voter to decide. Ford said he did not nix Granic Allen because of her views but how she espoused them. Two days after dropping Granic Allen from the Tory slate, he reiterated his leadership campaign promise to repeal the sex-ed curriculum, which he says represents Kathleen Wynne and the Liberal Party’s ideological agenda, and vowed to replace it with an updated curriculum after proper consultations with parents. Some of you will not be able to believe Ford after what he did to Granic Allen. Some of you will still find him credible. We note that in the first three weeks of his campaign, neither he nor many PC candidates have mentioned repealing sex-ed. It doesn’t seem to be a priority and without pressure from within the party from the likes of Granic Allen, we fear he could backslide on this promise. We encourage you to find out where your local candidate stands on sex-ed and take into consideration whether he or she seems committed to repealing the radical sex-ed agenda. The simple act of inquiring from voters reinforces that this is an important issue that the party cannot wish away.
Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals must be stopped, but they also should be replaced with a government that protects innocent preborn children and the innocence of young children from the deprivations of the current sex-ed curriculum.
