Talk Turkey Josie Luetke
Not-so-breaking news: The Progressive Conservatives won the Ontario election and nine pro-life PC candidates whom CLC green-lighted now have seats in the legislature. I’m sure their activities will be closely monitored and reported on over the next four years, so at least for this column I want to direct my attention to those pro-life candidates who didn’t win, especially those who ran as Independents or for smaller parties. Were their candidacies all for naught? Some of my Facebook friends seemed to think so, having encouraged their pro-life peers to only vote PC, because apparently supporting anyone else was imprudent.
CLC endorsed 22 non-PC pro-life candidates this past election. Collectively, they received 8671 votes, or 0.15 per cent of the popular vote. The best result was that of Independent Caroline Roach, who ran in Mississauga-Malton, received 1187 votes or 3.16 per cent, and placed fourth out of seven candidates, ahead of the Green Party candidate, but still a far cry away from winning a seat. As such, if seats are all you care about, it’s easy to see why it would be tempting to dismiss any pro-life candidate not running for a major party.
However, consider how a party even becomes ‘major’ in the first place. A group of like-minded citizens decides that they aren’t satisfied with the options the status quo affords them, and so, despite the obstacles, they form a party to challenge the established players. They focus on the possibilities of the future, not the factors suggesting their undertaking is a waste of time. Without this attitude, without dreamers who ignore the odds, our society would never progress. Everything “has never been done before” until it is done.
Consider too what would have happened if Patrick Brown had remained as PC leader, and had continued to thwart any remotely socially-conservative candidate attempting to win their riding’s nomination. Were it not for pro-lifers willing to run as an Independent or for other lesser-known parties, there would have only been a couple of pro-life candidates to support (PC incumbents too weak-kneed to oppose the bubble zone law). Not exactly an exciting prospect. So, these non-PC pro-life candidates should be thanked for putting in the effort to run for office, and they, and others like them, should be encouraged to run in the future. They should be able to trust their fellow pro-lifers to support them, and not abandon them because “they’re not capable of winning.”
Even without Patrick Brown as head of the PCs, ‘fringe’ pro-life candidates provided an alternative to pro-choice candidates. Some pro-lifers got the opportunity to vote against their PC incumbent, punishing him or her for failing to stand up for life, family, and freedom. If PC candidates know that they will have the support of pro-lifers no matter what, it becomes much more difficult to hold them accountable. As I implied in last month’s column, they have little incentive to do anything for the pro-life cause. The political cost of action is great, inaction little.
Plus, it’s dangerous for “pro-life” to become synonymous with “conservative.” I recognize that the current Liberal and NDP parties are very hostile to pro-lifers, but if we want to protect the unborn in the long-term, we will likely need to make inroads into these parties. This mission is undermined by the pro-life movement becoming too partisan. We also have to remember that many pro-lifers simply aren’t conservative, and don’t want to vote for the PC party.
The wider the variety of people calling themselves “pro-life,” the more people across the political spectrum will be forced to think critically about abortion. Every pro-life candidate who runs helps spark this personal reflection. Abortion is a difficult act to defend, which is exactly why our opponents want to shut down the debate, and exactly why we need to constantly open it.
Pro-life candidates get to talk about the issue when door-knocking, in media interviews, and in all-candidates’ debates. They get to connect with other pro-lifers, and prick the consciences of ‘pro-choicers.’ Pierre Lemieux and Brad Trost did just that running for the CPC leadership, prompting a couple of their competitors to copy some of their social conservative policies.
Winning feels good. It’s a pro-life success that can be measured and advertised, but let’s not be so short-sighted as to think that electoral victories are the only thing that matter. It is much more important to have candidates who stand for truth, even if doing so is unpopular and seemingly goes unrewarded. Hats off to the pro-life ‘losers,’ then. You did us proud.
