Don Pennell answers the critics on the feasibility of running pro-life candidates in the upcoming Ontario elections
Don Pennel Leader of the Family Coalition Party of Ontario is gearing his party up for the upcoming provincial election. (No definite date has been announced by press time.)
In this candid and forthright interview, Mr. Pennel gives an overview of the pending Ontario election. The party hopes to run 100 candidates across the province.
Mr. Pennell, why did you choose to run against the Premier?
The NDP led by Bob Rae has instituted some of the worse legislation ever seen in the last 100 years. He has literally devastated this province. The three major party leaders will not address moral issues which must be placed on the election agenda.
I believe we have arrived at a time and place when the crisis we face is one of the spirit and deeper than our political solutions have taken is something missing here?is the “healing power of faith.” Faith in our nation, faith in our province and faith in our future as envisioned by our founding fathers. We must recover the moral centre and soul of politics. We must reach out even further for the moral high ground. The three major parties are ducking the moral fibre from this province and leaving a terrible void.
Could you be specific on what you mean by the moral issues?
The fact we spend over 30 million dollars to fund abortion through OHIP is totally??is something missing here?? seniors and others are losing some of their health care benefits. If I might quote Paul Likoudis from Challenge magazine: “Abortion has become a secular religion of human sacrifice, a sacrament one is initiated into if one wishes to advance socially and economically.” In my view that sums up the abortion situation today.
We would remove the funding of abortion from OHIP, we would eliminate the advocacy act, overturn the legislation prohibiting picketing near abortuaries, stop the opening of additional gambling casinos, repeal the multiple services agencies act, and speak out against any form of legislation that deals with assisted suicide.
Mr. Pennell, what do you see as the main issues in the upcoming electing?
I believe the media and the three major parties will set the election agenda with the economy foremost. While we must respond to that agenda we in the FCP will be making education and “parental choice” or the voucher system our main thrust. As well, I think the credibility of the three major parties is in question and must be addressed.
We believe we are over-governed and that regional governments should be phased out over 5 years- a savings of over $2 billion. Funding to the special interest groups should be eliminated. The de-regulation of auto insurance and the privatization of worker’s compensation are also a must. There are many more policies that would help make Ontario a better place to live. All we need is the votes.
Mr. Pennell, how do you respond to those who say “I can’t vote for you because you are not going to win,” or “A vote for your party will split the vote” and allow the NDP to get re-elected.
A question I hear all the time. Pro-life people who vote for the lesser of three evils simply because they don’t want to split the vote, have already lost their vote. Some people fail to understand that voting is the only way we have to determine the future political direction of Ontario. Failure to use the vote wisely will condemn us to 5 more years of anti-family government.
We are offering the people of Ontario “choice.” The choice of where to send their children to school fully funded, the pro-aborts want the choice to have an abortion, we in the FCP will “chose” not to pay for it.
For the first time we are going to offer “choice” to those Christians who call themselves pro-life. Lynn McLeod, Mike Harris and Bob Rae support abortion along with a myriad of other anti-family policies. We will give all citizens of Ontario the “choice” to vote pro-life or pro-death. The “choice” is theirs.
I think the whole pro-life movement is about to have its credibility changed. Through the vote, pro-lifers have the power to save the lives of over 30,000 babies every year in this province. If pro-lifers have to political will to reject the three main parties and vote for the FCP then dramatic changes could take place. We have the leadership and the candidates with the credentials to govern.
Mr. Pennell, can you win any ridings this time?
We certainly can. There are 6 to 8 ridings where we have a chance, Halton North with Alex McKee, Bruce Grey, Essex-Kent, Huron.
Any final comments Mr. Pennell?
The winner of this election will set the agenda extending to the beginning of the next millennium, and I have great fear the family will be under attack for the next five years and family values will go the way of the dinosaur.
Of course I will need the support of all pro-lifers in Toronto to achieve my goal. Where there is no FCP candidate in their riding I would ask them to donate and volunteer for the campaign in York South.
Mr. Pennell, how do they get in touch with you?
Send there donations to the Family Coalition head office 4376A Young Street, North York ON., M2N 5M6. To volunteer their services during the campaign they can call (416) 224-1168.
Playing the Game
One cannot imagine a government such as the one currently in place in Ontario as being possible anywhere in the democratic world.
The very notion that an elected legislature would spend millions of dollars protecting the abortion industry and initiating a lawsuit against 18 of its own citizens in an effort to stifle the until-now sacred ideals of free speech and assembly is almost as unheard of as it is now unconscionable.
It seems that for the last five years, the NDP’s mandate had been to back any sort of legislation which will somehow undermine the moral fabric of society. Sunday shopping, casinos, special rights for homosexuals, increasing number of abortion centers- to name but a few in the endless litany.
Now, it’s election time and ridding Queen’s Park of Bob Rae and his sordid collection of cabinet ministers is uppermost in the minds of all Ontarians concerned with life issues.
The obvious task at hand is primarily to make sure the NDP does not from the next government and, secondly, that the party which takes over will not be hostile to pro-life, pro-family concerns.
One again the debate arises over how this is most easily accomplished. Shouldthe pro-life movement:
a) back the Liberals and ensure that the NDP is destroyed.
b) back the Conservatives in the hopes they can sneak through the middle while the Liberals and NDP fight it out.
c) back the Family Coalition Party or a pro-life candidate from any of the other parties.
An examination of these three alternative reveals that there is really only one option. Riding on the coattails of its federal counterparts, the provincial Liberal Party will definitely offer the NDP its stiffest competition. However, voters must be aware that this party, though perhaps less antagonistic towards the pro-life movement, is really an ineffectual, rudderless party that will not likely propose anything in way of posative pro-family legislation.
Lyn McLeod is a weak, uncharismatic leader who has already made it known that she is “pro-choice.”
Likewise the Conservative Party offers little in the way to electrify pro-family voters. Leader Michael Harris has promised a series of tax cuts which could benefit families but the province’s immense debt and its dwindling federal transfer payments make future tax relief highly unlikely.
To give them their due, the Tories have consistently opposed legislation providing special rights for homosexuals which may make them the choice of the more conservative rural ridings. However, most experts agree they will be shut out in Southern Ontario, reducing their chances of winning to nil.
That leaves the conscientious voter with only one real option – the Family Coalition Party or the pro-life candidate from another party. Now Ontario’s fourth largest party (even the Globe and Mail agrees) the FCP will run over 100 solidly pro-life, pro-family candidates.
Leader Don Pennell takes to the hustings for what could be the last time. Though FCP has never finished higher than fourth in any riding, it has always provided Ontarians with a safe place to vote.
Once again, Campaign Life Coalition Ontario will survey all candidates to determine where they stand on life issues. We urge our readers to determine your candidate’s position before casting a ballot. A uninformed vote will condemn Ontario to five more years of hostile government.
Dr. James Dobson, president of Focus on the Family in the U.S., offers these words of advice to the pro-life voter:
“Should we vote for the lesser of two evils when the choice is between pro-abortion candidates? I believe not. To compromise on so fundamental n issue gives political leaders no incentive to defend the pro-life position. By voting for a moderate pro-abortionist who might be more desirable in the short run, we squander our influence on decision makers. Rather, when a significant number of votes are cast for a third party/pro-life candidate, even in a losing cause, the fact will not go unnoticed by political leaders. They will be more likely to court our support in the future…That’s the way the game is played.
