Most Canadian political leaders will agree that this country is in a profound crisis. Quebec wants sovereignty, the devastating recession persists, unemployment is high, health care costs are going through the roof and the debt continues to mount.

Federal, provincial and municipal parties continue to offer a bevy of solutions – none of which can be counted as huge successes.

Canadians have lost faith in the traditional parties and one man is hoping he can capitalize on this.

This was the message which Jean Blaquiere, newly elected leader of the Christian Heritage Party, brought on his recent visit to Toronto.

“The political will to resolve these issues affecting Canada is just not there,” said the ex-RCMP officer. “There are too many party benefactors who will be hurt by any significant changes to the system.”

Blaquiere claims there is no indication that any of this is changing and sees only one way to end this pattern: “The only thing standing in the way of lawlessness and corruption is the Word of God.”
The CHP is based on the Ten Commandments and all of its moral platforms are drawn from scripture. The party’s obvious focus is on righting Canada’s moral decline with abortion, euthanasia and gay-rights ranking as the top three issues.

He does not, however, confine the party to issues of morality. He also laments Canada’s loss of values (“there is not one value which Canadians can proudly affirm”), the lack of pride for our nation, and the sense of loss among the younger generation. He believes that Quebec’s separation will destroy the fragile unity of Canada and will lead to US manifest destiny.

All of these problems, he feels, exist because, “no nation can hope to survive without morality or a sublime respect for life.”

The problems which Blaquiere faces are immense. He has been given the task of building a party which has never received over 5% of the vote and has, in recent years, lost many members to the Reform Party.

With a national party membership of under 20,000, Blaquiere has his work cut out for him. However, he is not depressed by the numbers.

“Reform Party members will start returning to the CHP once they realize that the referendum on moral issues cannot work,” he said, citing Preston Manning’s recent admission that while he is anti-euthanasia, he will vote for it if his constituents are in favour of it.

He quotes a recent poll which says that over 60% of Canadians count themselves as Christians: “We should have hundreds of thousands supporters. Instead we have only a few.” He is convinced that as more Christians become aware of the crisis, they will see the CHP as the only alternative.

Blaquiere did stir some controversy when he mentioned that he plans to run a CHP candidate in every riding and Canada and will end the CHP policy of not contesting ridings where a pro-life candidate from another party is already running. He reasons that to be accepted as a viable federal party, they must have representation in each riding.