We have been stressing the need for every pro-lifer to take out a membership in the Conservative Party of Canada in order to vote for the pro-life and pro-family candidates running for its leadership. As we went to press, at least three Campaign Life Coalition-endorsed candidates were accepted by the party as approved candidates – Derek Sloan, Leslyn Lewis, and Jim Karahalios. A fourth, Richard Décarie, was awaiting approval by the CPC’s Leadership Election Organizing Committee following his interview. Assuming Décarie is approved, it looks like fully half of the candidates running will be pro-life and pro-family. The others approved by the Feb. 27 deadline were frontrunner Peter MacKay, Erin O’Toole, Marilyn Gladu, and Rick Peterson, each of whom has said they would march in a Pride Parade (although O’Toole has set the condition that he would only if uniformed police officers are allowed in the parade). There were four other declared candidates, but as of press time, there was no indication that they would be approved or had submitted the requisite $25,000 or 1000 signatures from party members by the first deadline.
MacKay, a former Progressive Conservative leader and Harper-era defense and justice minister, is the clear front-runner but he has made numerous missteps in the first full month of the official campaign. Pro-life voters should eschew him because he has publicly said social conservatives are the “stinking albatross” around the neck of the Tories. There have been almost decipherable nods to pro-life and pro-family Conservatives, but not nearly enough to justify looking away from his long record of social liberalism or his belief that social conservatism is a political liability.
O’Toole is running to be the Big Tent Conservative. For the last 30 years, advocacy of Big Tent Conservatism meant watering down any socially conservative tendencies of the Right to placate center – or more accurately, center-left – voters in the big cities. O’Toole has weaponized the term Big Tent against MacKay to say very clearly that socially conservative members of the party are as much true Tories as the red variety that finds their champion in MacKay. We appreciate the plucky tactic and welcome the defense of the place of pro-life and pro-family Conservatives within the party, but we must watch his words carefully. O’Toole is not a pro-lifer and his record on family issues, especially transgender ideology, is spotty at best. Notice not only what O’Toole says, but what he doesn’t say. He is not talking about the waste of money that Justin Trudeau’s foreign aid for global abortion is or that he would support conscience rights for health care workers or undo the euthanasia regime put in place by the current government. He says he welcomes social conservatives but he is not one himself. When we have the chance to elect a pro-life and pro-family champion for leader, who will fight to restore moral decency and justice for all, it is a losing strategy to settle for the “winnable” candidate who merely defends our right to have a place at the table; there is an opportunity to be at the head the table and we must grab it.
Marilyn Gladu is playing identity politics, playing the woman card and vowing to march in Pride Parades. She used to be green-lit by Campaign Life Coalition based on her pro-life voting record, but recent votes on transgender ideology and comments on reversing course on euthanasia, have led the organization to red-light her. Gladu says she will represent conservatives of all stripes including social conservatives, but how can we trust an MP who has so readily moved to the so-called progressive side on moral issues to be our defender within the party? Not as long as there are better options.
Rick Peterson barely registered as candidate in the 13-person leadership race in 2017. He might stand out as the lone candidate from the West and his outsider status might appeal to some of the membership. He, too, is attempting to reach out to social conservatives – while proudly touting his long-time support for Pride Parades.
The fact that MacKay is trying to woo some social conservative voters – or at least not push them further away – and O’Toole, Gladu, and Peterson reiterate that social conservatives are part of the party and deserve (at the very least) to be tolerated (thanks!) suggests that even those who do not share our pro-life and pro-family values understand that we are a large and important and usually decisive bloc of voters. We should show the party and the public, especially the left-wing legacy media that too often ignores socially conservative leadership contenders, that we are large, important, and decisive. And we should show it by backing the pro-life candidates.
Over the next few months, we will be reporting on what Décarie, Karahalios, Lewis, and Sloan say and do on life and family issues. Décarie and Sloan have faced media fire over their positions (because they have been outspoken about their views on life and family); Karahalios and Lewis, so far, have not been scrutinized for their socially conservative views. That could change.
It is not important to decide who to support at this time. We will be watching what all the candidates say, and don’t say, as they make their pitch for our support. It is possible that a pro-life candidate or two might not make it to the ballot if they do not qualify by raising the required $300,000 and collecting 3,000 signatures. But the ranked ballot allows pro-lifers to vote for as many candidates that deserve our support. That gives four good reasons to buy a membership; these folks deserve our support. The annual toll of abortion, provides another 100,000 good reasons to buy a membership in order to support the candidates who cannot countenance the status quo on abortion.
We hope to provide some guidance on which candidates might stand out as June voting nears. For now, we encourage you all to purchase a $15 membership and encourage your spouses, children 14 or older, family, friends, co-workers, fellow congregants, and neighbours to do so, too. Think it not as supporting the Conservative Party, but investing in pro-life political leadership; $15 is a small investment if it changes the culture in Ottawa or a political party or reminds Canadians that these issues are not settled.The deadline for becoming a member in order to vote for leader in June is April 17. Please do not wait to become a member. Do so now and back leadership contenders who are fighting on behalf of the preborn. They need our support.
