CLC, CHP call on pro-lifers to vote conscientiously this election
Paul Tuns:
Campaign Life Coalition gave Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre (left) an F, People’s Party leader Maxime Bernier (center) a C+, and Christian Heritage Party leader Rod Taylor (right) an A+.
Two weeks after winning the Liberal leadership, Prime Minister Mark Carney called an election for April 28.
Carney, a former head of both the Bank of Canada and Bank of England, won the Liberal leadership on March 9 with 87 per cent of the vote – more than Justin Trudeau did when he won the leadership in 2013 (80 per cent). None of the other candidates won even eight per cent, with former finance minister Chrystia Freeland finishing second, ahead of former Government Whip Karina Gould and former MP Frank Baylis.
During the leadership conference, outgoing prime minister Justin Trudeau spoke, garnering his most enthusiastic applause when he insisted that the Liberals will “always defend a woman’s right to choose.”
Later that week, Carney was sworn in as Prime Minister and named his cabinet, most of whom previously served in Trudeau’s government. Notables dropped included Gould and former health minister Mark Holland who had brought in a pharmacare program focused on paying for contraception.
While polls indicate that the primary issues will be dealing with Donald Trump and the tariff threat and affordability, pro-life leaders are reminding Canadians that life and family issues should be top of mind when casting their ballot.
Jeff Gunnarson, national president of Campaign Life Coalition, told The Interim, he hopes “this election becomes a turning point where Canadians elect more pro-life MPs—individuals who will speak up for the voiceless, defend conscience rights, and promote policies that protect the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death.”
To that end, CLC is “aiming to mobilize more pro-life voters than ever before, equipping them with the tools to make informed decisions and hold politicians accountable.”
Gunnarson said that the Liberals replacing Trudeau with Carney makes little difference to pro-lifers. A Carney government “would be no different in its radical abortion stance, suppression of conscience rights, and promotion of anti-life policies,” than Trudeau’s was, Gunnarson said. “Swapping leaders is just a cosmetic move—it doesn’t change the party’s anti-life direction.”
Gunnarson envisions that Carney might be worse than his predecessor: “With Carney’s experience, intellect, and connections, he may come up with policies more tyrannical than Trudeau’s.”
That said, Gunnarson said he understands that many Canadians are fed-up with the Liberal government, especially “its hostility to life and family values,” but that merely changing parties is not enough to promote the causes of life and family. “Pro-lifers must look deeper than party branding and assess where individual candidates stand on life issues,” Gunnarson said. “We caution voters not to assume that a Conservative victory automatically means gains for the pro-life cause.”
Gunnarson said Poilievre has made it clear he will not reopen the abortion debate “so it’s critical we elect strong pro-life MPs within any party who will champion our values, regardless of who forms government.”
Poilievre has a pro-abortion record since becoming leader: he has insisted that he would not reopen the abortion issue, voted against C-311, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (violence against pregnant women), did not speak up against the government attempting to remove the charitable tax status of crisis pregnancy centres, did not object to the House of Commons Finance Committee’s recommendation to strip churches and pro-life groups of their charitable tax status, and has said that instead of addressing abortion he would promote adoption, thus doing nothing about the 100,000 preborn babies killed annually by abortion. In 2023, Poilievre’s wife, Ana, told the French media that she and her husband are “pro-choice.”
Gunnarson said there are many pro-life candidates running for the Conservative Party who deserve support but that the party does not automatically deserve the votes of conservative-leaning voters.
Gunnarson also emphasized that “voting for a pro-life candidate who is not a Conservative is not a vote for the Liberals,” but rather “a small but good step in bringing about the massive change we need in Canada.” Gunnarson asked, “If we vote in a pro-abortion party, how can we expect to end abortion?”
Gunnarson said it is important to look beyond the two parties that polls indicate are vying for government. He noted that there are pro-lifers running as independents or for other parties, and as always there is the Christian Heritage Party.
Rod Taylor, leader of the Christian Heritage Party, told The Interim, the CHP “is still the only federal party that is 100 per cent pro-life” and he said “all of our candidates are highly motivated to present pro-life policies to voters in their districts.” Taylor said, “as always, our campaign theme is life, family, and freedom.”
CHP policies call for the “protection of innocent human life from conception until natural death.” Taylor said that means that CHP would defund abortion, Medical Assistance in Dying, and gender re-assignment surgeries and hormones both in Canada and abroad. “We would speak up and defend with legislation freedom of speech and freedom of conscience.”
At the time The Interim went to press, the CHP hoped to have a few dozen candidates in place for the general election.
Taylor said, “We call on pro-lifers across the country to do what they can to promote our CHP pro-life candidates and, of course, we need financial support, volunteer help, and word-of-mouth promotion to make our candidates better known.” He encouraged pro-lifers to volunteer for CHP candidates in their riding, including distributing literature, putting up signs, attending all-candidate debates, and making phone calls.
He also said donations through the national office will “help us do more advertising.”
The People’s Party of Canada has numerous pro-life candidates running under its banner, although its leader is not pro-life. However, the CLC Voter’s Guide said of Maxime Bernier, “There has been a marked and positive change in Bernier’s position on abortion ever since he ran for the Conservative Party Leadership in 2016-2017” and “He seems to be moving in a more pro-life direction.”
Bernier has always supported allowing MPs a free vote on moral issues and the right of MPs to reopen the abortion debate. He has also said that his MPs would be permitted to introduce pro-life private member’s bills. During the 2019 federal election, he came out against sending Canadian taxpayer dollars to fund abortions in the developing world.
That same year, he described third trimester abortions as “murder” although he continued to support abortion earlier in pregnancy.
Since then, he has called for a law to end third-trimester abortions and last month the People’s Party posted a promise on their website to introduce the Protection of Preborn Children Act “to bring Canada in line with the laws of other civilized countries, where abortion is gradually restricted after the first trimester and late-term abortions are prohibited except in exceptional circumstances.”
CLC said in the Voter’s Guide, “While CLC does not support laws which condone or permit the murder of preborn children in the first trimester, we applaud Bernier for attempting to ignite a vigorous debate on abortion and preborn human rights.”
CLC gave Taylor an A+ as leader, Bernier a C+, and an F to the other leaders—Carney, Poilievre, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, and Green leader Elizabeth May.
Generally, the media asks conservative politicians about abortion hoping for a gotcha moment. However, during the first full day of the campaign on March 24, a member of the media asked Mark Carney, “Do you explicitly support a woman’s right to choose?” Carney responded: “I absolutely support a woman’s right to choose, unreservedly, and will defend it as the Liberal Party has defended it – proudly and consistently.”
CLC’s Gunnarson said in a press release, “I find this statement not only deeply troubling, but spiritually scandalous, especially given that Mr. Carney presents himself as a practicing Catholic who regularly attends Mass,” noting “A Catholic politician cannot, in good conscience, claim to be a faithful member of the Church while simultaneously pledging to uphold and expand access to abortion, which the Church unequivocally condemns as the deliberate killing of innocent human life.” Gunnarson said, “Carney’s position is not only in direct opposition to the clear and consistent teaching of the Catholic Church, it is an outright betrayal of the weakest and most vulnerable among us – the preborn child.”
CLC said Carney’s comments cause confusion among Canadian Catholics and Christians from other faith traditions and called upon Canada’s Catholic bishops “to respond with pastoral clarity and moral courage,” by, at the very least, denying Carney Holy Communion “until he publicly repents of his support for abortion.”
Carney has been clear in support of abortion. When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Carney had tweeted: “I’m proud to live in a country where a woman’s right to choose is so strongly supported. But the devastating decision today in the US is a clear reminder that progress should never be taken for granted. Our commitment to protecting fundamental rights must be unwavering.”
CLC director of communications Pete Baklinski has also noted that Carney “signaled his support for the homosexual agenda when he allowed the LGBT rainbow flag to be hoisted over the Bank of England in 2017 to mark ‘gay pride’ celebrations.” Furthermore, Baklinski said, “his track record as a globalizing elite when it comes to worldwide issues certainly rivals that of Trudeau.”
Before Carney was sworn in as Prime Minister, Baklinski predicted that “we can expect Carney to continue accelerating the country along the same leftist trajectory as Trudeau to the peril of every Canadian who values life, family, freedom, and democracy.”
Gunnarson said that pro-lifer must become informed and they can do so by using CLC’s Voter’s Guide to identify where their local candidates stand on life and family issues. He also urged pro-lifers to become more involved by volunteering for and donating to the candidates who are pro-life. Pro-lifers can also “spread the word” with friends, family, and candidates about the importance of life issues when casting a ballot.
Gunnarson said, “A vote is not just a political act—it’s a moral one.” Thus, he advised, “Always pray” because “We need God’s help to build a culture of life in Canada, and that begins with electing leaders who will respect the dignity of every human being.”
The CHP’s Taylor said, “When talking with other voters, don’t give in to the compromised view that a vote for a truly pro-life candidate is a ‘wasted vote’ or is ‘splitting the vote’.” He said, “Canada is suffering today because we have sacrificed babies for political success” and, “Every preborn baby deserves your vote.” Taylor said, “As long as folks vote for pro-abortion politicians, we will have more of the same.”
What can a vote for pro-life candidate do, even if that candidate appears to have no chance of winning? “A vote for a pro-life politician is one thing every voter can do to influence politicians now in power” because “They need to know that folks care about this issue. If pro-lifers do not vote pro-life, how will other politicians and other voters know that anyone cares?”
