Former pro-life Prince Edward Island MP Lawrence MacAulay will follow party line on abortion.
On June 2, Campaign Life Coalition launched a web campaign, including petition, with the goal of repealing Trudeau’s ban on pro-life Liberal candidates, calling it a “dictatorial abortion policy and attack on democracy.” Noting that both pro-life and pro-abortion supporters have “pummeled” the Liberal leader, including past and current Grit MPs, dozens of newspaper columnists, and six Catholic bishops, CLC says Canadians “agreed (the policy) goes too far.”
The website www.JustinRepealIntolerance.ca explains the problems with Trudeau’s new rules for the party and offers a petition asking the Liberal leader to “repeal this policy and stop discriminating against Christians and all pro-life Canadians from other faiths or no faith at all.” When The Interim went to press, more than 5600 Canadians had signed the petition.
The website reminds Canadians that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees freedom of conscience and religion, and that the signers of the petition believe the pro-abortion policy “is a vehicle for Justin Trudeau to suppress freedom of conscience and diversity of opinion.”
“Justin’s policy represents an assault on our fundamental freedoms, guaranteed by the Charter, namely freedom of conscience and religion,” Jim Hughes, national president of CLC, said at the launch of the campaign. “Without these freedoms, no other rights can remain secure.” Hughes said, “it’s astounding to behold Trudeau shredding the Charter – in the name of the Charter! We can’t allow our democratic rights to be stolen.”
The website states that Trudeau “has declared war on our cherished fundamental freedoms.”
Mary Ellen Douglas, CLC’s national organizer, said the Liberal Party has tolerated pro-life views in the past. “Whether Trudeau likes it or not, the Liberal Party has been a key democratic institution in which Canadians with diverse beliefs and opinions have always been able to participate.” Douglas said, “with this grassroots campaign, we hope to keep it that way.”
She also noted that in the 1990s, CLC rated about a fifth to quarter of the Liberal caucus pro-life.
Hughes said that people should share information about the website and petition on social media such as Facebook and Twitter. He said Canadian voters must insist “they have a right to choose the candidates they want to represent them in Ottawa,” and not party leaders.
