The smaller federal parties claim to be different. They say they are not afraid to adopt risky policies and stand apart from the big three. But, most of them have identical policies to the mainline parties on life issues.
The National Party of Canada, headed by Mel Hurtig, professes to stand for “equity for all Canadians.”
Yet the fledgling Canada-first party has adopted an abortion-on-demand policy, completely ignoring the rights of unborn Canadians.
“We believe the difficult decision regarding an abortion should be made by the woman in consultation with her doctor,” a party document states.
The paper, entitled Hope for a New and Better Canada, outlines general principles full of vague promises like “putting a nation back to work” and “a fair and just society.”
The only time it gets specific is on the question of “Women in Society.” It calls for a ban on handguns and a policy of pay equity and affirmative action. It would also provide “substantially improved child support” for women and their families.
The National Party hopes to field candidates in at least 50 ridings making it an official federal party.
The Christian Freedom Party, on the other hand, exists to try to resurrect a renewal in the “theistic values on which Canada is founded.”
Although they don’t have the minimum 50 candidates to qualify as an official party, the members who are running are hoping to “provide a non-partisan pulpit from which the Church may appropriately exercise its prophetic mandate.” Candidates in this party are participants rather than contenders, a party policy paper states. They try to raise moral issues which the other parties ignore.
The Christian Freedom Party states the nation “is obliged to affirm and protect the humanity and the inalienable rights of every individual made in the image of God from conception to natural death.”
The loopy Natural Law Party has a position on abortion which “is still evolving,” a candidate told The Interim.
“We are in favour of life but we don’t think government should legislate morality,” says Garry Foster, who is running in the Ontario riding of York-Simcoe.
The Natural Law Party, headed by magician Doug Henning, is running 226 candidates in the upcoming election, making it the fourth largest party in the country. The party is based on the New Age movement and proposes “yogic” answers to the country’s ills.
“Our whole focus is to raise the collective conscience,” says Foster. He recommends that 10,000 Canadians levitating would “create coherence in the environment” and solve a host of the nation’s problems.
