News & Analysis

Canada's federal election results of May 2 were historic. Harper’s Conservatives won a comfortable majority with 167 of 308 seats, allowing them to pass virtually whatever they want, without needing a single vote from any opposition party. The socialist NDP won a stunning 102 seats, displacing Liberals as the official Opposition, and humiliating the once proud ‘party of Trudeau’ which hung onto a mere 34 seats nationwide. The orange wave also decimated the separatist Bloc Quebecois, virtually bringing an end to that radical, leftist Quebec party. The Green Party made history with pro-abortion Elizabeth May acquiring her party’s first seat ever, in a BC riding where it displaced pro-life Gary Lunn (CPC).

 

 

So, how did pro-lifers make out on May 2nd? Election night resulted in roughly the same number of pro-life MPs being elected, with perhaps a nominal increase. Given that (3) long-time BC pro-lifers retired from politics just before the election (Stockwell Day, John Cummins, Chuck Strahl), it tells us that the pro-life, pro-family contingent at least held its own as a parliamentary force.

 

Where we see the possibility for significant growth, is in the large swathe of brand new MPs, almost 60 of them, whose views on life and family are completely unknown. This large group probably contain individuals with pro-life leanings, or others who can be brought around with education and lobbying by their pro-life constituents.

 

Citizens now have a golden opportunity - and necessary challenge - to meet with the new MPs and educate them on our issues. We cannot overstate the need for local constituents to engage in ongoing relationship building with each of the newbies. Regular visits to their office and a sustained lobbying effort is required.

 

 

Prime Minister Harper has made it clear over the years, and very recently, that his government (i.e. the Cabinet) will oppose any attempt to “re-open the abortion debate”. Harper even added the definition of marriage to this category of supposedly untouchable social/moral policy. As unfortunate as that is, we take Harper at his word and have in fact rated him as pro-abortion.

 

The extent to which Harper will be able to hamper the effort of individual MPs in his caucus to pass private members bills, or to initiate other regulatory or policy changes, remains to be seen. However, it's only reasonable to assume that committed, pro-life MPs like Rod Bruinooge and Brad Trost should face less obstacles in a Conservative majority, than they did under a minority situation. Bruinooge was the author of private members Bill C-510 to protect women from abortion coercion, and Trost spearheaded the effort to strip the world’s largest abortion provider of Canadian taxpayer dollars.

 

Therefore, despite the obstacle that is Stephen Harper, the possibility of mild pro-life and pro-family gains over the next four years indeed exist.

 

 

Official NDP policy requires all candidate nominees to sign a statement in support of a woman’s choice to have an abortionist kill her unborn child. Furthermore it requires them to support taxpayer funding of abortion. Click here to view the NDP policy statement.

 

Media and NDP spin doctors are already proclaiming that the NDP’s meteoric rise from 35 to 102 seats signals that Canadians have embraced Jack Layton’s “progressive vision”. The term ‘progressive’ is code word for leftist, anti-religious and socially-liberal.

 

A close examination of where the orange wave swept however, suggests the claim may be exaggerated. Of the 102 seats, 58 came from Quebec where the voters simply replaced a Marxist, anti-life party with a socialist, anti-life party.  Prior to May 2, Layton’s party had just one seat in Quebec.

 

This means that in the rest of Canada, the NDP increased its seat count only nominally, from 35 to 44 MPs.  In Ontario, its share of seats went up by just 5, from 17 to 22. To be sure, it’s a nice increase for Mr. Layton, but a far cry from being able to claim some sort of widespread support for the NDP’s “progressive” vision. 

 

In fact, we may eventually learn that the bump in NDP support might be entirely attributable to voter dislike of the Ignatief/Liberal brand. Under Ignatief’s leadership, the Liberal brand was made to look even more radical in the eyes of Canadians than the NDP.

 

It was Ignatief, after all, who demanded taxpayer funding of abortion in the Maternal and Child Health Initiative, something that's outside the mainstream of Canadian values. It was also Ignatief, who boasted on national television of his party’s support for the transgender “Bathroom bill” stating: “We're the party of… extending rights of gender expression, and sexual expression seem to be just, you know, where I've always been and where I'll always be”. It may be the case that once the Liberal Party selects a leader who is once again perceived as less radical then the NDP, Layton will watch his newfound wave of support evaporate.

 

What about La Belle Province? Since the ‘quiet revolution’ of the 60’s, Quebec has been at the vanguard of culture of death politics, introducing one assault on life and family after another. Therefore, Quebecers’ embracement of the NDP comes as no surprise. In truth, the Bloc was even more pro-abortion, pro-euthanasia and anti-Christian than the NDP. If anything, this swap of Bloc for Orange could be interpreted as a slight tilt to the right by Quebecers!

 

 

The timing of the federal election, less than 2 weeks before our National March For Life in Ottawa could not be better. As a slew of new MPs are preparing for for work in Ottawa, they will see on May 12 an army of peaceful pro-life citizens on the steps of Parliament Hill. This is an excellent opportunity for 15,000+ Canadians to tell MPs that we demand legal protection for children in the womb.

 

We urge you to make it to this year’s National March For Life on May 12. If you live outside Ontario and cannot travel to Ottawa, consider attending one of the provincial March For Life’s that will occur simultaneously with Ottawa’s – click here.

 

Five stalwart pro-life Liberal MPs were also defeated as a result of the NDP wave, plus one Conservative. We wish to thank each of them for the efforts they made over the years to stand up for unborn children, the elderly, the disabled and all those at risk from Canada's culture of death. Our gratitude goes out to the following MPs: