CLC Blog

With the political demise of Erin O’Toole, the flip-flopping, authoritarian Conservative Party Leader, there is a renewed sense of hope among Conservative Party members about who might replace him. For the first time in a long time, Conservatives are genuinely excited.

At the moment, MP Pierre Poilievre is the perceived front-runner in the upcoming Leadership contest to replace the pro-abortion O’Toole, and the only one who has officially jumped into the race.

Campaign Life Coalition has been receiving a steady stream of inquiries from our pro-life supporters about Poilievre, the MP for Carleton. Hopeful excitement is expressed by many, especially in light of his recent support for the freedom truckers and their demand to end all mandates related to the abortion-tainted COVID injections.

“Can we get behind Poilievre?”

“Where does he stand on life issues?”, they ask.

There’s no doubt that on financial matters, Poilievre is a skilled eviscerator of Liberals. In Question Period, he has made Justin Trudeau and his Finance Minister look like fools on economic questions. On that basis, he’d make a good Finance Minister in a Conservative government.

However, we cannot endorse him for Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) because Poilievre is pro-abortion.

Above: Pierre Poilievre, MP for Carleton (Source: Facebook)

Tragically, he abandoned his past pro-life beliefs during the previous leadership race when he was considering running, deciding that the “pro-life” label was no longer useful.

In January 2020, he promised the Quebec newspaper, La Presse, that under his leadership, no pro-life legislation would ever be introduced by a Poilievre government. He even went further, reassuring the left-wing outlet that even a private members bill would never be adopted.

In the same interview, he abandoned his long-time support for the natural definition of marriage and family, telling La Presse:

“I support gay marriages. Period. I voted against 15 years ago. But I learned a lot, like millions and millions of people across Canada and around the world. I find that gay marriage is a success.”

MP Poilievre has since followed through on his comforting reassurances to the media, with concrete actions.

On June 2, 2021, he voted against MP Cathay Wagantall’s common-sense private members bill (C-233) to criminalize sex-selective abortions.

Then, on June 22, 2021, he voted in favour of Bill C-6, a so-called “conversion therapy” ban to advance LGBT ideology and criminalize Christians who adhere to biblical sexuality – even jailing parents up to five years if they dare to affirm their gender-confused children in the biological bodies in which they were born!

To view Campaign Life’s official rating for Pierre Poilievre as an MP, click here.

Campaign Life Coalition will only endorse leadership candidates who are pro-life.

If a pro-abortion candidate like Poilievre offers meaningful policy commitments to social conservatives, (e.g. free votes on matters of conscience, ending Canadian taxpayer funding of overseas abortions), we’ll give them due credit.

However, we won't be able to green light them. And neither should pro-life CPC members, nor pro-life MPs, give their endorsement to pro-abortion candidates.

Who can pro-lifers support?

So far, Poilievre is the only candidate to officially declare his intention to run, but we expect there’ll be others.

We’re hoping that pro-life MP Dr. Leslyn Lewis will also throw her hat in the ring. Lewis won the popular vote in the previous leadership race, getting more votes on the second ballot than even Erin O’Toole, but losing in the end because of his stronger performance in points-rich Quebec ridings.

She polls well - even today - among Conservative members, even though she has not yet declared.

Above: Leslyn Lewis, MP for Haldimand—Norfolk (Source: Wikipedia)

Since the previous leadership contest, Dr. Lewis has continued to be an advocate for the sanctity of life.

She spoke out strongly against Justin Trudeau’s plan to strip pro-life crisis pregnancy centres of their charitable tax status, and attended a rally organized by Campaign Life Coalition on November 24th to save those life-giving centres from Trudeau’s wrath.

Leslyn Lewis is a candidate we would happily endorse.

Campaign Life Coalition is also encouraging other pro-lifers to consider running, but we cannot reveal their names at this time. We do hope there will end up being at least two candidates who can appeal to values voters like you and me.

Anticipating the emergence of supportable candidates, CLC is encouraging you to join or renew your membership in the Conservative Party by clicking here.

Who else is running?

Others who’ve indicated they’re considering it include Quebec cinema mogul, Vincenzo Guzzo, and journalist Tasha Kheiriddin.

Guzzo owns the Cinemas Guzzo chain along with other businesses and joined the Dragon’s Den TV show in season 13 and 14. He recently tweeted that there’s a 70% chance he'll seek the CPC Leadership.

Above: Vincenzo Guzzo (Source: Wikipedia)

While Guzzo’s stance on the right to life is not yet known, it’s notable that in 2019 his was the only cinema chain in Canada that didn't censor the pro-life motion picture, Unplanned, from being screened.

Unplanned tells the story of Abby Johnson, a Planned Parenthood abortion facility manager turned pro-life activist.

Guzzo took a principled position that it was wrong to censor the film just because some might disagree with pro-life views. In contrast, Cineplex and Landmark Cinemas put up major roadblocks to block the movie.

Tasha Kheiriddin has been a columnist for numerous outlets including the National Post and Global News, and revealed she's also considering a run.

Above: Tasha Kheiriddin, columnist/commentator (Source: Twitter)

Kheiriddin is basically pro-abortion, arguing that while she finds some limits on abortion reasonable, it would be “indefensible” to ban all abortions.

In 2013, she co-authored a book titled Rescuing Canada’s Right which claimed that in order to be successful, the Conservative Party would need to rid itself of traditional social conservatism. (Of course, we disagree with her thesis -- the opposite is true!)

Since then, she has strongly criticized the Trudeau Liberals for inserting a pro-abortion attestation for employers to qualify in the Canada Summer Jobs program.

CLC is also hearing credible rumours that the disgraced, former PC Party of Ontario Leader, Patrick Brown, will run.

Above: Patrick Brown, Brampton Mayor (Source: Facebook)

So-cons in Ontario will remember Brown’s painful betrayal and his transformation into a full-fledged liberal after winning the leadership on the promise of repealing Kathleen Wynne’s radical sex curriculum, only to turn around and endorse the sex program for early grades.

Brown would be a carbon copy of O'Toole if he were to win.

Social liberalism is the best predictor for future betrayal on small-c conservative principles

A truism that every CPC voter should consider, whether a fiscal conservative, a so-con, a democratic conservative, or a libertarian – is that history has proven that politicians who are not grounded in strong moral values cannot be trusted to keep any of their promises, even economic ones.

Just look at the example of Erin O’Toole. The pro-abortion MP promised to repeal the carbon tax, but after a bit of media pressure, and in the hope of winning some progressives votes, he came out with his very own carbon tax.

Doug Ford is another prime example. The pro-abort PC Leader campaigned with the slogan “Ontario. Open For Business”. And then proceeded to lockdown businesses for 2 years, destroying thousands of small and family businesses in the process.

The fact of the matter is that if you want to elect someone who will keep their promises, someone with tried-and-true integrity, you need to cast your ballot for a strong social conservative.

In a sense, they’ve already proven their mettle, passing through the gauntlet of pain. Such an individual has already suffered the trials of media persecution for their beliefs, and is practised in hanging onto their core principles, whether moral or economic ones.

The same cannot be said about social liberals who repeatedly shift to the left as soon as mainstream media pressure becomes too hot. 

Or, even sooner, once the votes of small-c conservatives have secured them the leadership crown and those "little people" are no longer considered to be as valuable in the general election. We witnessed this dynamic with Andrew Scheer, Doug Ford and O’Toole who all reversed or abandoned the very same leadership promises which helped secure their victories.

The fiscal conservative, democratic conservative and libertarian factions of the party’s base need to recognize that this inherent danger exists with Poilievre’s social liberalism.

Why?

A person who compromises on moral values can be too easily pushed to compromise on economic and freedom principles, also.

To look at it another way – if you’re willing to go along with the child murder of abortion, for political gain, how much more easily might you embrace leftist economic policy for a perceived political gain?

On that note, why did it take two years for Poilievre to come out against tyrannical vaccine mandates and lockdowns? And only after the huge freedom convoy arrived on parliament's doorstep, showing it had the numbers to be a political powerhouse?

Judging by the number of inquiries CLC is receiving from pro-lifers excited about Poilievre’s run, this is a warning that our own supporters must heed as well, along with pro-life Conservative MP’s, many of whom backed a pro-abortion candidate in the last leadership race despite the presences of viable so-cons.

We encourage you to pray that Leslyn Lewis and other strong pro-lifers will enter the CPC Leadership race, giving us a choice we can believe in.

In the meantime, don’t forget to become an eligible voter in the CPC leadership race by joining or renewing your membership.

For life & family,

Jack Fonseca

Director of Political Operations
Campaign Life Coalition