CLC Blog

Voting in the United Conservative Party (UCP) Leadership race is well underway.

If you are an eligible voting member and haven’t yet voted, we wish to remind you to please cast your ballot with Todd Loewen as your #1 choice.

Mail-in ballots must be received by the accounting firm overseeing the contest on behalf of the UCP no later than October 3rd at 5pm in order to counted in the party's leadership election.

On Thursday October 6th from 8:00am to 12pm, there will be one final opportunity for in-person voting at five different locations in Calgary, Red Deer, Edmonton, Slave Lake and Taber.

No down-ballot ranking, please

Furthermore, we strongly recommend that you do not rank anybody after Loewen in the #2 to #7 spots.

Todd Loewen is the only candidate who can be deemed fully pro-life and pro-family. He makes no apologies and no exceptions for his pro-life convictions, so he deserves the vote of pro-life party members. He also holds strong pro-family views.

The rest of the candidates are pro-abortion and champion LGBT ideology, or, in the case of Travis Toews, has made troubling statements that verge on pro-abortion advocacy.

For your benefit, we are highlighting the reasons why CLC believes each of the other candidates do not deserve to be ranked on your ballot.

Danielle Smith

Polling indicates that Smith is leading. However, she is publicly pro-abortion and has always identified as “pro-choice” in regards to letting women have an abortionist kill their preborn baby.

Smith is also an enthusiastic supporter of radical LGBT ideology. As recently as this year, during a UCP leadership debate, Smith admitted that she supports allowing sexually-confused biological males to compete in women’s sports against real females, in some instances.

Travis Toews

Toews identifies as “personally pro-life.” However, when asked by journalists in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of the infamous Roe v. Wade pro-abortion ruling, he made a troubling statement.

Answering a reporter, Toews made it sound like he believes that abortion is legitimately a form of health care: “I have no intention or agenda on limiting access to health care with respect to abortion.”

He then expanded to pacify reporters' concerns, implying that as leader he would never do anything to change the status quo of abortion-on-demand, fully funded by taxpayers: “I’ve shared my personal views but what really matters is how I would lead in this area.”

Given his self-identification as being personally pro-life, several attempts were made by Campaign Life Coalition to reach Toews and give him an opportunity to retract this problematic statement, but were ignored.

Brian Jean

As a former federal MP, Jean used to have a pro-life voting record, but he abandoned that position years later upon entering provincial politics, telling journalists that: "Abortion…is a boat that has already sailed…I am not interested in pursuing these issues." He confirmed this evolution again by responding "No," when a Calgary Sun reporter asked him if he is a "social conservative," adding "It’s none of my business what people do behind closed doors in their personal life."

When running for the Wildrose Party Leadership in 2015, Jean made his dislike of pro-life/pro-family Albertans very clear to the media, referring to social conservatives as "nuts", "nutbars" and "crazies." He told the press he would at first "manage" them, and eventually, drive them "ruthlessly" out of the party.

Leela Aheer

Aheer is a pro-abortion activist.

She reacted to the wonderful news of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade by calling the decision “devastating on so many levels”, adding on Twitter that: “We, as elected officials, must protect women's rights locally, nationally and internationally”.

Rebecca Shulz

Schulz, who was, ironically, the former Minister of Children’s Services, also professed her support for killing children via abortion, issuing the following statement upon the Roe v. Wade reversal:

"As a woman, I believe all women should have the freedom to choose and have access to the health care services they need. Under a Schulz government this will not change”.

Rajan Sawhney

The MLA for Calgary-North East pledged during the Leadership race that she would never change the status quo of abortion-on-demand for any reason or no reason at all, and fully funded by the taxpayer, writing in a statement: “... my government will not make any legislative changes on abortion.”

What’s the strategic rationale for not ranking all candidates?

Why should social conservatives withhold their support from candidates who are pro-abortion and anti-family? Why not rank them according to a sliding scale of lesser evil among the candidates’ varied positions?

For one, it allows us as pro-lifers and people of faith, the personal integrity of not casting a ballot for a politician who supports child murder and/or who is not willing to challenge the status quo on the abortion holocaust taking place in Canada and throughout Alberta.

Secondly, it sends a message to the party establishment that if it wants the support of social conservatives, not only during leadership contests but also in general elections, it needs to do a better job of promoting candidates who align with our values and who offer meaningful policies on life and family issues.