News & Analysis

Ontario’s municipal election took place October 27th.  During this cycle, voters got to elect new Mayors, Councillors and School Board Trustees to local government. 

This particular election year was tremendously important given the growing assault on democratic rights across the country, even at the municipal level. For example, we have seen City Councillors in Hamilton, Sarnia and Guelph attempt to supress the free-speech rights of pro-lifers.

At the school board level, parental rights are being squeezed as the public education system grows ever bolder in its agenda to indoctrinate children with harmful sexual theories, such as transgenderism and so-called “gender identity”, which is the idea that being male or female is a social construct. These concepts are being pushed on children in public school as early as Jr. Kindergarten. They’re also advancing rapidly into the Catholic school system, in spite of the fact that Christian anthropology clearly holds that human beings are either male or female. 

Election night results brought pro-life and pro-family voters a mix of joyful celebration or feelings of deep disappointment, depending on the electoral district. In some places there were key victories. In Toronto, there was sadness at the defeat of a heroic public school trustee, Sam Sotiropoulos. To read a more detailed analysis of TDSB Ward 20 results involving Sotiropoulos click here. Some Catholic ratepayers are deeply disappointed by the lack of success in removing unfit trustees in boards where pro-life challengers worked hard to replace them. However, others observing the same situation were buoyed by the fact that a growing number of faithful, pro-life individuals are seeking to take back their schools.

BY THE NUMBERS – OVERVIEW OF SUCCESS RATE

Overall, Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) endorsed approximately 170 pro-life and pro-family municipal candidates across the province.  Of that, 35% were elected or acclaimed, both to the office of trustee and municipal council.  This puts a lot of good men and women in public office where they can influence policies in a way that respects the right to life, family values and religious freedom.

Campaign Life Coalition worked directly with many candidates, giving strategic campaign advice. CLC also conducted targeted get-out-the-vote drives for a large number of candidates, ensuring that supporters in those wards knew who to vote for.

Just a little extra effort by the pro-life community would have resulted in the election of even more solid candidates. For example, 4 school trustee candidates lost by fewer than 60 votes. And 8 candidates lost by fewer than 200 votes. 

POSITIVE RESULTS AND SIGNS OF HOPE

In several Catholic and Public school boards across Ontario, strong pro-life candidates were elected and re-elected.  A major victory was scored in one particular school board which added several new trustees who are pro-life and pro-family.   We hope this will bear much fruit over the next 4 years.

We also saw a good number of pro-lifers running for City Council and Mayor.  In fact, there were 6 cities with pro-life mayoral candidates. In Ottawa, the pro-life candidate for Mayor, Mike McGuire, actually finished a strong second place.  In municipalities outside of Toronto, several pro-life candidates were elected as City and Regional Councillors.

In Toronto, the front runner for mayor was the pro-abortion John Tory. The only challenger with a realistic chance, Doug Ford, allegedly told one of our supporters he is pro-life, but refused to answer CLC’s questionnaire. Many supporters told CLC they intended to vote for Ford in the hope of blocking the pro-abort Tory from power. Others however, were relieved they did not have to spoil their ballot, due to the fact there were two pro-life Mayoral candidates.  Kevin Clarke who finished 18th out of 65 candidates was pro-life, as was Dewitt Lee who finished 20th.

Our hope is that the significant number of pro-lifers running for council and mayor is not a blip, but a trend. We’re optimistic it is a sign that people of faith are finally realizing the need for moral leadership, and choosing to add their “salt” in the political arena. For too long, Christians and other people of faith have abandoned the institutions of power to the rule of moral relativists whose influence on society has been destructive.

The battle for the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) deserves some analysis. CLC had rated 8 of the 12 incumbents as NOT SUPPORTABLE, based on their bad voting records. Thankfully, a large number of high quality candidates stepped forward to challenge them. In seven of those wards, at least ten faithful, pro-life & pro-family Catholics ran on a platform of defending and restoring the Catholic identity of separate schools.  They ran excellent campaigns, exposed the deplorable voting record of their opponents, and in most cases had strong showings in the vote count. Unfortunately however, the power of incumbency was too strong and all 8 trustees were returned. The status quo therefore remains at the TCDSB with no change in the balance of power. Isn’t it ironic that information regarding the 8 million dollar error at the TCDSB was not revealed until after the re-election of the incumbents? What a wonderful coincidence!

With such a result, concerned Catholic ratepayers may be tempted towards giving up on the fight to save their Catholic schools. However, one must recognize the seeds of hope in this situation. The surge of high-quality, unapologetic, Catholic candidates running for TCDSB trustee was remarkable, even unprecedented in recent memory. This demonstrates that many Catholics have recognized the serious problems in the Catholic education system and are finally taking action. This is a blessing and an answer to prayer. We hope many of these candidates will try again in 4 years. 

Now premier Kathleen Wynne has announced that she’s trotting out another version of the controversial sex ed curriculum that she and Dalton McGuinty unsuccessfully tried in 2010 to impose on innocent school children. To view excerpts from the original 2010 version click here.

Congratulation to all the successful pro-life candidates in the recent municipal elections for Mayor, Councillors and Public and Catholic school boards. Your successes auger well for the future of the life and family movement.

Thank you to all candidates who allowed their names to stand, but despite their best efforts, were not elected. It takes courage and a lot of resources, financial and otherwise, to make a difference. Thank you to all the voters who turned out to vote for the pro-life candidates. None of your efforts have gone unnoticed

Our next political focus will continue to be the federal nominations for the 2015 general election of candidates for Parliament.

Stay tuned, we’re in for a heck of a fight.