News & Analysis

It's official. Brad Trost and Pierre Lemieux, the federal Conservative leadership contenders supported by Campaign Life Coalition will stay in the race until the bitter end.

Some progressive pundits, end even skeptical small-c conservatives, had speculated that the socially conservative candidates wouldn't be able to muster enough popular support, and would disappear from the race once the deadline to pony up the full $100,000 fee arrived on January 1st. 

We're pleased to inform you that the naysayers were wrong!  Trost and Lemieux, the standard bearers for socially conservative values in this race for the top Conservative job, have paid their fees to the Party, and are now assured of remaining in the race to its conclusion -- and, hopefully, a victory for one of them.  

This is wonderful news for pro-life/pro-family Canadians. It should give us hope in these otherwise troubling times when anti-life and anti-family laws advance on so many fronts. Pro-lifers, take heart. The cavalry is just beyond the hill.

Of the fourteen candidates who had entered the race to replace Stephen Harper, only one actually dropped out at the compliance fee deadline - Dan Lindsay. Thirteen candidates remain, including Trost and Lemieux.

It is expected that the socially liberal business tycoon, Kevin O'Leary, will also soon enter the race. O'Leary is a celebrity who bragged to a reporter at the Conservative Party's policy convention last year that he's "very liberal", adding "I don't care if you want to marry a goat, I'm for it. I really am."

Lemieux unveils two more so-con policies: Reigning in activist judges + Stopping government censorship

In emails to his supporters, Pierre Lemieux recently unveiled two policies that should be welcomed by all pro-life, pro-family and freedom-loving conservatives.

In an email sent January 6, the pro-life former MP for Glengarry-Prescott-Russell, promised that if elected Leader, and if he subsequently becomes Prime Minister, his government will reign in activist-judges who usurp the role of Parliament by legislating from the bench.  From his email: 

"The Supreme Court needs to change. In recent decades it has been Supreme Court judges who have decided the most controversial questions of our times – not voters. Prostitution. Abortion. Euthanasia. Supreme Court judges have made the law in Canada – not Parliament. Instead of respectful debate in free society, Canadians are ordered around like children. The Supreme Court tells Canadians what they should believe. It’s far past time Supreme Court judges faced their own judgement days.

"As Conservative leader and Prime Minister, I will put term limits on Supreme Court judges. I will also give Parliament a vote on the appointment of Supreme Court judges, and establish a process through which Parliamentarians hold judges accountable."

In another email sent to supporters January 8th, Lemieux said his government would require provinces to provide full public disclosure of abortion statistics, for the purposes of transparency, the ability to develop good public policy based on data, and accountability for taxpayers' money. He took specific aim at the Ontario Liberals, who, under Dalton McGuinty, sneakily amended legislation so as to hide all abortion statistics from the public (whose tax dollars pay for the grisly procedure).

Lemieux told supporters:

"Governments need to be accountable for how they spend our money. In 2012, the Ontario Liberals stopped releasing data on how many abortions are performed every year. Every other procedure is reported - but not abortion data. This is censorship. This is contrary to transparency and accountability in a free and democratic society like ours. What should be available data is being kept from the public.

Right now, a group must take the Liberals to court to get basic information about healthcare – and about how our taxpayer money is being spent. Such evidence and data are crucial to forming effective public policy and to shaping debate."

Lemieux further pledged that as Prime Minister, he would require provinces to do proper reporting, without exception: 

"As Conservative Leader and Prime Minister, provincial and territorial governments will be required to fully report on how they spend healthcare dollars. No exceptions. Will the Ontario Liberals stop hiding this data? They need to remove the clause they snuck into FIPPA that states 'This Act does not apply to records relating to the provision of abortion services.'

To our delight he also challenged Ontario PC Leader Patrick Brown, to act like a true conservative, and follow his lead:

Will Patrick Brown, leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, commit to making our healthcare spending information public if he is elected Premier in 2018? Provinces and territories should be accountable for how they spend healthcare dollars, and we need to work together to reverse this censorship and this lack of transparency." 

Watch Pierre Lemieux's video on abortion stats transparency here.

Trost adds new pro-life policy on Down Syndrome children, plus hopeful campaign news

On January 3rd, Trost was interviewed on CTV’s Power Play in which he restated his previous pledge to pass legislation on unborn victims of violence, and to ban sex-selective abortions.

However, he added a brand new policy to the pro-life element of his campaign platform which focuses on children with down syndrome.  He pledged that as Leader and Primer Minister, his Conservative government would launch an advertising campaign to value the lives and dignity of people with Down Syndrome, so as to discourage parents from aborting babies diagnosed with that condition.

Trost subsequently explained to Campaign Life Coalition that a Trost government would also invest real money into programs designed to assist children with down syndrome and their families, including research into areas such as how to improve the learning of life skills. 

Trost played even more music to pro-life ears, when he told the CTV host, Don Martin, that he believes he is currently in 3rd place out of 13 candidates, in terms of membership sales.  If Trost has an accurate lay of the land, this is an indication that he’s doing very well indeed in this leadership contest.

Watch his full interview below (after the commercial).

Help them cross the goal line

Suddenly, 2017 is looking up for pro-life and pro-family Canadians!

We must seize this once in a lifetime opportunity to elect an individual who could become the first pro-life Prime Minister in many decades.  To become a Conservative Party member so that you're eligible to vote for Trost and Lemieux, or to donate to their campaigns, follow the relevant links here. 

Over the past few weeks we have received questions from supporters worried about splitting a pro-life vote. The great thing about this leadership race is that it is a preferential ballot so members will be able to vote for as many candidates as they want. We are encouraging pro-life members to vote for Trost and Lemieux, in any order, 1-2.

This means that when the counting is being done, whoever drops off first, their second place votes will go to the other pro-life candidate. Splitting the vote is not a concern this leadership race.