The motions were put forward at the party’s 2013 convention held in Calgary Oct. 31-Nov. 2, but were overshadowed by the Senate spending scandal that was the elephant in the room. Despite these resolutions taking a back seat, they have drawn praise from pro-life and family Canadians.
“We’re pleased several socially conservative resolutions did pass,” said Cecilia Forsyth, who attended the convention as a delegate from the Saskatoon-Humboldt riding. A Catholic, Forsyth is also president of REAL Women of Canada, a pro-family, pro-life women’s organization. Forsyth said she believes the convention helped shore up the conservative base with these resolutions. The government is not required to act on the policy resolutions.
The motion against legislation to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide originated in Forsyth’s riding. Though news reports say the issue was contentious and the vote close, Forsyth said it passed with a comfortable margin of about 200 votes.
“I’m extremely pleased with the euthanasia vote,” said Campaign Life Coalition Ottawa lobbyist Johanne Brownrigg.
The vote bolsters the stand that both Justice Minister Peter MacKay and Health Minister Rona Ambrose have been taking when questioned about Quebec’s euthanasia Bill-52. Both ministers have said the Conservative government will not reopen the debate on euthanasia, noting the issue had been decided in 2010 in Parliament.
“As long as (MacKay) is ready, willing and able to fight in the courts and persevere with every court case that comes, then vulnerable Canadians will be protected,” said Brownrigg.
She also applauded the resolution opposing gender-selection abortion and the delegates’ “conclusion that sex-selection abortion is a cultural practice that displays the highest form of discrimination.”
Tory MPs had “let the issue be hijacked by the shrill sound” of pro-choice MPs in both the NDP and the Liberals, she said, noting that while Liberals used to allow free votes on conscience matters, leader Justin Trudeau has signaled he will not allow free votes on abortion.
“The delegates got it right but it’s now up to the Conservatives to lead on Parliament Hill to end the Canadian cultural practice of bowing down to the pro-choice voice,” she said.
“It’s very encouraging to see a major national political party adopting these stands that are in support of the sanctity of life and dignity of women and girls,” said Catholic Civil Rights League executive director Joanne McGarry.
“To me, personally, the resolution against gender selection touches on both those issues. Life is equally valued, and both sexes are equal.”
McGarry said it’s good to see the Conservative base backing the anti-euthanasia resolution.
“I think it’s because of some of the educational work that the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, the league and other groups have been trying to do,” she said, adding some remain confused about euthanasia and think it means discontinuing futile treatment.
The resolution against prostitution is especially pleasing to the league, which intervened in the Bedford case heard before the Supreme Court of Canada last June. The highest court is examining whether prostitution laws violate sex trade workers’ rights to security of the person under the Charter. An Ontario court had struck down Canada’s laws on that basis.
The resolution says the Conservative Party “rejects the concept of legalizing the purchase of sex”; declares “human beings are not objects to be enslaved, bought or sold”; and that the party “will develop a Canada-specific plan to target the purchase of sex as well as any third party attempting to profit from the purchase of sex.”
McGarry said most of the league’s efforts have been towards fighting to keep Canada’s present laws, which outlaw solicitation, running a brothel or living off the avails of prostitution. The proposal for the Canada-specific plan is based on the Swedish or Nordic model, she said, that “has a lot to recommend it.”
“I’m glad they recognized there’s a problem and signalled a willingness to look at other legislative models,” she said.
Social conservatives “want abortion addressed head on,” said Forsyth. But they have to remember that other parties have no family-supporting policies and no policy against legalizing euthanasia.
Social conservatives are “a little bit unhappy” with the Conservatives, “but we have to look at what we do have and keep pushing” for changes, said Forsyth. “If we switch parties or don’t vote, we’ve lost.
“We’re making progress and we still have a number of MPs who totally support these socially conservative issues. We need to stay in there and improve the party. If we don’t, nobody else will.”