Pierre Poilievre has vowed to defend freedom of religious expression.

During his Jan. 30 address at the Conservative Party of Canada's national policy convention (Jan. 29-31) in Calgary, Poilievre told those gathered, "You will have the ability to worship God in your own way.”

“We will protect your religious freedom,” said the 46-year-old, who cleared his leadership review with 87.4-per-cent support. “We will stop the Liberals from censoring politically incorrect Bible verses."

Advertisement

Poilievre alluded to a controversial Bloc Québécois amendment — agreed to by Liberal members of the justice and human rights committee — to Bill C-9, the Combatting Hate Act, that strips away the religious speech protections from Canada’s hate laws.

From a party constitution modification standpoint, arguably the biggest development for faith-driven party supporters is that 92.4 per cent of the voting delegates approved a social policy empowering the party to affirm “advancement of religion, relief of poverty, advancement of education and other purposes valuable to the community. Compliance with political doctrine should not be required in the determination of charity status.” While not expressly named in the proposal as a charitable purpose, this avowal applies to pro-life entities.

York-Durham MP Jacob Mantle endorsed the policy during a Jan. 31 plenary session.

“Canadians from across the country are animated and motivated by their faith to help the most vulnerable in our society — the hungry, the hopeless and the homeless,” said Mantle. “This policy recognizes that contribution and rejects the idea that the government should interfere or gatekeep public funds from those it disagrees with.”

Advertisement

For months following the Standing Committee on Finance’s December 2024 pre-budget consultations report that included recommendations (429 and 430) to excise faith-driven and pro-life non-profits of charitable status, these organizations operated under a cloud of uncertainty.

The Catholic Register received confirmation two weeks before the tabling of the 2025 budget that faith charities would be untouched. Pro-life groups did not find out that they were reprieved until the budget was unveiled publicly on Nov. 4.

One of the most high-profile votes of the convention concerned gender identity. There was a social policy proposal, voted down by a narrow 52-per-cent majority (843 votes to 783), that, if passed, would have seen the party endorse the right of parents to arrange body-affirming talk therapy for their child experiencing gender dysphoria. The policy also opposes the federal conversion therapy ban that criminalizes parents who seek this practice.

Jack Fonseca, the director of political operations for Campaign Life Coalition, the political arm of the Canadian pro-life movement, spoke in favour of the measure.

“Thousands of kids get trans by woke schoolteachers and social media influencers who prey upon young minds,” said Fonseca. “To keep kids trapped in gender confusion, (former prime minister Justin Trudeau) banned so-called conversion therapy using a problematic definition... That law prescribes five years (of) jail for parents who arrange body-affirming counselling for their gender-confused child and traps kids in a path that leads to surgical mutilation.”

While this vote did not go in his direction, Fonseca told supporters assembled for a post-convention meeting there were key pro-life gains made during the three-day event. He said eight of 20 representatives elected to the CPC National Council are pro-life, up from five beforehand. He also cited the constitutional amendment that better shields Electoral District Associations (EDAs) from other groups from overriding candidate selections.

Advertisement

“It was geared towards eliminating the ability of the Conservative Party bureaucrats, the leader’s office and the National Council to disqualify pro-life and pro-family candidates,” said Fonseca.

Other notable policy resolutions supported during the convention included pledges to oppose compelled speech (called the Jordan Peterson Policy), protection from political de-banking, opposing the decriminalization of drugs and overhauling the immigration system to enable immediate deportations with no pathway for re-entry for non-citizens who commit a serious criminal offence.