The following is the full text of a series of social media posts made by Campaign Life Coalition Thursday, expressing their disappointment with Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre’s after he voiced his opposition to pro-life and pro-family statements made by one of his own MPs.
(Campaign Life Coalition) — The media attacked Conservative MP Arnold Viersen after he said in an interview that he’d like to see legal protections restored for pre-born children and that he’d vote against gay “marriage” if such a bill were to come up.
The media attacked @ArnoldViersen after he said in an interview that he’d like to see legal protections restored for pre-born children and that he’d vote against gay “marriage” if such a bill were to come up.
What’s wrong with that?
Millions of Canadians agree with Viersen.
/1 pic.twitter.com/0ttp8pNEI6— Campaign Life Coalition (@CampaignLife) June 6, 2024
What’s wrong with that? Millions of Canadians agree with Viersen.
Arnold Viersen’s traditional marriage belief is not “fringe.”
A 2024 Ipsos poll found 12 percent of Canadians oppose gay “marriage.” Another 10 percent said same-sex couples shouldn’t be allowed to marry, but could obtain some form of legal recognition.
That’s 22 percent against gay “marriage.”
Arnold Viersen’s belief that abortion should be illegal is by no means “extreme” or uncommon.
A 2024 Leger poll found that 11 percent of Canadians oppose abortion to some extent. That represents 4.3 million people.
That’s a lot of Canadians, and their views deserve respect.
Leger’s finding of 11 percent opposed to abortion might be severely under-stated.
A 2022 Angus-Reid survey using more nuanced questions found that 41 percent of Canadian have some pro-life leanings, considering themselves somewhere in between the pro-life vs. pro-choice polarities.
Many immigrants from the Middle East, Africa, Asia and South America are socially conservative too and share Arnold Viersen’s beliefs. Instead of chastising him & ostracizing these voting blocs, shouldn’t Pierre Poilievre be giving them reason to leave the Liberals for the Conservative Party?
An effective way to peel immigrant voters away from the Trudeau Liberals is to allow socially-conservative MPs like Arnold Viersen to prove to them that their traditional values are respected and welcome inside the Big Blue Tent.
What is Pierre Poilievre and the Conservative Party trying to prove by their chastisement of Arnold Viersen? That that the Big Blue Tent no longer exists? That socially conservative voters are no longer welcome nor respected in the party? That there’s no difference between the Liberal Party of Canada and the Conservative Party of Canada?
Poilievre is off-side of Conservative Party policy, not Viersen.
Section 10 of the policy handbook says that on “issues of moral conscience, such as abortion, the definition of marriage, and euthanasia,” every MP has the right “to adopt positions in consultation with their constituents.”
Since Poilievre is the one violating the spirit and letter of official Conservative Party policy, as passed by members, he needs to apologize to his largely socially conservative base for disrespecting their deeply-held convictions about the sanctity of life and family.
Instead of controlling what socially conservative MPs can or cannot say on matters of conscience, Poilievre should defend their FREEDOM to express their values and the values of their constituents, which the member of Peace River-Westlock fulfills admirably.
Correcting the record on the vote to delete support for traditional marriage within the Conservative Party… 31 percent of delegates voted to keep the traditional definition while hundreds of leftists were signed up as one-time members at that convention. Support for true marriage remains strong among members.
Dear Poilievre, stop cowering to the LEFT, and to the “marxist bureaucracies” that you claim to oppose. By silencing socially conservative MPs in your caucus, you won’t gain any Liberal voters… but you will lose Conservative ones.
You were wrong in claiming that the Conservative policy book does not allow pro-life bills. Policy 102 supports a law to ban sex-selective abortions. Policy 10 allows MPs free votes on abortion. Policy 86, which you cited, was not initiated by members. It was fraudulently parachuted into the 2005 Montreal convention by Stephen Harper. No grassroots EDAs proposed it nor voted for it. Policy 86 does not belong to the members and will be deleted by members.
Reprinted with permission from Campaign Life Coalition.