What Do Monday's Election Results Mean for Canada's Pro-Life Community?

Lianne Laurence : Oct 20, 2015
LifeSiteNews.com

"I also call on Trudeau to represent all Canadians and allow his MPs to vote their conscience on moral issues, issues that many of their constituents feel very strongly about." -CLC president Jim Hughes

(Toronto)—The election of a majority Liberal government under leader Justin Trudeau on Monday night—although not surprising—is a serious blow for pro-life and pro-family advocates, say representatives of Canada's political lobby group, Campaign Life Coalition. (Photo via LifeSiteNews.com)

The oldest son of the late Pierre Elliott Trudeau—whose Liberal government legalized abortion in 1969—Justin Trudeau has followed his father's anti-life lead in his political career, most notably when in May 2014 he banned anyone with pro-life convictions from running as a candidate for the Liberal Party.

Indeed, Trudeau's rigid and non-negotiable devotion to a "woman's right to choose" has been decried by the pro-life "No2Trudeau" campaign as abortion extremism.

"Canadians across this country sent a message tonight," a hoarse-voiced Trudeau, MP for Papineau since 2008, said in his victory speech. Canadians, he added, "chose change, real change."

But what that change might be has CLC president Jim Hughes and other pro-life advocates deeply concerned. He fears that Trudeau's Liberal majority government will "push for more abortion access in Canada and around the world."

He also expressed concern that a Liberal government will refuse to invoke the notwithstanding clause to put a five-year freeze on the Supreme Court February 2015 decision legalizing physician-assisted suicide. (Graphic via US Daily Review)

That ruling gave Parliament a year to craft a law regulating the practice, but pro-life critics, including Canada's bishops, say that is not enough time.

"CLC urges the Liberal caucus to refrain from passing a permissive euthanasia and assisted-suicide law that will surely put the lives of many vulnerable Canadians at risk," said Hughes.

"I also call on Trudeau to represent all Canadians and allow his MPs to vote their conscience on moral issues, issues that many of their constituents feel very strongly about."

CLC's national organizer Mary Ellen Douglas said that while "we are saddened that some pro-life candidates were defeated, the pro-life movement should be encouraged by the fact that a strong pro-life presence in the House of Commons will remain."

She added: "We will continue to work with them to ensure that this government is held accountable for the..."

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