Evaluation Terms Explained
- Pro-life -the candidate has answered consistently pro-life without any qualifications or has a consistent, clear pro-life record.
- Pro-abortion - the evidence is strong that the candidate supports legal access to abortion.
- Refused to respond - candidate definitely received questionnaire, was contacted a few times in person or by phone.
- Refused to respond, considered pro-abortion -there is sufficient indicating that the candidate supports legal access to abortion.
- Refused to answer questionnaire - gave some response but did not address most or all of the questions.
- Failed to respond - questionnaire was sent to the candidate but CLC follow-up was not possible or evidence is not
sufficient that the candidate was able to respond to the questionnaire
- Supports Reform policy - many Reform candidates qualified their answers with an indication that, regardless of their personal opinion, they will only vote according to the Reform Party's policy. Many went so far as to only quote the Party policy and refuse to provide any information about their personal views.
The Reform policy requires its MPs to first state clearly and publicly their personal views and beliefs on issues of personal conscience; to conduct either a local or national referendum on certain moral issues; and to vote according to the wishes of the majority. This qualification cannot be considered a genuinely pro-life response since there is no firm commitment to act in defense of life during voting in the House of Commons.
Where there is no reference to the policy in our comments section, the candidate has not qualified his response and in many cases is committed to ignore the party policy on these serious matters concerning the life and death of innocents.
- Gave pro-life answers but supports Reform policy - used if candidate gave pro-life answers but qualified them with the Reform policy.
- Not pro-life - gave some pro-life answers but other answers or other information make it clear that candidate is not pro-life, even if he considers himself to be.
- The NDP supports abortion on demand - the NDP has an official abortion on demand policy which most of its candidates follow. This phrase is used mostly for those that we were unable to contact.
- Submitted Liberal Party response
Some Liberal candidates responded by simply presenting as their own a first person generic response drafted by the Liberal Party. Campaign Life Coalition first received this as Jean Chrétien's personal response to our questionnaire.
The highlights of the Prime Minister's response may be summarized as follows:
- He will not introduce Criminal Code amendments to ban or limit abortion.
- He will not oppose an application for approval to market the abortion drug RU486 in Canada.
- He says that the Canada Health Act requires provinces to fund "medically necessary services," and that provincial authorities have deemed abortion to be "medically necessary." He says that Canadians should focus on "prevention of unwanted pregnancies."
- He says that because Canadians have diverse views on doctor-assisted suicide, Parliament should give full consideration to whether the current prohibition should be maintained. He indicates he is willing to support palliative care (pain control, and care of the dying).
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As far as we're concerned, this means Mr Chrétien is pro-abortion, pro-RU486, in favour of fully tax-funded abortion, and open to doctor-assisted suicide (or even planning to introduce legislation to legalize it for the full consideration of Parliament). Mr Chrétien's record is solidly anti-life: he voted for the 1969 legalization of abortion, and opposed including preborn children in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms as Justice Minister in 1981.
Other candidates who used this response also cannot be considered to be pro-life.
No information available - no information
It should be noted that our comments about a given candidate in the "candidate summary" column may differ from the
candidate's self-description. Our classification is ultimately based on the candidate's record, and where he stands
politically - not on his "private views" or "personal opinions."
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