TORONTO, February 21, 2002 (LSN.ca) – Ontario Progressive Conservative Party leadership candidate Jim Flaherty warmly welcomed pro-life support for his candidacy. Reacting to media reports that Campaign Life Coalition was supporting his candidacy Flaherty said: ““We don’t exclude people from our party because they have a particular belief.”
The Toronto Star reports that “In a recorded telephone message sent out to 50,000 Ontario households Monday night, Jim Hughes, national president of Campaign Life, urged those who are Tory supporters to buy a party membership before Saturday’s deadline so they can vote in the leadership race.”
On the recorded message Hughes said, “Of the five candidates, Jim Flaherty openly describes himself as pro-life, and Tony Clement describes himself as six or seven out of 10 on pro-life issues.”
The deadline to apply for membership to vote in the PC leadership election is Saturday. Voting day is March 23, and will require attendance at a specific location in the riding and remaining present for the vote and perhaps a second ballot. Voting on the first ballot will take place from 8am to 11am. Organizers hope a second vote could be ready two hours later.
In related news, the National Post reports that an article on LifeSite, which was published in the Interim, refers to Flaherty’s main rival Ernie Eves as: “one of the earliest pro-abortionist and anti-family politicians in Ontario.”
See LifeSite’s PC Ontario Leadership election page: https://www.lifesitenews.com/clc/elections/ontpcleadership2002/index.html See the Toronto Star coverage: https://www.thestar.ca/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1014246100863&call_page=TS_Ontario&call_pageid=968256289824&call_pagepath=News/Ontario&pubid=968163964505&StarSource=email See the National Post https://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?f=/stories/20020221/123336.html