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OTTAWA, March 24, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – With a federal election campaign now underway after this afternoon’s vote of non-confidence in the Canadian parliament, the Commission for Justice and Peace of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) has issued an election guide. The guide lists “Respect for life and human dignity: from conception to natural death” as the top issue in voting. 

While recognizing there are times when “choices may prove very difficult,’ the guide quotes the Vatican saying “a well-formed Christian conscience does not permit one to vote for a political program or an individual law in which the fundamental content of faith and morals is replaced by the introduction of proposals differing from this content or opposing it.”

The guide notes specifically that choosing life means: “Demanding the right to life for even the smallest among us – the human embryo and the foetus – since they too belong to the human family, while also providing assistance to pregnant women facing difficulties.”

The guide also addresses euthanasia and assisted suicide stating, “Respecting the life and dignity of the dying, accompanying them until their natural death and promoting greater access to palliative care.”

In addition to its primary focus on respect for life and the dignity of the human person, the document also focuses on social justice, the family, world peace and the environment.

See the entire CCCB election guide here.