TORONTO, October 1, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) — Conservative leader Andrew Scheer today removed all doubt that if elected prime minister on October 21, his Conservative government will not cut any of Justin Trudeau’s massive funding of abortion in developing countries.
Scheer told reporters in Toronto that the Conservative plan to cut Canada’s foreign aid budget by a quarter won’t touch the billions of dollars the Trudeau Liberals earmarked to fund abortion abroad, the Globe and Mail reported.
“We are not reopening this debate at any level,” Scheer said, adding that his party’s proposed foreign aid cuts would “not affect groups or programs going forward.”
LifeSiteNews reported yesterday that Scheer said the same last week to the French-language newspaper Le Devoir but that the Conservative Party had not confirmed if a Tory government would fund abortion abroad.
Abortion funding was banned as part of international aid under Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper’s Muskoka maternal and child health initiative.
But under programs subsequently put in place by the Trudeau Liberals, Canadian taxpayers will pay $7.1 billion by 2030 to fund and promote abortion in developing countries.
Campaign Life Coalition, Canada’s largest pro-life association and its national political lobbying group, strongly condemned Scheer’s position.
“By stating that he will continue to fund pro-abortion groups that Justin Trudeau has prioritized (IPPF, Marie Stopes International, Women Deliver etc.), Andrew Scheer signals that he supports the Liberal prime minister’s signature foreign policy goal, which is to make abortion ‘the core of Canada’s foreign policy’,” says Matthew Wojciechowski, Campaign Life Coalition vice president.
Moreover, if Scheer refuses to nix Canada’s funding of abortion abroad as prime minister, he will be “directly culpable in the killing of millions of innocent human beings,” added Wojciechowski, who also oversees Campaign Life’s lobbying at the United Nations.
“While Scheer could argue that he can’t single-handedly criminalize or defund abortion in Canada, he can stop funding abortion overseas. He does not need the support from the House of Commons to do so,” he told LifeSiteNews.
“If elected prime minister, Scheer would have the power to cease Canada’s international involvement in the world’s greatest human rights injustice, but he is choosing not to do so,” Wojciechowski said.
Scheer’s pro-abortion funding position also pits him against his own party’s policy.
“The Conservative Party’s policy book is committed to a maternal health initiative that does not include abortion, and Scheer should heed the wishes and wisdom of his party’s base,” Wojciechowski said.
That would mean committing to restoring Harper’s “signature foreign policy initiative — the widely lauded maternal and child health initiative — instead of maintaining Trudeau’s policy of promoting western pro-abortion ideology abroad,” Wojciechowski told LifeSiteNews.
And while Scheer’s defenders may claim that the Conservative leader is “only saying what he needs to say in order to get elected,” that’s demonstrably not the case, as “Harper’s Muskoka Initiative didn’t prevent him from being re-elected,” he added.
“We strongly urge Andrew Scheer to reverse his position and instead publicly and unapologetically commit that a Conservative government will end Canada’s involvement in ideological colonialism,” said Wojciechowski.
Campaign Life has downgraded Scheer’s status as a leader on voteprolife.ca from a C to a D as a result of his clearly stated position that he would maintain Liberal global abortion funding.
Campaign Life had already red-lighted Scheer as not supportable as a candidate after he said he would not vote for pro-life legislation.
Scheer has consistently maintained that a Conservative government will not reopen the abortion debate.
He said in August that if elected prime minister on October 21, he will “oppose” any “measures or attempts” to reopen the abortion debate and other “divisive social issues” such as homosexual “marriage.”
“Canadians can have confidence that these issues will not be reopened under a future Conservative government,” Scheer told reporters.
And while he would allow MPs to “express themselves on matters of conscience,” Scheer said, he would “ensure” that a Conservative government would not reopen “divisive social issues.”