By John Jalsevac
October 15, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Stephen Harper and the Conservatives have once again been handed a minority government by Canadian voters, falling just 12 seats short of the hoped-for majority.
However, while failing to achieve the holy grail of a majority, the Conservatives strengthened their hold on Parliament, gaining 16 seats, for a total of 143 of the House’s 308 seats.
“Canadians have voted to move our country forward and they have done so with confidence,” Harper told a rally in Calgary last night as supporters celebrated the party’s victory.
The hapless Liberals suffered significantly at the ballot box, slipping 19 seats to end up with a total of 76, while the NDP won a total of 37 seats.
A modest alteration in the make up of Parliament is the final result of an election that was described by some as “the election to nowhere,” with many Canadians and members of the media complaining that the various parties either failed to offer any clear sense of how they differed from one another, or failed to provide a clear or remotely inspiring vision for Canada’s future.
The ambivalent mood of Canadians towards the election was reflected in an historically low voter turnout, with only about 60% of eligible voters actually casting a vote.
For pro-life and pro-family advocates the various parties offered little in the way of positive options. All of the major parties and party leaders officially declared themselves either actively in favor of abortion, or undesirous of in any way altering the status quo of over 100,000 fully government paid for unborn baby killings every year. Party leaders largely steered clear of the contentious social issues during the campaign, with same-sex “marriage” registering barely a blip on the national radar screen.
Social conservatives’ hope that Stephen Harper may only have been waiting for a firm hold on a Conservative majority government before raising the abortion issue were firmly and decisively dashed after Harper, in the weeks leading up to the election, repeatedly stated his intention not to address abortion at any point in the future. Much worse, he made it clear that he would not allow anyone else to do so either.
“This government will not open, will not permit anyone to open the abortion debate. Our position is clear,” Harper told reporters on Sept. 29. When asked a follow-up question by a reporter, Harper again stated, “I’ve been clear throughout my entire political career. I don’t intend to open the abortion issue. I haven’t in the past. I’m not going to in the future.”
With no party officially pledging itself to the protection of innocent human life, many pro-life leaders urged pro-life and pro-family Canadians to vote for individual pro-life candidates and not for a particular party.
Jim Hughes, president of Canada’s national political pro-life organization, Campaign Life Coalition, today said that while the significance of the election for the pro-life movement is not yet clear, at least a good number of strongly pro-life candidates have either been reelected or elected for the first time.
“We are looking for candidates who are truly winners, that is, those who have committed themselves to take a stand for life,” he said. “So far we are confident that we have a large number of returning pro-life MPs and some new ones to work with as well.”
Hughes urged pro-life advocates to continue to work with their individual MPs on an ongoing basis: to educate them on the issues, to encourage them to stand up for life and family, and to pray for them.
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Prime Minister Harper: Not Now, Not Ever Will Conservative Government Protect Unborn Children
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/sep/08092912.html