OTTAWA, September 9, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Conservative Leader Stephen Harper met with the editorial board of the Canadian Press Wednesday. One of the stories that came out of the meeting, by CP’s Sue Bailey, was entitled, “Harper to be ‘more severe judge’ of MPs whose views damage party”. The story caused an uproar among social conservatives, but according to Harper’s spokesman, the fear is unwarranted. The CP article left the impression that Harper would muzzle Conservative candidates quoting selectively from Harper and framing his quotes to make it appear as if he was initiating a major crackdown on social conservatives within the Party. (see the CP article here https://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1845&ncid=1845&e=13&u=/cpress/20040908/ca_pr_on_na/harper_loose_cannons ) Harper spokesman Carolyn Stewart Olsen spoke to LifeSiteNews.com clarifying Harper’s statements at the CP meeting. “What he actually said was that he has no problem with people speaking on issues and voting on issues of social conscience,” said Olsen. “The problem that he had is when people spoke out of turn during a campaign on issues we weren’t running on. (Things are) a lot tighter, when you are running a campaign he wants members to run on our election platform.” Asked if that meant MP’s would not be able to answer questions on abortion or other topics not covered in the Conservative platform, Olsen responded, “I think he wasn’t referring to if the question comes up. Then you certainly answer truthfully.” Asked if the policy would restrict the freedom of politicians to speak out on issues, Olsen said, “In no way is there any sense of restricting people’s free speech or anything like that. We believe in keeping our doors open and our tent pretty wide, there is room for everyone, social conservatives, all walks of life, right, left you name it, if you are conservative minded, fiscal conservative, there’s room in the party for you, you have the opportunity to speak and vote your social conscience.” While the CP story implied that Harper would silence MPs such as pro-life Conservative MP Cheryl Gallant who the article suggested was a trouble-maker for the Party, Olsen refuted the interpretation. Olsen said Harper, “actually never referred to Cheryl (Gallant), he was referring to the constant questions posed to him on abortion – countless times after he’d given his position.” She summarized the policy as, “If it isn’t in our platform be careful not to get into the issues (during an election campaign), but if you are asked the question answer them surely.”
Olsen also noted that the policy would apply to non-social conservative issues as well. The policy would “cut both ways”, said Olsen. jhw