TORONTO, Ontario, June 23, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) leadership hopeful and member of parliament (M.P.) Derek Sloan said his fellow candidates would “agree with him” that “it’s not right” that Canada has no laws governing abortion in remarks he made during the CPC English leadership debate last week.
“I think it’s important to recognize that there is a lot of agreement within the party behind the scenes, even my two friends over here, Peter MacKay and Erin O’Toole, would agree with me that it’s not right that Canada doesn't have any laws when it comes to abortion,” said Sloan last Thursday.
“It is out of whack, and it is out of whack with other developed nations, it’s out of whack with most of the developed world, and you know we can kid get ourselves and say ‘well, you know, if we talk about that, we’re going to lose.’ Everything the Liberals campaign on is divisive. We can’t ignore division.”
Canada having no law protecting babies from abortion means that the practice is permitted through all nine months of pregnancy.
Abortion was legalized in Canada in 1969 after a heavily criticized omnibus bill was passed to amend the criminal code to allow abortions to be done in hospitals under permissive circumstances.
This law was struck down by the Supreme Court of Canada as unconstitutional in the 1988 Morgentaler decision and removed on a technicality. This left the Canadian Parliament to come up with replacement abortion legislation, which has not yet occurred.
Sloan was joined at the English debate by his fellow CPC leadership candidates, M.P. Erin O’Toole, Dr. Leslyn Lewis, and former M.P. Peter MacKay. O’Toole and MacKay identify as pro-abortion, Sloan and Lewis as pro-family and pro-life.
Neither MacKay nor O’Toole rebuked Sloan’s comments regarding the fact that there is no official abortion law in Canada.
In the French leadership debate held last Wednesday, O’Toole said he would defend women’s “right” to “choose for themselves” to have an abortion should he become prime minister.
MacKay also spelled out his pro-abortion position in the French debate, saying “I’m pro-choice. I agree with gay marriage.”
In Thursday’s English debate, Lewis said it’s important that the CPC “recognize” people with “traditional” values and that the party uphold these values.
“I saw that there was a potential that social conservatives would be ousted from the party, and I think it’s very important that we recognize that people with traditional values, people with religious values, that all of these parts are important to our great democracy. And that is what I would do, is uphold all of these values within our party,” said Lewis.
During the debate, Lewis went on to say there needs to be a “parental bill of rights” and that “we should allow children to just be children.”
She also brought up the issue of euthanasia, saying it should not be “imposed” on Canadian seniors.
“We need to make sure we do not impose euthanasia on these seniors because some of them feel compelled to relieve suffering from this system and their family members,” said Lewis.
Sloan also said, “The Liberals are so radically far to the left of their ideas when it comes to conversion therapy and abortion that we can gain ground on these ideas.”
“Many new Canadians are social conservatives. They don’t believe that there’s 72 or 102 genders, they don’t want their kids to be confused. And remember when Stephen Harper cut funding for foreign abortions? We won a majority after that.”
A few weeks ago, Sloan came under fire for saying Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is legislating “child abuse” with Bill C-8, which, if passed, will prohibit parents from seeking to help their children overcome gender confusion.
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In Thursday’s English debate, Sloan reaffirmed in his opening remarks that he would defund the World Health Organization (WHO).
“I will never sell out Canada, and I will always put Canadians first. I will never give an inch to political correctness. I won’t seed an ounce of our sovereignty to international organizations,” said Sloan.
“I’m the only candidate that is committed to defunding the World Health Organization and getting Canada out of the Paris agreement. I will never put the rich elite and international corporations before the Canadian worker in small business.”
In an email sent to his followers last week, Sloan said that if he becomes prime minister, he will defund foreign abortions, the WHO, Planned Parenthood, and “Pride” parades.
Lewis did not mention her pro-life position directly at any point in the French debate, but in her opening remarks, she did say there needs to be “compassion for vulnerable people” and that she wants to see the “family” as the “cornerstone of society.”
Sloan’s remarks regarding Canadian abortion laws in Thursday’s English debate come after reaffirming his pro-life stance in his opening statement in the French debate.
“Pregnancy is not a disease; abortion cannot be health care. As prime minister, I would prevent Canada from funding abortions internationally and encourage debate on this,” said Sloan in the French-to-English translation on CPAC.
As part of his platform, Sloan published a 12-point pro-life plan. He recently spoke about his proposals with Campaign Life Coalition as part of the 2020 Virtual March for Life.
Sloan’s plan includes a ban on sex-selective abortion, a ban on partial-birth abortion, freedom of conscience for health care workers, and a review of the current euthanasia and assisted suicide legislation.
Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) praises Sloan and Lewis for their English debate performance
Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) director of political operations Jack Fonseca told LifeSiteNews that he was pleased with the “powerful” performance of Sloan and said Lewis “upped her game.”
“Sloan delivered another powerful performance, lamenting the fact that there’s no abortion law in Canada, framing the Liberals as being ‘radical’ on conversion therapy and abortion, pledging again to repeal transgender ideology bill C-16 and promising action to restore our dwindling right to free speech,” Fonseca told LifeSiteNews.
“Sloan also skillfully destroyed the lie that being pro-life and pro-family hurts the Conservative Party in elections, pointing out that Stephen Harper won his only majority after defunding international abortions and that Doug Ford won a supermajority, including GTA ridings, by campaigning to repeal the Liberal sex curriculum.”
Fonseca noted to LifeSiteNews that he was happy to see that Lewis openly spoke about parental rights and euthanasia.
“Leslyn Lewis also upped her game with respect to moral issues, suggesting that Canada needs a parental bill of rights, lamenting the fact that society is putting pressure on seniors to see themselves as burdens and steering them towards euthanasia, and agreeing with Derek that Bill C-8 to ban conversion therapy is an affront to religious freedom,” Fonseca told LifeSiteNews.
Fonseca said the kind of leaders “we need to see from Conservatives” are those who align with the “values of the majority of the party’s base.”
He said Sloan and Lewis proved in the English debate that they are not “one-issue candidates” and was pleased with their performance on other issues.
“They were both very competent in fiscal, energy, sovereignty, foreign relations, and other policy areas that will be important to mushy-middle voters who don’t identify as socons. As a result, I think they both broadened their appeal to all voters, and thus, have put themselves more within reach of victory,” Fonseca told LifeSiteNews.
Fonseca added that a pro-lifer can win the CPC leadership, “barring any further ballot-rigging conducted by the corrupt party establishment, as an ‘insurance policy’ to maintain red Tory hold on power.
“We recently observed how the deep state in the US, including the FBI, ginned up an ‘insurance policy’ to try keeping Trump out of the White House,” Fonseca told LifeSiteNews.