LifeSite Editorial – Time for the Conservative Party to Offer More Substance to Canadians Who Cheris

Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin has effectively taken the wind out of the sails of the Conservative Party of Canada’s timid outreach to social conservatives.  Conservative Party leaders recently offered what they thought were significant concessions while Chretien was still Prime Minister – support for a civil unions ‘compromise’ versus homosexual ‘marriage’; a reform of the Senate, and free votes in the House on moral issues.  However, Martin has found the offerings so mildly conservative that he could propose them himself.  If the Liberals continue to at least match Conservative Party offerings to social small ‘c’ grassroots Canadians, as well as give them a voice at the table – as seen by the pro-life members in the new cabinet, the Conservatives would be in fatal danger of losing their social conservative support.  This is especially true of those social conservatives who, although not fiscally conservative, voted (albeit while holding their noses) for Reform or Alliance in the past, since the essential concerns of life and family were given more emphasis there than under the Chretien Liberals.