TORONTO, June 5, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – Canada’s top pro-life organization is urging Ontario voters to put sanctity of life issues before party affiliation in the province’s general election Thursday.
“It must be emphasized that if we don’t vote our conscience, we send a clear message to those that analyze voting results — the parties, political consultants, media etc — that the issues of abortion, euthanasia and the traditional family are not relevant and therefore need not be part of the political landscape,” said Jeff Gunnarson, vice president of Campaign Life Coalition, to LifeSiteNews.
“Campaign Life, through months of research and discussions with candidates, helps to show its supporters which candidates are pro-life and therefore worthy of support,” he said.
“What the individual voter does with that information is up to him or her, and our hope is that most pro-lifers will vote for the pro-life candidate,” added Gunnarson.
Pollsters are projecting a Tory win for leader Doug Ford on June 7, even though the NDP and the PC Party are leading neck-and-neck in the final days, reports Global News.
Campaign Life has green-lighted 29 candidates in 27 of Ontario’s 124 current ridings as supportable for their pro-life, pro-family views.
Thirteen of the green-lighted candidates are running for the PC Party, including two incumbents: Monte McNaughton, Lambton-Kent-Middlesex, and Sam Oosterhoff, Niagara West.
Other green-lighted PC Party candidates are: Belinda Karahalios, Cambridge; Denzil Minnan-Wong, Don Valley East; Daryl Kramp, Hastings-Lennox and Addington; Andrew Lawton, London West; Paul Calandra, Markham-Stouffville; Billy Pang, Markham-Unionville; Daisy Wai, Richmond Hill; Christina Mitras, Scarborough Centre; Roshan Nallaratnam, Scarborough Guildwood; David Piccini, Northumberland-Peterborough South; and Brandon Postuma, Thunder Bay-Atikoken.
The lone Liberal green-lighted as pro-life is Ajax incumbent, Joe Dickson.
The remaining 15 pro-life candidates hail from seven different parties — perhaps not unexpected in a province with 28 registered parties, including such entities as the Party of Objective Truth or POT, the Go Vegan Party and the Stop Climate Change party.
Carleton and Oxford ridings have two pro-life candidates, with Ontario Party candidate Jay Tysick and independent Mark Dickson running in the former, and Ontario Party candidate Robert Van Ryswyck and Independent independent David Sikai in the latter.
Stop the New Sex-Ed Party has three candidates Campaign Life green-lights as pro-life: Alex Pacis, Mississauga Center; Theresa Snell, Toronto Centre, and Queenie Yu, Spadina-Fort York.
Also green-lighted are Trillium Party candidate Andy Bruziewicz, Sarnia-Lambton, Multicultural Party candidate Wasyl Luczkiw, Haldimand-Norfolk, and Libertarian candidates Patrick Pietruszko, Niagara Centre, and Charles Zack Oakville North-Burlington.
Ontario Party candidate Joe Charbonnel, Glengarry-Prescott-Russell, is greenlighted as supportable, as are independents Jude Coutinho, Scarborough-Agincourt, and Jim Enos, Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas.
Campaign Life Coalition also green-lighted None of the Above Direct Democracy Party candidate Nicholas Archer, who is running in Brantford Brant.
Also running in Brantford Brant is PC Party candidate Will Bouma, who is among the ten Tory candidates Campaign Life Coalition has rated “educable,” that is, is open to being educated on pro-life and pro-family issues.
Campaign Life rates PC Party leader Doug Ford educable, as well as PC Party incumbent for Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston, Randy Hillier.
Ford has said he will repeal the Liberal government’s controversial sex-ed curriculum and replace it after consulting with parents.
However, Ford angered social conservatives when he kicked Tanya Granic Allen, leadership contender and PC Party candidate for Mississauga Centre and, out of the party after the Liberals posted 2014 videos of her speaking out against abortion and sex education.
Other PC Party educable candidates are: Greg Rickford, Kenora-Rainy River; Mary Henein, Kitchener Center; Susan Truppe, London North Centre; Kaleed Rasheed, Mississauga East-Cooksville; Adam Pham, Parkdale-High Park; Iris Yu, Spadina-Fort York and Dan Weber, Waterloo.
Trillium Party candidates rated educable are: Louise Ewen, Thunder Bay-Superior North, and Jack MacLaren, Kanata-Carleton.
MacLaren was the sole MPP to vote against the Liberal government’s draconian “bubble zone” law banning pro-life witness outside abortion centers.
Campaign Life Coalition’s ratings are based on the candidate’s public statements, as well as responses to its questionnaire, which includes questions on when life begins, defunding abortion, support for euthanasia, conscience rights, and parents’ rights in the matter of sex education.
Ontario voters wishing to know where their candidates stand on life and family issues can check the Campaign Life database, here.
Campaign Life’s Gunnarson underscored the importance of voting.
“In the event your riding has two or more popular candidates or parties, your vote may carry significant weight,” he said.
“Some contests are won by fewer than 100 votes. So get out and vote and wherever possible, vote pro-life!”
Ontario ridings with CLC “green-lighted” pro-life candidates:
Ajax: Joe Dickson, Liberal
Brantford-Brant: Nicholas Archer, None of the Above Direct Democracy Party
Cambridge: Belinda Karahalios, PC
Carleton: Jay Tysick, Ontario Party
Carleton: Mark Dickson, independent
Don Valley East: Denzil Minnan-Wong, PC
Glengarry-Prescott-Russell: Joel Charbonneau, Ontario Party
Haldimand-Norfolk: Wasyl Luczkiw, Multicultural Party
Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas: Jim Enos, Independent
Hastings-Lennox and Addington: Daryl Kramp, PC
Lambton-Kent-Middlesex: Monte McNaughton, PC
London West: Andrew Lawton, PC
Markham-Stouffville: Paul Calandra, PC
Markham-Unionville: Billy Pang, PC
Mississauga Centre: Alex Pacis, Stope the New Sex-Ed Agenda
Niagara Centre: Patrick Pietruszko, Libertarian Party
Niagara West: Sam Oosterhoff, PC
Northumberland-Peterborough South: David Piccini, PC
Oakville North-Burlington: Charles Zack, Libertarian
Oxford: Robert Van Ryswyck, Ontario Party
Oxford: David Sikai, Independent
Richmond Hill: Daisy Wai, PC
Sarnia-Lambton: Andy Bruziewicz, Trillium
Scarborough-Agincourt: Jude Coutinho, Independent
Scarborough Centre: Christina Mitras, PC
Scarborough Guildwood: Roshan Nallaratnam, PC
Spadina-Fort York: Queenie Yu, Stop the New Sex-Ed Agenda
Thunder Bay-Atikoken: Brandon Postuma, PC
Toronto Centre: Theresa Snell, Stop the New Sex-Ed Agenda
Ontario ridings with CLC-rated “educable” candidates:
Brantford-Brant: Will Bouma, PC
Etobicoke North: Doug Ford, PC
Kanata-Carleton: Jack MacLaren, Trillium
Kenora-Rainy River: Greg Rickford, PC
Kitchener Center: Mary Henein, PC
Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston: Randy Hillier, PC
London North Centre: Susan Truppe,
Mississauga East-Cooksville: Kaleed Rasheed, PC
Parkdale-High Park: Adam Pham, PC
Spadina-Fort York: Iris Yu, PC
Thunder Bay-Superior North: Louise Ewen, Trillium
Waterloo: Dan Weber, PC
Update June 6: Campaign Life Coalition has green-lighted six more candidates in the following five ridings as supportable in tomorrow’s election:
Mississauga-Malton, Caroline Roach, Independent
Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound: Janice Kaikkonen, Consensus Ontario; Enos Martin, Ontario Alliance
Dufferin-Caledon: Stephen McKendrick, Consensus Ontario
Huron-Bruce: Gerrie Huenemoerder, Ontario Alliance
Perth-Wellington: Paul McKendrick, Consensus Ontario
If you are not sure where your candidate stands on life and family issues, please check Campaign Life database here.