Pierre Poilievre has won the most support so far within his caucus, among the candidates for the leadership of the Conservative Party. And in the lot are also the largest number of elected anti-abortion, although another aspiring leader Leslyn Lewis is herself openly opposed to the termination of pregnancy.
The Campaign Life Coalition, which mobilizes anti-abortion conservatives in all elections and leadership races to influence the outcome, sided with Ms. Lewis. But the elected members of the social fringe of the Conservative Party seem to have chosen another camp. Because only seven of them have endorsed the candidacy of Leslyn Lewis – that is to say all of his support in the caucus.
Pierre Poilievre, on the other hand, is counting on the support of 32 anti-abortion deputies, out of a total of 53 supporters among the party’s elected caucus. This represents 60% of his support. They include former leader Andrew Scheer and MPs Shannon Stubbs and Chris Warkentin, who had been involved in efforts to have Erin O’Toole sacked this winter.
If the Campaign Life Coalition pleads that 40 elected conservatives share its convictions against the termination of pregnancy, the exact figure is actually higher.
Because the organization only gives a “green light” to deputies who have always voted as it wishes on abortion, but also to oppose expanding access to medical assistance in dying, to who oppose the ban on conversion therapy or who have never marched in a Pride March. Some elected officials are therefore dismissed simply because they did not vote as she wished during the parliamentary study, even if they finally voted at the last reading in accordance with the religious convictions of the social fringe of the party.
By counting all MPs who have supported bills in the past that propose to toughen abortion (such as making it a criminal offense to injure or kill an unborn child by committing a violent crime against the pregnant mother) , the number of anti-abortion elected members is 48 out of a total of 119 Conservative MPs (40%).
Adding in those who supported Conservative Cathay Wagantall’s private member’s bill last year, which would have banned sex-selective abortions, we have 68 elected members (57%).
Proportionally, Pierre Poilievre has therefore attracted more anti-abortion support among his fellow MPs than the share represented by these social conservatives within the caucus.
His team declined to comment on Friday. At most, it has been repeated that a “Poilievre government will not propose or support any legislation restricting abortion in any way”. No further reaction was offered.
Among the other leadership candidates, Jean Charest has an anti-abortion MP among the 13 elected officials who support him, as does Patrick Brown, who received the support of four elected officials in total. Only one MP, who is not anti-abortion, has endorsed Scott Aitchison and Roman Baber has no support in caucus.
A strategic blur
Pierre Poilievre was criticized by Leslyn Lewis, at the candidates’ debate on Thursday evening, for remaining deliberately vague about his personal beliefs on abortion. “Mr. Poilievre has been avoiding the media for the past few days because he won’t say whether he’s pro-life or pro-choice,” she quipped.
Mr. Poilievre did not respond, as the format of the debate did not immediately offer him the chance and the moderators moved on to another question afterwards. He also did not meet with reporters after the event.
His team insists he is anti-abortion, but Mr. Poilievre did not make that statement at the debate. Following the release of the U.S. Supreme Court’s draft decision on the Roe v. wade, he did not express himself on Twitter and his team had taken hours to react succinctly in the evening. The reaction was the same as that provided for this article.
The social fringe of the Conservative Party brings together tens of thousands of members, who are very mobilized. Two years ago, they were 60,000 to have supported Leslyn Lewis as a candidate for leadership. When she had been eliminated from the race, over the ballots, her support had been transposed to win Erin O’Toole.