On September 29, a day after Andrew Scheer launched his Conservative leadership bid, the Campaign Life Coalition — “the political wing of the pro-life movement in Canada” — winnowed its list of acceptable candidates to two: Brad Trost and Pierre Lemieux.

“CLC was looking forward to also endorsing MP Andrew Scheer who has a perfect voting record in the House of Commons. However, yesterday he made some very disappointing remarks to journalists after announcing his official leadership candidacy,” CLC President Jim Hughes said on their website.

In telling reporters he didn’t intend to “reopen the abortion debate”, Scheer had lost the support of an organized and vocal group of social conservatives.

Brad Trost pounced.

“I don’t think he’s taking a pro-life stand in this campaign,” be told reporters last week. “I’m not sure if Mr. Scheer is a social conservative. That’s something he’s going to have to deal with.”

With Lemieux’s campaign barely registering so far, Trost has suddenly found himself alone as the race’s only resolutely so-con candidate — and he’s doing what he can to draw attention to that fact.

On Tuesday, Trost sent an email to supporters with this subject line: “Canada needs a pro-life leader”. In it, he states that, after a great deal of prayer and reflection, he made his decision to run when the party abandoned the definition of traditional marriage at its last policy convention in May.

“During the debate I heard once again the familiar charge that values you and I were raised on were ‘old-fashioned,’ ‘anachronistic’ and ‘dangerous.’ Only this time I wasn’t hearing it from Liberals and their cheerleaders in the mainstream media. I was hearing it from senior members of our own party, some of whom are running to become the next leader,” he wrote.

“In the past you helped ensure that the Harper government did not fund abortions in third-world countries as part of its maternal health initiative by signing my online petition to that effect. Together, we were able to achieve this important goal. Will you help me once more?”

Trost is one of seven candidates already officially in the race, making him eligible to participate in the first debate on November 10 in Saskatoon.

Being the only one among them who opposes abortion and same-sex marriage certainly gives him a niche. But it’s not clear how big that niche is.

Party members voted 1,036 to 462 in favour of no longer recognizing marriage as being exclusively between a man and woman at their policy convention in May — and the best available evidence suggests the number of Conservatives for whom issues like same-sex marriage and abortion are paramount isn’t particularly high.

Since pollsters generally reach Conservative voters or supporters rather than members, it’s difficult to determine membership views with any precision. But an Abacus survey from June nonetheless gives an idea of where they stand.

Asked whether gay or lesbian relations were morally acceptable, 66 per cent of Conservatives answered yes; 76 per cent said doctor-assisted suicide was acceptable and 57 per cent said abortion was.

Though support on these policy questions was much higher among Liberal and NDP supporters than among Conservatives, the poll still suggests most Conservatives have moved closer to the views of most Canadians — the one notable exception being their opposition to recreational marijuana use.

Last February, Mission Research conducted an online survey for the Manning Centre and reported “finding ethical solutions to complex social issues like abortion and euthanasia” was a top priority for only 11 per cent of likely Conservative voters — and was “not a priority” for 17 per cent.

Again, though, these aren’t members.

Canada Christian College President Dr. Charles McVety, who has been involved in a number of leadership campaigns, told iPolitics that campaigns are generally “membership drives” — whoever signs up the most candidates wins. The easiest way to do that, he said, is to espouse strong points of view, as Kellie Leitch has with her values test for Canadian immigrants.

“Brad Trost is putting forward strong issues and Brad will motivate a lot of people. The question is, can he motivate people in 338 ridings? You have to have a lot of members in a lot of ridings. Andrew Scheer, I think, has hurt himself. Out of the gate, he has said he won’t be doing anything about abortion,” McVety said.

For someone like Trost, McVety sees a path forward similar to the one Stockwell Day took in winning the Canadian Alliance leadership in 2000.

“All those rumours about going from church to church and having meetings in the basement — they were all true. The beauty of the church is that it is in all 338 ridings and it has passionate people in each one of those ridings. So if Brad can put together enough energy to go out and pitch the issues in a good number of ridings, he can sign up a lot of people,” he said.

“There’s a tremendous amount of funds for him to access, but — again — it takes organization, structure. And it takes tenacity, day in and day out, phone calls and meetings. And that’s what remains to be seen.”