OTTAWA—Pierre Poilievre says that under his leadership, Conservative MPs would be free to bring forward legislation on abortion and vote according to their conscience.

But the Ottawa-area MP, who has yet to officially announce his bid to lead the party, told the Star that no such legislation would be adopted under a Conservative government led by him.

While allowing a free vote would make it theoretically possible for a Conservative government to pass a law restricting access to abortion, the small number of MPs who identify as anti-abortion make it highly unlikely.

Poilievre was clarifying his remarks to a Quebec newspaper that a Conservative government under his leadership would not introduce any new legislation regarding access to abortion. According to La Presse, Poilievre said he would also ensure any such legislation from his own party’s back benches would be blocked.

“Pierre’s approach would be the same as Stephen Harper’s,” said a source working on Poilievre’s campaign, who spoke on the condition they not be named.

“While members of caucus will always have freedom of conscience, no bill on the subject would be adopted — and Pierre would vote against it.”

In 2012, most of Harper’s cabinet joined with the opposition to vote against Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth’s motion for a parliamentary committee to study when life begins. Harper voiced his personal opposition to the motion at the time. While Harper’s critics had long suspected that he intended to reopen the abortion debate, he largely kept a lid on the issue in nearly a decade as prime minister.

Social conservative issues have become a central part of the debate about the Conservative Party’s future after the 2019 federal campaign, during which outgoing leader Andrew Scheer faced sustained criticism over his positions on same-sex marriage and abortion. After the election defeat, social conservatives took aim at Scheer for failing to stand up for their principles, while others within the party argued it needed to appeal to the broader Canadian electorate. Sean Speer, a former adviser to Harper, suggested it’s misguided to exclude social conservatives and their issues from the Conservative coalition.

For those seeking to replace Scheer, it’s a difficult line to walk. While social conservative positions fall outside the mainstream — and, as Scheer discovered, flirting with them can be a liability during a federal election campaign — their adherents are a motivated voting block within the party, and an important constituency to win over in a leadership race.

“As social conservatives, we aren’t looking for a leader to push our issue. That’s really not what the leadership position is for. It’s more about the grassroots, it’s more about MPs,” said Alissa Golob, a co-founder of the anti-abortion advocacy group Right Now.

“From our perspective, as long as a leader abides by party policy … (like) freedom of conscience and (freedom of) votes for MPs, then that’s all we’re really asking for. So I think whether you’re a red Tory or a social conservative, you would expect party leaders to abide by the policy.”

Campaign Life Coalition, an anti-abortion lobby group, estimated that 46 “known” anti-abortion MPs were elected in 2019, most of them Conservative. After Poilievre’s comments to La Presse, the group downgraded its rating for him to “not supportable.”

The social conservative movement could have a significant influence on the Conservatives’ leadership contest.

In the 2017 leadership contest, social conservative Brad Trost finished a surprising fourth, ahead of better-known contenders Lisa Raitt, Michael Chong and Chris Alexander. Social conservative support for Scheer was seen as decisive in his victory over rival Maxime Bernier.

A social conservative standard bearer has yet to officially enter the 2020 leadership race. If one emerges, that could prompt the current contenders to alter their strategies.

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“I think people underestimate the strength and the power of the pro-life movement today,” said Ruth Shaw, the executive director of the National Campus Life Network.

Shaw said that, at the very least, the next Conservative leader must allow Conservatives MPs to introduce abortion legislation and to vote their conscience. If social conservatives don’t see a candidate that can do that, Shaw said, they might just sit this one out.

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