Here is a List of 67 Conservative Candidates Who Will Vote Against Women’s Reproductive Rights

Here is a List of 67 Conservative Candidates Who Will Vote Against Women’s Reproductive Rights

Canada’s biggest anti-abortion group says it is endorsing one-in-five candidates for Andrew Scheer’s Conservatives in the 2019 federal election.

Campaign Life Coalition, a group that likens abortion to the “Nazi holocaust,” has released a list of candidates whom the group identifies as committed to rolling back women’s reproductive rights if they get elected.

CLC says it bases their list of supportable candidates on voting records, quotes and responses to surveys that include questions like whether they’d vote for a law to ban abortions “from the time of conception” or if there are “any circumstances” in which the candidate believes a woman should have the right to access an abortion?

The CLC uses a traffic-light system to rate each candidate as Green (“supportable”), Red (“not supportable”) or Amber ( the candidate’s views are unclear).

CLC says it typically only gives the “green” rating to candidates who say they would vote in favour of legislation that blocks women’s reproductive rights and who do not support allowing abortions under any circumstances.

The CLC describes its list as the “gold standard” for determining which candidates are committed to fighting “the evil of abortion and threats to the family.”

Some candidates given the green light by CLC are known anti-abortion activists.

Tamara Jansen, a Conservative candidate in Langley, BC, has been picketed by protesters who call her an “extremist” and “anti-choice.” Jansen is an active and senior member of the social conservative group Alliance for Reformed Political Action, and gave speeches at anti-abortion events, including the annual “March for Life” rally in Victoria.

But many anti-abortion candidates aren’t as vocal about their views as Jansen.

The breakdown also reveals startling provincial numbers on anti-abortion candidates running for the Conservative Party:

Half of all Conservative candidates in Saskatchewan (50%)

Four-in-10 Conservative candidates in New Bruswick (40%)

One-third of all Conservative candidates in Alberta (35.3%) and Manitoba (35.7%)

One-quarter of all Conservative candidates in Ontario (25.6%)

One-fifth of all Conservative candidates in BC (19%)

Here are all the Conservative Party candidates that CLC lists as fully “supportable”:

Alberta

1. Arnold Viersen (Peace River – Westlock)

2. Blaine Calkins (Red Deer – Lacombe)

3. Christopher Warkentin (Grande Prairie – Mackenzie)

4. Damien Kurek (Battle River – Crowfoot)

5. Dane Lloyd (Sturgeon River – Parkland)

6. Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park – Fort Saskatchewan)

7. Glen Motz (Medicine Hat – Cardston – Warner)

8. Michael Cooper (St. Albert – Edmonton)

9. Michael Lake (Edmonton – Wetaskiwin)

10. Rachael Harder (Lethbridge)

11. Shannon Stubbs (Lakeland)

12. Tom Kmiec (Calgary Shepard)

British Columbia

1. Alice Wong (Richmond Centre)

2. Bob Zimmer (Prince George – Peace River – Northern Rockies)

3. Edward Fast (Abbotsford)

4. Heather Leung (Burnaby North – Seymour)

5. Mark Strahl (Chilliwack – Hope)

6. Nelly Shin (Port Moody – Coquitlam)

7. Tamara Jansen (Cloverdale – Langley City)

8. Todd Doherty (Cariboo – Prince George)

Manitoba

1. Candice Bergen (Portage – Lisgar)

2. James Bezan (Selkirk – Interlake – Eastman)

3. Lawrence Toet (Elmwood – Transcona)

4. Melanie Maher (Winnipeg South)

5. Ted Falk (Provencher)

New Brunswick

1. John Williamson (New Brunswick Southwest)

2. Richard Bragdon (Tobique – Mactaquac)

3. Rob Moore (Fundy Royal)

4. Rodney Weston (Saint John – Rothesay)

Ontario

1. David Kong (Scarborough North)

2. Ben Lobb (Huron – Bruce)

3. Bert Laranjo (Hamilton West – Ancaster – Dundas)

4. Bob Saroya (Markham – Unionville)

5. Chani Aryeh-Bain (Eglinton – Lawrence)

6. Cheryl Gallant (Renfrew – Nipissing – Pembroke)

7. Colin Carrie (Oshawa)

8. David Sweet (Flamborough – Glanbrook)

9. Dean Allison (Niagara West)

10. Derek Sloan (Hastings – Lennox and Addington)

11. Ghada Melek (Mississauga – Streetsville)

12. Hani Tawfilis (Mississauga – Erin Mills)

13. Harold Albrecht (Kitchener – Conestoga)

14. Justina McCaffrey (Kanata – Carleton)

15. Kyle Seeback (Dufferin – Caledon)

16. Lianne Rood (Lambton – Kent – Middlesex)

17. Lois Brown (Newmarket – Aurora)

18. Michael Barrett (Leeds – Grenville – Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes)

19. Phil McColeman (Brantford – Brant)

20. Philip Lawrence (Northumberland – Peterborough South)

21. Pierre Lemieux (Glengarry – Prescott – Russell)

22. Pierre Poilievre (Carleton)

23. Rachel Willson (York Centre)

24. Sarah Fischer (Don Valley North)

25. Stella Ambler (Mississauga – Lakeshore)

26. Stephen Woodworth (Kitchener Centre)

27. Ted Opitz (Etobicoke Centre)

28. Tim Durkin (Bay of Quinte)

29. Todd McCarthy (Whitby)

30. Tom Varughese (Mississauga – Malton)

31. Wladyslaw Lizon (Mississauga East – Cooksville)

Saskatchewan

1. Cathay Wagantall (Yorkton – Melville)

2. Jeremy Patzer (Cypress Hills – Grasslands)

3. Kelly Block (Carlton Trail – Eagle Creek)

4. Michael Kram (Regina – Wascana)

5. Robert Gordon Kitchen (Souris – Moose Mountain)

6. Rosemarie Falk (Battlefords – Lloydminster)

7. Tom Lukiwski (Moose Jaw – Lake Centre – Lanigan)

The anti-abortion group says it is not endorsing Conservative leader Andrew Scheer because “Scheer has drifted so far to the liberal left since becoming Leader of the Opposition, that we can no longer rate him either ‘pro-life’ or ‘pro-family’.”

Although the group notes Scheer has an “impeccable voting record on life & family issues” they say he “crossed a final red line” when he told “the liberal media that that his government would mimic Harper’s policy of not reopening the abortion debate.”

Scheer has struggled to reassure voters he will not reopen the abortion debate, given he told the anti-abortion group RightNow the exact opposite during his leadership campaign in 2017.

“I’ve always voted in favour of pro-life legislation,” Scheer said, before stating he would allow his party’s backbench MPs to introduce legislation that restricts abortion access.

“It’s important that the next leader of our party not only allows that, but celebrates that tradition of having free votes on matters of conscience.”