Does Pierre Poilievre really have a “secret agenda” to end abortion if he becomes Canada’s next prime minister? His political opponents would have you believe this. But is it actually true? The short answer is “no.” The longer answer is that while Poilievre would do some good for the pro-life movement, he is no champion of the preborn.
The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) leader made his position crystal clear in a Sept. 11 letter to a grassroots member of Campaign Life Coalition, a national pro-life organization. It’s no “hidden agenda” that his political adversaries accuse him of, but a plan he has publicly hinted at for a couple of years and one that most Canadians would agree with.
Pro-life advocate Don Plemel, who hails from Saskatoon had written to Poilievre, asking him in a Sept. 6 email why he had at one time been a “strong pro-lifer” only to switch to “being pro-choice.” It’s true that Poilievre, once upon a time, had been pro-life, a position that he abandoned along his path to political power.
“Why is it so hard for politicians to understand that abortion is murder,” the 83-year-old Plemel asked in an email exchange obtained by Campaign Life Coalition.
“Why is it so hard for them to get it through their thick skulls that human life begins at conception? A majority of biologists have proven this. These little babies (yes, “babies” not blobs or fetuses) are fully human with a completely new DNA. He/she is a member of the human race, and everyone agrees that human rights … including the most important, the right to life … are for everyone. That includes the baby in the womb.”
“I hope and pray, Mr. Poilievre, that after this next election, the Conservatives will be back in power, and you and the party will agree that abortion is evil and that you put a stop to it,” Mr. Plemel added.
To Plemel’s surprise, Poilievre responded five days later and outlined how a Conservative government would help pregnant women in crisis.
“Pro-life Canadians are welcome in our party,” Poilievre began. “The Conservative Party of Canada is a big tent with a strong tradition of free votes of conscience, and I intend to maintain this status quo.”
This is in stark contrast to the Liberal Party of Canada where, 10 years ago, pro-life advocates were barred from running as candidates, making every Liberal MP today “pro-choice,” that is, in favour of a woman having the option to choose to kill her offspring.
Poilievre reiterated to the pro-life advocate his previous talking points that a conservative government “will not introduce or pass a law banning abortions.” Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) has rated Mr. Poilievre as “not supportable” not only due to his numerous statements defending abortion but because he has also referred to himself as “pro-choice,” that is, he defends the choice of killing preborn children.
In the email exchange, Poilievre noted that there are “many other ways to support women who want to bring a child into the world.”
“I do not believe that abortion should be the only option available to women faced with an unexpected pregnancy,” he wrote. “We can ease the challenges of putting a child up for adoption by supporting women through all nine months of pregnancy,” he added.
Adoption is an issue close to Poilievre’s heart. It was in 1978 when Poilievre’s then 16-year-old mother, Jacqueline, became pregnant with him in difficult circumstances. She chose life for her son, deciding to place him up for adoption after his birth in 1979. And now, that son, who could easily have been terminated in utero but was instead adopted, is poised to become Canada’s next prime minister, serving as a powerful testament to the societal value of adoption.
A resolution to create a “National Adoption Strategy” was passed at the CPC’s National Policy Convention in 2021 and is listed in the party’s 2023 Policy Declaration booklet (#101). It states that a “Conservative government will create a National Adoption Strategy including an awareness campaign to promote domestic adoption and work with the provinces to ensure equal access to adoption for all children.”
CLC has also called on the Conservatives to launch such an adoption awareness program, pointing out that such a campaign would “save many lives.”
In the email exchange, Poilievre also stated he would “stand up against attempts by the government to attack organizations that help pregnant women.” This is a crucial promise for pro-life pregnancy care centres that are under attack by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
It was during the 2021 election that the Trudeau Liberals vowed to punish Crisis Pregnancy Centres and other pro-life charities by stripping them of their charitable status. It was, in fact, Trudeau who laid out his plan to introduce amendments to the Income Tax Act to make pro-life organizations ineligible for charitable status, alleging, without any proof, that they provide what he referred to as “dishonest counselling to pregnant women.”
Stripping pro-life charities of their charitable status would undoubtedly jeopardize the running of these organizations. They would be forced to close, leaving the women and babies they serve without the support they need.
The Kitchener-Waterloo Right to Life Association (KW Right To Life) was recently stripped of its charitable status after its bookkeeper made an unintentional mistake in its 2022 return. The group had been a registered charity for almost five decades. KW Right To Life corrected the error and re-applied for charitable status. It did everything required by the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA). The CRA, however, declined the group’s application.
The CRA insinuated in a letter to KW Right to Life explaining its refusal that it considered the pro-life group’s work to be “biased, false, inaccurate, or misleading.”
“It appears that the applicant is promoting a particular point of view, or attempting to persuade individuals to choose options in line with a pro-life position,” the CRA stated in documents viewed by CLC. The CRA noted in its response that charitable organizations must “disseminate accurate, unbiased, and well-reasoned information,” bizarrely adding that such info must not be “focused on promoting a particular point of view,” even though every charity, patently, operates from a particular viewpoint.
It now seems that the government is proceeding to strip pro-life charities of their charitable status, but using a plan different from the one laid out in 2021. The CRA appears to be scrutinizing the books of pro-life charities, looking for an excuse to pull their charitable status. When charitable status gets pulled, it gets pulled for good.
Pro-life charitable organizations certainly need a champion to ward off these ideologically based attacks from the CRA, which should be neutral when it comes to performing its job.
Poilievre concluded his email exchange by stating that he believes that “focusing on bills that promote adoption and help pregnant women through crises would do greater good.”
While it’s true that such bills would do much good, they would also leave behind the majority of some 100,000 babies who are aborted every year in Canada.
While Poilievre has promised at various times to be like his predecessor Stephen Harper and not “reopen” the “abortion debate,” for pro-life Canadians, human lives can never be up for “debate.” What’s not up for debate is that human life begins at conception. The vast majority of biologists make this clear. That these tiny lives are fully human is not up for debate — when males and females of the same species reproduce, they make a member of that same species. That every member of the human race is endowed with human rights is not up for debate — everyone agrees that human rights — including the first and most fundamental, the right to life — are for everybody to the exclusion of no one.
The fully alive human being in the womb should not be up for “debate.” No one’s life should ever be up for “debate.”
While Poilievre can do some good to help the pro-life cause, in the end, he’s not the champion preborn babies so desperately need, and justice demands that one arise.
The champion needed must be driven by the truth that preborn babies are full members of the human family, that they have the inalienable right to life from the first moment of their existence, and that their lives must be protected — like every other human being — under the law.
Poilievre’s commitment to helping women with an unexpected pregnancy is a step in the right direction, but it’s far from what justice demands.
Pete Baklinski is the communications director for Campaign Life Coalition.