Deirdre Mitchell-MacLean

The “stinking albatross” of social conservatism is either a crown of glory or thorns – depending on who is offering the ceremonious appointment.

When Peter MacKay made his now-legendary comment after the CPC was unable to de-throne Justin Trudeau’s Liberal party in the October 2019 general election, he allowed it to hang on Andrew Scheer alone – as if Scheer somehow arrived in the position as party leader despite the common knowledge of his personal views.

Right Now, a leading national anti-choice group, continues to force the nation to view the Conservative Party of Canada leadership contestants through their lens – for better or for worse.

“RightNow exists to nominate and elect pro-life politicians by mobilizing Canadians,” reads a statement on the group’s website.

“Instead of rallying and protests, we’re organizing and mobilizing to effectively nominate and elect pro-life politicians across the country so we can start passing life-saving legislation for the first time in over 40 years.”

Marilyn Gladu – who was ranked fifth by RightNow with 57 per cent – has said she doesn’t believe the Party, if it formed government, would have the votes needed to pass pro-life legislation.

That would change if RightNow manages to fulfill their mission to elect pro-life candidates – regardless of the fact that 77 per cent of Canadians want the choice.

Because even if all elected officials were in one party – 338 – the representation of officials to Canadians is less than one per cent.

That means RightNow has 23 per cent of the Canadian population – or eight million people – to choose from. That’s 23,816, on average, per riding.

If anyone thinks there’s no chance of stacking the deck in the House of Commons, they’re not paying attention to the very real, very active campaign to do just that.

And that makes the Marilyn Gladus and Peter MacKays and RickPetersons even more dangerous. Why?

Because either they know who this party is – and want your vote anyway- or they don’t – and neither option should give any pro-choice, small government, libertarian-leaning Canadian any confidence in their party.

As much as conservative supporters – of which I am a reluctant one – would like to claim that a vote for the CPC isn’t a vote for social conservative policies, the evidence suggests otherwise.

Campaign Life Coalition rates members of parliament on their website.

RightNow rates leadership candidates.

Real Women of Canada rates candidates.

They aren’t doing this for the benefit of the “liberal media” – they’re doing it because they have a mission – to take away the rights of women to make their own choices.

Groups like RightNow – including Real Women Canada and Campaign Life Coalition – would like the rest of us to believe that the CPC is a mainstream political organization that will represent all Canadians.

But they won’t because that’s not how they’re getting elected.

The “stinking albatross” is real – and it is a real threat – to anyone who is looking for less government intervention in their personal life.

Thanks, Peter MacKay – who was ranked sixth by RightNow with 31 per cent – for making this a problem all women have to think about when it comes to voting for the party that you built.

PS: Kenney endorsed O’Toole who received 74 per cent from RightNow. Shocker.

This post is an opinion.

Deirdre is a freelance writer residing in Southern Alberta.