Poilievre should be so-cons' second choice, Tory MP says
Choose pro-life leader hopeful Lewis: Genuis
Will social conservatives play a role in Pierre Poilievre's possible path to victory in the Conservative leadership race?
Conservative MP Garnett Genuis, an advocate for social conservatives in the party, said he would recommend his supporters to mark Leslyn Lewis — the only openly pro-life candidate in the race — as first choice while encouraging them to rank Poilievre — who is prochoice — second.
“Both are strong, principled conservatives and capable leaders,” he tweeted.
While pro- life groups Rightnow and Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) agree that Lewis should indeed get their members' first vote on the preferential ballot in order to choose the next leader, they do not agree on ranking Poilievre second on the ballot.
Rightnow conducted interviews with all six candidates and have given them grades based on their potential to win, their pro-life policies and their voting record on abortion or assisted dying issues.
Lewis managed to get a 80 per cent grade, whereas Poilievre got a passing grade of 68 per cent mostly thanks to his potential to win the race. Roman Baber, who managed to score more points than Poilievre on prolife policy issues, got a score of 56 per cent according to Rightnow.
The three other candidates — Jean Charest, Patrick Brown and Scott Aitchison — got the least points, varying between 30 and 39 per cent.
Scott Hayward, cofounder of Rightnow, said that members should not feel obliged to follow the suggested ranking when they will be asked to vote this summer. In fact, he has heard from members that they will only rank Lewis as their number one choice and no one else afterwards.
“Our recommended ranked ballot is just that: a recommendation,” said Hayward.
Jack Fonseca, CLC'S director of political operations, told the National Post that his group will shortly issue its voter's guide to the Conservative Party of Canada leadership race, but he could already confirm that they will certainly not recommend that Poilievre be ranked second.
“If social conservatives give Poilievre a second place ranking, the message it sends to Poilievre and every other establishment politician is that they can take us for granted,” said Fonseca.
“That's precisely the wrong message to send.”
Social conservatives are a lot more cautious in throwing their support behind a candidate, after having done so for former leader Erin O'toole who then pushed them to the sidelines. They are now asking for candidates to clearly commit to champion their issues if they are elected leader.
In transcripts of their interviews with Rightnow, most candidates committed to letting members of Parliament introduce their own private members' bills, as it is already the case, but not all candidates committed to letting MPS vote freely on matters of conscience.
Poilievre, Brown and Charest, in a rare moment of agreement, reiterated that their government would never introduce or pass a law banning abortions.
Lewis and Baber committed entirely to free votes on matters of conscience, even in cabinet.
“I will always support caucus freedom and freedom of conscience. This would include members of my cabinet. Every politician should be able to vote their conscience regardless of political position,” said Lewis according to a transcript of her interview.
Baber relied on his own experience in Doug Ford's government to commit to free votes. “I have been made to vote against my conscience several times in my career, and I will never subject anyone to that. I will allow free votes on all matters of conscience,” he said.
CLC said they are still in the process of evaluating Baber who, in their view, has offered more “meaningful policy commitments” than Poilievre has done.
Poilievre has a mixed record when it comes to social conservative issues. He has consistently voted against bills related to assisted dying, but has voted against MP Cathay Wagantall's private member's bill that would have banned sex-selective abortion in 2021.
With the Supreme Court possibly overturning abortion rights in the United States, the presumed frontrunner was pressed by his opponents — notably Lewis — to state his personal position on the issue. He had until now said that he would not reopen the debate.
It wasn't until the French debate, held last week in Quebec, that Poilievre ended up admitting that he is in fact “pro-choice.”
Hayward said that there were many social conservatives who were enthusiastic about Poilievre at the start of the race in February, but many have been “turned off” by him in the past few weeks because of his stance on the abortion issue during the debates.
“I think he kind of burst the bubble, so to speak, for a lot of people who are pro-life.”
BOTH ARE STRONG, PRINCIPLED CONSERVATIVES AND CAPABLE LEADERS.