Tension cracks emerge in Conservative base

HALIFAX — It began with a maverick MP throwing a hand grenade into the party he once tried to lead and ended with contentious debates on abortion.

The three-day Conservative policy convention in Halifax was anything but boring.

But with Maxime Bernier now recruiting members to his own party, while some “grassroots” Tories continue to push divisive issues into the limelight, concerns have emerged about rifts developing within the Conservative Party of Canada.

Party leader Andrew Scheer says he is not worried. But as the convention came to a close on Saturday, it became clear there are some voices that are more socially conservative than Scheer seems willing to go.Calling themselves “grassroots” members during policy debates, groups of delegates pushed forward several resolutions involving abortion, euthanasia and gender identity. The most high-profile proposal, which aimed to remove reference to a future Conservative government regulating abortion, was narrowly defeated in a vote on Saturday.

The debates on these resolutions revealed factions within the party pushing to have some of their more socially conservative views welcomed under the big blue tent.

“We are not the Liberals, we are not the NDP. We do not tell our members what to think or what to say. We let members of Parliament have a free vote on most moral issues, but this is in our policy book saying they don’t have a free vote,” Patrick Hanlon from St. John’s, N.L. said of the party’s existing abortion policy.

“We need to take it out. We need to support democracy, freedom and liberty for all.”

Saskatchewan MP Rosemary Falk likened the abortion resolution to a “values test” within the party.