The social conservative (2)
Name: Brad Trost Age: 42 Current job: MP for Saskatoon-University
Brad Trost’s campaign slogan boasts that the longtime MP is “100 per cent conservative.”
That assumes that being “100 per cent conservative” means being anti-marriage equality, antiabortion and believing there’s a “war” on Canada’s oil and gas sector.
In the unlikely event Trost becomes Canada’s prime minister, he is committing to relitigate issues long thought settled in the country.
He is committed to bring in legislation banning “sex-selective abortion” — a tactic seen as a way to reopen the door to wider abortion laws.
Mandatory minimum sentencing rules struck down by the Supreme Court would be reinstated in a Canada led by Trost. He wants to use the constitutional “notwithstanding” cause to overrule the top court’s decision.
He opposes Ontario’s sex-ed curriculum, has crit- icized Alberta for allowing gay-straight alliances in schools, and has suggested the Quebec government wants to teach children “moral relativism.”
And Trost feels that the only valid marriage is one between a man and a woman — a position the party officially abandoned last year.
Trost is one of the only unapologetically “social conservative” in the race, championing a number of issues that Stephen Harper worked hard to keep quiet in the modern Conservative party.
Earlier this month, Trost was the only MP in the House of Commons to vote against establishing a gender equality week. He immediately attempted to fundraise from that stance.
It seems like a winning strategy for Trost, at least in terms of the ability to stay in the race and keep social conservative issues alive. According to party financial records, Trost managed to raise more than $122,000 in the fourth quarter of 2016, mostly through small donations.
The 42-year-old has sat in Parliament for the last 12 years, having been elected five times. Before public life, Trost worked as a geophysicist, holding degrees in economics and geophysics from the University of Saskatchewan.
Chance of winning:
Not good.