Dear Editor,
On May 13, David Hildebrandt wrote an open letter to me stating his reasons why he was “no longer was able to vote PC”.
Mr. Hildebrandt’s commentary on the state of Canadian conservatism fails to offer a fair view of our “big tent” Conservative Party and how we approach matters of great ethical importance to many Canadians.
Despite what Mr. Hildebrandt suggests, Erin O’Toole’s cautious approach on sensitive issues is not new for our party. Stephen Harper declared that the abortion issue would never be reopened while he was prime minister and voted against pro-life private members bills. Andrew Scheer, likewise, declared that the abortion issue would not be reopened while he was leader.
Importantly, all of these leaders (including Erin O’Toole) have left these issues open to free votes and allowed individual MPs to vote according to their conscience. This stands in stark contrast to the NDP and Liberals who force all of their members to vote pro-choice. Quite frankly, if you are pro-life, the Conservative Party is the only electable party that allows you to express your views freely. And for the record, I intend to vote in favour of Cathay Wagantall’s private member’s bill (C-233) banning sex-selective abortion in Canada.
Much of the rest of Mr. Hildebrandt’s letter was aimed at condemning Mr. O’Toole for trying to win votes for the Conservative Party in other parts of the country. It is obvious that, in a country as large and diverse as Canada, a political party must win support in several different regions to form government. As Mr. Hildebrandt points out, under Andrew Scheer’s leadership, the Conservative Party did a tremendous job of winning overwhelming levels of support in Western Canada. Yet due to a lack of success in other regions, we found ourselves sitting on the Opposition benches despite securing more total votes than any other party.
If Mr. Hildebrandt is content with supporting a party that will never amount to anything more than a protest vote, that is his choice. All he will be doing is helping to re-elect Justin Trudeau, enabling the current Liberal government’s reckless spending and overt anti-West bias. I would rather support a party that has the resources and support to form a national government and make positive changes for all Canadians — including Western Canadians — in accordance with conservative principles. That is precisely what Erin O’Toole is trying to do and I fully support his efforts to do so.
Regards
Tom Lukiwski, M.P.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
