August has arrived. I hope that you are thinking about whom you will invite to join the CHP between now and the end of September so that our “Jethro Strategy” will succeed, even beyond our hopes and expectations. Whom will you ask, and what will they say when you bring up CHP?

Maybe some of you are thinking of asking someone whom you have asked before. You suspect that he/she is still carrying a faint hope that the Conservatives will suddenly unleash a “hidden agenda” of family-friendly laws; "at least"—they say—“they’re not as bad as the Liberals.” It seems to me that being “not as bad as…” something else is not a very good reason to vote for it. Perhaps a little reality-check. is in order. Ask your friend to consider the case of noble Maurice Vellacott and his treatment by the hierarchy of the Conservative Party: here we have a long-standing MP who has been elected six times and has done his part to keep the Conservatives in power. He has been an MP since 1997 and has been one of the most vocal pro-life MPs ever. He announced last year that he will not be running again in 2015, so this is his last term. Earlier this year, after reflection on various urgent issues which he could address with a private member’s bill, he chose the issue of parental access and care for their children following divorce. He hoped and reasonably expected that his bill would have received broad support on both sides of the House.

Bill C-560, the Equal Shared Parenting Bill, was not a pro-life bill per se, although Mr. Vellacott has been a passionate, articulate, and consistent defender of the rights of the unborn. All the more reason to expect the support of the Prime Minister and the Conservative Party. Although the PM has adamantly rejected any attempts to restrict abortion in Canada, this bill could have had his full support. The focus of C-560 was on the rights of young children caught between divorcing parents – rights recognized even by the UN.

But what happened to this bill? Did the PMO rally behind Maurice Vellacott and his bill with a show of confidence and thanks for all the hard work he has done? No, not at all. Instead, the Prime Minister ordered his entire cabinet to vote against C-560 and it was defeated. Although 77 Conservative MPs voted for C-560 as well as two independents and the leader of the Green Party, 33 of Mr. Harper’s Cabinet Ministers sided with the Liberals and the NDP and voted against it. Six cabinet ministers abstained or were absent. Not one voted in favour. Why not? What strange wrinkle of political correctness motivated the Prime Minister to dictate to his cabinet how they should vote on this issue? No doubt it is the same source as that which has caused him to state—more than once—that he will never allow or support any legislation restricting abortion.

So we see that individual pro-life Conservatives are regularly ignored, disciplined or marginalized by their party but this is nothing compared to how pro-life members are treated by Justin Trudeau and the Liberals. Mr. Trudeau recently made a big show of throwing any and all pro-life Liberal members in front of the bus! The “Big Red Tent” got a lot smaller this year – Liberals for Life have been forced to choose between party and principles. Many of them are choosing principles and leaving the party that left them. Where will they go? To us the choice is clear: join Canada’s only federal pro-life party.

You might have noticed that some news sources only show the results of the three or four top candidates in any given electoral district, ignoring the smaller parties and independent candidates. Sometimes they are wrong; they bet on the wrong horse.Take the latest by-election in Macleod where our Interim Leader, David J. Reimer ran: The four top parties which the major news sources were keeping their eyes on were the Conservatives, Liberals, Greens, and the NDP. CHP was not shown among the top four. However, in the final tally, the fourth party was not the NDP but the CHP; you would not know that by watching the news. Elections Canada showed that in the final count, CHP had four more votes than the NDP. This little story might be good to share with someone you know who is worried about a “wasted vote.” Four votes made the difference between fourth and fifth this time; God willing, one day it may be the difference between between first and second place for the CHP.

But this is not the only good-news story from the recent by-elections. Linda (Gibbons) Groce also generated some interest with her noble efforts in the heart of Toronto. On the same days that teams went out to distribute brochures, I could almost count on getting voicemails on the campaign cell phone telling us, sometimes in words that do not bear repeating, that the caller never wanted to see anything from CHP again. It seemed that the people who were the most ticked-off phoned the number and vented verbally. On the other hand, those who liked our message were more likely to email. One such email was from someone who said that he/she voted for us even though normally he/she voted Conservative because of positive associations with our party name. After voting for CHP he/she checked out our party online and also thanked us for having the courage to run. Another person mentioned Justin Trudeau's hard line on abortion as being the reason that he/she would not be voting Liberal this time.

Could CHP become the fastest-growing party in Canada? Oh yes, if each of us who are members logically and enthusiastically tell others about CHP Canada and why it is the best solution to our nation's problems. Remember, it is easier now than ever to show the difference; the alternatives and objections that we’ve heard in the past are rapidly losing their plausibility. The Liberals are no longer even a remote possibility, The Conservative Party leader and power-brokers, despite the best efforts of a handful of the Conservative Party’s best members – acts of courage by truly outstanding individuals – continue to side with the Liberals and the NDP to defeat pro-life legislation!

Major news sources have historically ignored us and our message; however, when we get out there and run candidates with courage in difficult places like Trinity-Spadina, we do get noticed and mentioned by some reporters. We are truly grateful for the fresh support we have been receiving from some of our natural allies in the pro-life movement. We need to show that we are not only a principled but also a credible alternative and work to earn their continued support in future campaigns, beginning with the general election coming in 2015.

The fact that we are making progress and are putting forward solid pro-life candidates where the other parties are retreating on moral issues should give us a good answer to those who doubt; if they say that the CHP is too small to make a difference, tell them that it takes an act of courage on their part to change that – if each person who has said that we’re wasting our time would simply sign up as a member and recruit one additional person, CHP could still become become the fastest-growing party in Canada!

Those who join soon will also be eligible to attend the CHP National Convention November 5-8 in Hamilton! Let's make this September a month of record-breaking growth for the CHP!

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