…and what happens when so many Christians don’t

There are about 32 million people in Canada, but about a quarter of them cannot vote, either because they’re under voting age, or because they’re not yet citizens.

Of the remaining 24 million, in the last census 19 million identified themselves as Christians. But half of them—about 9.5 million—choose not to vote.

Perhaps it’s because they don’t know there’s a party that represents Biblical principles. A survey revealed that only 24 percent of Canadians have ever heard the name of the Christian Heritage Party; and almost nobody seems to know that 38 world nations have explicitly Christian political parties—and three of them form the government.

Clearly, our big mainstream media haven’t informed their audience that there’s a Christian political option; and obviously, government-monopoly schools don’t provide a comprehensive education in civics.

It’s also true that in Canada’s last federal election, five out of six electoral districts didn’t have a CHP candidate—a situation we’re working to correct.

But far too many Canadian Christians don’t vote for another reason: they’ve bought the lie that they must keep faith and politics in separate compartments. But that’s not Canada’s heritage: quotations from the Bible are engraved in the very stones of Parliament and our Constitution declares:

“Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God [capital ‘G’, the God of the Bible] and the rule of law.”

In the last election about 5.3 million people voted Conservative; almost 4.5 million voted Liberal; a little more than two-and-a-half million voted NDP; and a million and a half voted for the Bloc Quebecois. Half a million voted for smaller parties including the Greens and the CHP.

But here’s an interesting statistic: the Christians who voted, or the Christians who did not vote—either group alone—represent more votes than the winning party got in the 2006 federal election. In fact, either group of Christians, all by themselves, represent as many votes as went to the Liberals and Conservatives, combined!

That could be a powerful voting bloc—if it all voted, and if it voted its conscience!

Of the 9.5 million Christians in Canada who vote, about half are Catholics, most of whom routinely vote Liberal; other Christians mostly vote Conservative. And it doesn’t make much difference which, because the so-called “Conservative” Party is really just “Liberal Lite”. So either way, the liberal-left wins.

A political scientist from Australia, visiting Canada during the 2005-2006 election campaign, observed that our Conservative Party stands well to the left of Australia’s openly-socialist Labour Party. He added that in the United States, Stephen Harper would be considered a Clintonian Democrat.

After all, does it matter to a baby killed in the womb whether she or he died under the Liberals, who legalized abortion; or under the Conservatives, whose Prime Minister vowed to use his influence to ensure that no legislation to restrict abortion would come into Parliament? Does it matter to school-children, as they are taught that sexual perversion is a protected “right”, whether the government compelling such an abomination is led by the Liberals, who legalized same-sex “marriage”; or by the Conservatives, whose Prime Minister swore he would never use the Charter of Rights to protect the traditional definition of marriage?

No. The ensuing social and moral decay is exactly the same, either way.

The Liberals’ political philosophy was defined, early in the 20th century, by Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier:

“Organization is vital. Principles without organization may lose, but organization without principle may often win.”

MacKenzie King put it more bluntly. His political philosophy was to “take up so much of the middle of the road that everyone else has to run in the ditches.”

And for both of Canada’s liberal parties—the official Liberal Party of Canada and the so-called “Conservative” Party—that strategy has worked: political organizations without principles dominated 20th century Canada, and continue to do so into the 21st century.

So what can true conservatives in Canada—those who are both fiscal and social conservatives—do to gain a voice?

The essential first step is this: we must stop letting the big parties take the support of Christians for granted!

The Liberals have been able to assume that they can count on the majority of Catholic and/or immigrant voters; the so-called “Conservative” Party clearly believes evangelical voters have nowhere else to go—and most churches and Christian organizations do nothing to discourage that view.

But if significant numbers of Christians supported a clearly pro-life, pro-family party—and in Canada, the CHP is the only federal party that fits that description—they’d either succeed in electing a large block of CHP Members of Parliament, or they’d shock the Liberals and Conservatives into adopting pro-moral policies. Either way, Canada’s pro-moral majority would suddenly have found a strong voice.

How can Canadian Christians bring that happy result about?

Well, the first step is for individual Christians to become involved—to learn more about the CHP by tapping into the extensive information available by calling 1-888-868-3247 (one-triple eight-VOTE CHP), or by visiting the CHP website at www.chp.ca.

Then, do all you can to make a difference by joining and supporting the CHP. Tell your friends and neighbours about the only pro-moral political option.

And when the next election comes, contribute funds to, work for, and vote for the CHP.

Together, we can build a moral future for Canada’s children.