The Christian Heritage Party today announced the launch of its 2015 federal election campaign with its first wave of nominated candidates. CHP Canada’s national leader, Rod Taylor, described the party’s strategic goals for the 2015 campaign and gave a list of the CHP candidates nominated by their local electoral district associations.

Mr. Taylor said that the party is committed to offering “as many pro-life CHP candidates as possible, in ridings where there is no other pro-life choice on the ballot”. In the past, he said, the party has run wherever there was a candidate willing to represent pro-life, pro-family values—even where an incumbent MP had a good voting record. In 2015, the CHP has chosen to show its solidarity with those pro-life incumbents—most of whom are Conservatives—who have courageously defended the pre-born. The CHP will focus its electoral efforts mainly on other ridings where the Conservative incumbents have a poor voting record on pro-life issues or where the Conservative candidate has not clearly demonstrated a solid pro-life commitment. He noted that candidates for the Greens, the NDP and the Trudeau Liberals cannot represent the pre-born and do not enter into the party’s calculations. “No self-respecting pro-lifer could consider running for any of those parties”.

Taylor said that he has found a high level of approval for the selective campaigning strategy from pro-lifers, including those within the Conservative Party. He said, “For too long, the Conservative Party strategists have been able to count on the support of social conservatives, even when individual candidates and MPs have failed to promote consistent pro-life policies”. He said he believes that the discrepancy between the objectives of pro-life voters and the actual performance of many Conservative MPs has become more apparent. This year, he expects more voters to demand a pro-life commitment from their candidates rather than “voting Conservative and hoping for the best”.

The CHP leader acknowledged there may be one or two exceptions to the above strategy. “We have a couple of very strong EDAs where our members have worked hard over many years to build the party and have always had a CHP candidate to vote for. They have good candidates eager to represent the full package of CHP policies regarding life and family issues, freedom of speech and religion and smaller, more affordable government. Some of these members would be extremely disappointed if they could not vote for the CHP candidate whom they have supported so willingly in the past. I’m not going to overrule those EDAs or deny them the privilege of voting for a CHP candidate. I really appreciate their commitment to the goals of the party and in those ridings, we will tip our hat to the other candidates but we will run to win, enthusiastically promoting our solid moral principles. Actually, it would be great if ALL the candidates in ALL parties were committed to protecting innocent human life. In ridings like these, we believe our candidates will actually help a pro-life incumbent articulate a logical and compassionate pro-life position”.

As of press time, the list of CHP candidates already nominated includes: James Enos (Hamilton Mountain, ON), Irma Devries (Perth-Wellington, ON), Andrew Moriarity (Durham, ON), Dave Bylsma (Haldimand-Norfolk, ON), Harold Jonkers (Niagara West, ON), Scott Whittaker (Simcoe North, ON), Len Noordegraaf (Simcoe Grey, ON), Jerome Dondo (Portage-Lisgar, MB), Ernest Chauvet (Sturgeon River-Parkland, AB) and Kevin Pielak (Surrey Centre, BC). A number of other prospective candidates have expressed a strong interest in carrying the CHP banner and many of them are being interviewed and vetted with a view to their appointment as candidates in districts where the party does not have an active EDA. All candidates for the CHP will undergo an Integrity Analysis process and all CHP candidates must enthusiastically support pro-life policies.

Mr. Taylor himself intends to run in the riding of Ottawa West-Nepean. As CHP leader, he hopes to bring the Christian Heritage Party pro-life and pro-family message to the Capital Region. He says he has support in the area and will make the defence of innocent human life, traditional marriage and religious freedom key planks in his campaign.

For more information contact nationaloffice@chp.ca or 1-888-868-3247.

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