‘Politics follows culture’: a Christian appraisal of Election 2021

The B.C. Catholic reached out to Canadian political observers for their thoughts from a Christian perspective on the 2021 federal election results. Following are their responses.

Story updated Sept. 23 to add comments from Marc Vella.

Politics follows culture

‘At’ first glance, it would seem that not much has changed with this latest election. However, there are a few key changes that I would like to highlight.

Some of the most outspoken advocates against expanding euthanasia were defeated in this election. For example, it was Cloverdale—Langley City MP Tamara Jansen who hosted a press conference on Parliament Hill that provided a platform for physicians, Indigenous Canadians, and those living with disabilities to express their concerns about Bill C-7. Jansen lost by a very narrow margin.

Port Moody-Coquitlam MP Nelly Shin also lost her seat in another close B.C. race. During the debate on Bill C-7, she gave many speeches warning against the removal of existing safeguards, highlighting the impacts of the pandemic on social isolation and mental health challenges, and insisting on the need to protect the conscience rights of physicians.

Much remains to be seen concerning the consequences of this election, but one thing is clear: politics follows culture and it is up to us to influence the culture in a more life-affirming direction. How will the next generation of ethical politicians, professors, and physicians emerge?

We simply must invest in their formation, professional development, and community of like-minded peers.

Next month, we are hosting our Canadian Physicians for Life annual conference on the theme, “Humanizing Healthcare.” I invite everyone who wants to positively influence our culture to sign up for the conference and if possible consider sponsoring a medical student’s attendance. This is a critical moment in the history of our society.

Nicole Scheidl is the executive director of Canadian Physicians for Life.

Glimmers of hope?

In view of Monday night’s election results, it appears that fundamental Catholic values will remain the target of both broad political attack and mounting social derision for the foreseeable future.

The sanctity of life, for one, seems to be of shockingly little concern to large segments of the Canadian population, while freedoms of thought and dissent continue to be stamped out through pandemic measures implemented by governments that one would expect to be more tolerant of differing points of view.

Still, there are signs of hope. Awareness and acceptance of the importance of environmental preservation, for example, seem to be growing, even if the pace of response is agonizingly slow. And society’s acceptance of differing races, creeds, and cultures seems to be on the rise – even if politicians can sometimes be quick to dismiss traditional Judeo-Christian values for the sake of political expediency.

Most hopeful of all is the possibility of Catholic influence on political reform. In this election cycle, for example, nearly all of the parties released full platforms weeks earlier than they had in any recent election, while the numbers of Catholics who thoughtfully and prayerfully reviewed those platforms with reference to the full range of Catholic social teachings appears to have risen dramatically. Thanks to the support of major dioceses from coast to coast, for example, the use of materials published by Catholic Conscience rose at least 500 per cent and spread to all provinces and territories. 

At Catholic Conscience, we are offering prayers of profound thanks. Our diverse Catholic family is large enough in Canada to offer profound and gentle influence if we all simply stick to the full range of our teachings, vote prayerfully, and stay in touch with those we elect. We can make a significant difference for the good of all. 

Matthew Marquardt is president and founder of Catholic Conscience.

The non-story of Election 2021

Politics is the art of navigating society’s disputed territory. But what territory is disputed? This is the story – errr, non-story – of Election 2021.

Was the political issue that matters most to you debated? How about your top three? Top five?

When asking, “Do I vote strategically or do I vote my conscience?” many Canadians did not see a clear option, and abstained entirely. Indeed, we may have set a new low for voter turnout.

For all the political chatter of the last weeks, much remains unresolved: How will Parliament approach freedom of conscience issues that pop up with ever more frequency? What will happen to the existing ecosystem of childcare following the imposition of a national system? Will politicians try to heal our social divisions or make them worse?

Much territory remains disputed, and the immeasurably rich stores of wisdom and hope that faithful Catholics bring to the public square are needed now more than ever. 

David Hunt is B.C. Director and Education Director at Cardus.

Informed Catholic presence needed

Monday’s federal election might lead many of our fellow citizens into a state of shrugged-shouldered resignation about the state of our country, its politics, and its sense of purpose.

As Catholics, we must never resign ourselves to the status quo or worse. We must always be impelled forward, recognizing that our world and our corner of it are redeemed by and in Christ. So how do we then reveal the redeemed world in the midst of our post-election malaise?

Our disposition when we enter the public square, whether at election time or on other occasions when we are called to make our political views heard, must be a hopeful one. Indeed, it is important as Catholics that we exercise our religious freedom and proclaim our faith in public, which means proclaiming the truth who is Jesus Christ.

Given the hammering the Church has been receiving in recent months (or is that recent decades?) our inclination might be to sit quietly in the comfortable pew with head bowed minding our own Ps and Qs.

This is not the correct attitude of the baptized Christian called to proclaim the Gospel to the nations. In this time of political division and lack of a clear vision for the country, Catholics must continue to engage in Canada’s political life, offering authentic Catholic witness and service. This witness includes advocating socio-economic policy options in concert with Catholic social teaching; defending the dignity of every human person regardless of belief or ideology; and, continually calling on government to uphold our fundamental freedoms as humans and to work selflessly for the common good.

As this new Parliament and government take shape we must act first and foremost as Catholics and not engage in the heresy that one or another political party, ideology, or social movement is going to save us, or for that matter be a vehicle for proclaiming the Gospel. As the psalmist says, “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.”

Following this election let us dedicate ourselves to living fully Catholic lives including in our political involvements. Our country needs a robust and informed Catholic presence in our public debates. Our country needs us to be faithful.

Father Deacon Andrew Bennett is program director of Religious Freedom and Faith Community Engagement at Cardus and an ordained deacon in the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church.

The work continues

Watching the results of the election, with all parties failing to make gains and no clear mandate, I wondered what was the point? Then I recalled why I was watching in the first place.

In December 2014, Parliament enacted the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (PCEPA). PCEPA frames prostitution as a form of violence against women and youth, and an impediment to gender equality in Canada. It criminalizes those who purchase or attempt to purchase commercialized sexual services and the third parties who profit from prostitution. In turn, PCEPA provides an immunity from prosecution to those, mostly women and youth, who sell commercialized sexual services. The law encourages prostituted persons to exit prostitution.

Known internationally as the Equality Model, it is the only approach that works to reduce the exploitation inherent in prostitution. Its success in Canada, however, is not yet assured. There are several constitutional challenges to PCEPA underway in Ontario by those who wish to decriminalize all aspects of prostitution (thereby expanding the market for and normalizing commercial sex). Likewise, there are voices in Parliament calling for the repeal of PCEPA.

The Archdiocese of Vancouver’s anti-human trafficking committee has been active, alone and with allies, to work with politicians of all parties to advocate for the maintenance and enforcement of PCEPA, as well as the expansion of the supports needed for a meaningful exit. That work includes meetings, letters and social media campaigns.

The election has changed little in terms of the landscape, although we have lost some allies in Parliament. It does, however, provide us the impetus to continue to meet with politicians, existing and new – to educate, advocate and build relationships. We expect to be hard at work. Please join us.

Gwendoline Allison is a lawyer with Barton Thaney Law, a member of the Archdiocese of Vancouver’s anti-human trafficking committee, and a parishioner at St. Anthony’s in West Vancouver.

A divided nation

The results of the 44th federal election in Canada are a sharp indicator that we are a divided nation. It has revealed that everybody’s talking and no one is listening. We seem to be entrenched in our ideology so that we have lost the kind of civil dialogue that is necessary to promote the common good.

The split is real and the major fault line is exactly at the point of the life issues: abortion and euthanasia.

And you say “but they were not even under discussion during the campaign.”

Exactly!

That’s because it’s the rare politician who would dare tread near the fault line for fear that all would be lost. The result is we all lose.

Father Larry Lynn is assistant pastor at Our Lady of the Assumption Parish in Port Coquitlam and pro-life chaplain for the Archdiocese of Vancouver.

The election no one won

On Monday night Canada seemed to accomplish the impossible: it held an election that no one won.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the election in the midst of a fourth COVID wave for the sole purpose of gaining a majority. He was denied and returned with the same number of seats he won last time.

The Bloc Quebecois picked up two seats to 34. If their entire raison d’etre wasn’t the dismantling of our country I’d be tempted to call them the winners of the election.

Jagmeet Singh and the NDP continued their dalliance with irrelevancy. A decade ago under Jack Layton they had 103 seats and official opposition status. In 2021 the NDP offered voters no vision whatsoever for the country. Their campaign was largely Tik-Tok videos aimed at young people who didn’t seem to go out to vote, and in the end the party was held to the also-ran status of fourth place, gaining a single additional seat.

The Green Party continued its self-implosion. Embattled leader Annamie Paul came a distant fourth in her own riding and her caucus dropped by a third: to two seats from three. The experiment of a one-issue party in a first-past-the-post system seems to be winding its way to a predictable end.

Maxime Bernier and his vanity project, the People’s Party of Canada, was thrown a major lifeline when no other party in the country condemned the draconian encroachment on our freedoms in the form of mandatory vaccines and vaccine passports. This galvanizing issue tripled the PPC’s share of the popular vote from 2019 to more than 5 per cent, which had a significant impact on the results. The Conservatives lost a full 24 seats by the margin of the ballots cast for the local PPC candidate.

But for the second consecutive election the party failed to elect a single candidate, including Bernier himself in the seat he had held under the Conservatives. Until the PPC holds a founding convention, nails down a constitution and policy declaration ratified by members, and holds a leadership race, it will continue to be little more than a way to entice donors into paying a salary for Bernier and splitting the right-wing vote.

Lastly and most disastrously we come to Erin O’Toole and the Conservative Party. O’Toole lived right down to the reputation of the consummate untrustworthy politician. Just a year ago he campaigned as the “True Blue” conservative in his party’s leadership race. Having taken over the reins of the party, he proceeded to break every pledge he made and campaigned on an ostensibly Liberal-lite platform.

When the “lite” part wasn’t progressive enough for some, he outright embraced planks from the Liberals’ own platform, such as his last-minute about-face on the Liberal carbon tax.

Canadians, given a choice between O’Toole the fake Liberal or Trudeau the real one, chose the real thing. O’Toole managed to drop two seats from 2019 and cost his party the few urban seats it had in metro Toronto and Vancouver, four of whom were pro-life and in the boundaries of the Archdiocese of Vancouver.

If the Conservatives want to put an end to continual vote-splitting, they need to have a deep conversation about the direction they’re headed and make sure the person leading them into the next election is not a conservative in name only.

Marc Vella is president of the Christian Civic Affairs Committees of Canada. He is a parishioner at St. James, Abbotsford.

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