A candidate for the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) was allegedly disqualified by the party over his pro-life views, according to a pro-life group, while the party maintains the candidate did not disclose information.
Pro-life group RightNow has claimed that prospective CPC candidate Gerrit Van Dorland was disqualified by the National Candidate Selection Committee (NCSC) of the National Council of the Conservative Party of Canada this week over his pro-life stance.
While the CPC has claimed that Van Dorland was disqualified over failing to disclose information, his campaign manager Bas Sluijmers has stated that all of the required information had been disclosed to the party, CBC reports.
“The Conservative Party maintains that they are a party of open and fair nominations, and as such, we will be appealing this decision to the Conservative Party National Council,” Sluijmers told the broadcaster.
Van Dorland was seeking to be on the nomination ballot ahead of a by-election in the federal riding (electoral district) of Oxford, Ontario, which has been a safe seat for the Tories, with retiring MP Dave MacKenzie holding the seat for 19 years.
If the allegations from RightNow are true, they echo a similar policy enacted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who, as leader of the Liberal Party, banned vocally pro-life individuals from running for the Liberals in 2014.
“I have made it clear that future candidates need to be completely understanding that they will be expected to vote pro-choice on any bills,” Trudeau said at the time.
Pierre Poilievre, the current leader of the Tories, has also vowed not to hold any debate on abortion if he is able to form a new government, making the pledge last year when running for party leader.
Breitbart News spoke to the populist People’s Party of Canada (PPC) leader Maxime Bernier on the issue, asking whether or not his party would allow vocally pro-life candidates.
“We would obviously never reject a candidate for his or her opinion regarding abortion. We don’t even ask potential candidates their opinion about this. PPC MPs would be free to vote according to their conscience on any bill regarding abortion, like other matters of conscience,” Bernier said.
“I have made it clear several times that I personally support restrictions on late-term and sex-selected abortion, just like a majority of Canadians according to some polls. And the PPC has no problem with reopening this debate, contrary to all other parties including Polievre’s CPC,” he added.
In Canada, there are no laws restricting abortion at any time during a woman’s pregnancy and though rare, there have been reported cases of late-term abortions taking place in Canada.
Earlier this year, a whistleblower at a Montreal hospital claimed that a 38-week-old unborn child was aborted at Montreal’s Sacré-Cœur Hospital, telling the pro-life group Montreal Against Abortion the child was euthanized and removed by caesarian section.
Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com.