WINKLER, Manitoba (LifeSiteNews) –– People’s Party (PPC) of Canada leader Maxime Bernier will announce tomorrow that should he win an upcoming federal byelection in June, he will reopen the abortion debate in Canada’s House of Commons.
LifeSiteNews got confirmation from Bernier’s spokesman, Martin Masse, that tomorrow he will be joined by Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson, a former PPC candidate and “prominent advocate for common-sense social conservatism,” to announce “a reopening of the debate” on abortion.
“His first policy announcement this Wednesday will be on reopening the debate on abortion, with Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson at his side,” Masse told LifeSiteNews.
“Maxime will be accompanied with Laura-Lynn, who as I’m sure you know proposed a bill to ban late-term abortion in 2019 with Paul Mitchell (another former PPC candidate). His declaration will be mostly based on what has been his stance for some time already, to force a reopening of the debate on this issue and break the taboo in the media and political class.”
Bernier before has said that the PPC would reopen the abortion debate in Canada, notably after Roe v. Wade was overturned by the U.S. Supreme court last year.
“Unlike all establishment parties, the People’s Party welcomes a debate on this issue. It’s time to join the civilized world,” stressed Bernier.
Thus far, the Conservative Party of Canada has refused to commit to reopen the abortion debate in Canada, with current leader Pierre Poilievre promising his party would not do so.
Bernier is opposed to late-term abortion, and last year blasted the late-term killing of unborn babies as “abhorrent” and akin to genocide.
“It’s perfectly legal to kill a fully developed unborn baby during the third trimester of a pregnancy, a baby who would be viable if born prematurely,” Bernier wrote in a newsletter sent out to his followers.
He has said in the past he is not per se fully against abortion in the early stages, but is firmly against late-term and sex-selective abortions.
He has said he would allow free conscience votes for his MPs on all life issues.
As for the PPC itself, it has no official party stance on abortion.
Bernier and social conservativism
While Bernier, who served as former Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s industry minister and then foreign affairs minister, has historically been focused primarily on economic and immigration issues, in the last two years he has come out more strongly in favor of socially conservative policies.
Bernier himself chose not to get the COVID shots and criticized the fact that every government in the country went along with vaccine passports.
Masse also confirmed with LifeSiteNews that next week, Bernier will announce his official policy position “on the radical gender and trans ideology.”
A press conference will be held in Winkler, Manitoba, tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. CST, which the PPC says is when Bernier will “announce his stance on abortion.”
As for Thompson, in 2018 she lost her job with the 700 Club because of her lobbying against the province of British Columbia’s now infamous Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) 123 curriculum.
She has been an advocate for free speech and was firmly against COVID lockdowns and mandates.
Last Friday is when Bernier first announced he will run in the upcoming Manitoba federal by-election, promising to fight for traditional family values against a society “overtaken by evil,” including “transgender madness.”
“The Woke Cult is demolishing the traditional pillars of our society and aims to establish a twisted and profoundly sick vision of the future. They are moving at a startling pace,” Bernier said before a crowd of supporters in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, last Friday.
In comments sent to LifeSiteNews, Bernier noted that he chose to run to prevent another “fake” conservative MP from Pierre Poilievre’s party from winning the riding.
Bernier will run as a PPC candidate in the federal riding of Portage-Lisgar, Manitoba, which was held by former interim leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Candice Bergen, for years until she resigned her seat last year. In March, he had hinted he was looking at running in the by-election.
In the 2021 federal election, the local PPC candidate for Portage-Lisgar, Solomon Wiebe, had the best results of any PPC candidate in the country, getting about 22% of the vote. However, he was up against the popular Bergen.
Of note is that the Portage-Lisgar area is where Bernier was arrested after holding an outdoor rally in 2021.
Canada’s current abortion regime under Trudeau
Last Thursday, on the same day thousands of pro-life Canadians gathered in Ottawa for Canada’s 26th National March for Life, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal caucus released a video fawning over the deadly practice of abortion.
The day prior, Trudeau pledged millions in additional funding for pro-abortion initiatives across the country.
These actions, coinciding with the largest annual pro-life event in the country, were blasted by Campaign Life Coalition as Trudeau showing his “bitterness and animosity towards pro-life Canadians.”
Unlike in the United States, abortion in Canada exists in a legal vacuum since being decriminalized over thirty years ago.
The 1988 Morgentaler decision saw the Supreme Court of Canada throw out the last remaining abortion law on the basis that it was unconstitutional. Since then, there exists no federal law regulating abortion, and thus the practice is permitted through all nine months of pregnancy.
According to CLC’s website, abortion has killed over 4 million preborn babies in Canada since its legalization in 1969, which is roughly equivalent to the total population of the province of Alberta.
UPDATE: This article was updated at 7:21 p.m. ET on May 16 to correct on error about Bernier’s cabinet position under former Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Bernier served as Harper’s industry minister and then foreign affairs minister, not his finance minister as the article previously stated.