Whereto Canadian Catholics?

During the last two months Canadians have seen two more examples of what Pope John Paul II calls `building structures of sin.' Bill C-33, passed on May 9, enlarges protection for sodomy, and the amendment to the Constitution, passed June 3, takes away the rights of parents in Newfoundland to send their children to the school of their choice (see pages 4-6).

Catholics have a duty to fight back politically. That means resorting to the ballot box. This in turn requires first of all knowing where individual political candidates stand on moral issues affecting the family. Families are the cornerstones of our society. However important or urgent economic issues may be, the real struggle today is for the mind and soul of the people.

The June 3, 1996, House of Commons vote on Newfoundland was 170 against 46. Of the latter, 35 were Liberals, almost half of them Catholics from Southern Ontario. But twice as many Catholic Liberals voted in favour, many because of party pressure.

The election of 1993 which annihilated the Tories and gave the Liberals their overwhelming majority (175 seats out of 297) sharply delineated Catholic political representation to the Liberal Party. The Reform Party (50 seats) is for all practical purposes Protestant; the Bloc Quebecois (52 seats) and the NDP (with 8 seats) are secularist without apparently a single practising Catholic among them. This is one important reason why Francophone practising Catholics in Quebec voted No in the October 30, 1995 referendum. They have no empathy for either the Bloc Quebecois in Ottawa or the Parti Quebecois in Quebec City. Their secularism wars against principles Catholics believe to be necessary and normative.

                                                    BILL C-33    NFLD
VOTING RECORD
                                                   MAY 1  MAY 9

A -absent;*-paired
Baker, George (Lib. -Gander -Grand Falls, Nfld.)   X      X      X
Calder, Murray (Lib. - Wellington-Grey, Ont.)      X      X      X
Collins, Bernie(Lib. - Souris-Moose Mt, Sask.)     A      X      X
Comuzzi, Joe(Lib. - Thunder Bay-Nipigon, Ont.)     A      X      X
Crawford, Rex(Lib. - Kent. Ont.)                   X      X      X
Guarnieri, Albina(Lib. - Mississauga East, Ont.)   X      X      X
Iftody, David(Lib. - Provencher, Man.)             X      X      X
McTeague, Dan(Lib. - Ontario, Ont.)                X      X      X
O'Brien, Pat(Lib. - London-Middlesex, Ont.)        X      X      X
Pillitteri, Gary(Lib. - Niagara Falls, Ont.)       X      X      X
Serre, Benoit(Lib. - Timiskaming-French R., Ont.)  A      X      X
Skoke, Roseanne(Lib. - Central Nova, N.S.)         X      X      X
Steckle, Paul(Lib. - Huron-Bruce, Ont.)            X      X      X
Szabo, Paul(Lib. - Mississauga South, Ont.)        X      X      X
Verran, Harry(Lib. - South West Nova, N.S.)        X      X      X
Wappel, Tom(Lib. - Scarborough Centre, Ont.)       X      X      *

Bhaduria, Jag(Ind. Lib. - Markham, Ont.)           X      X      X
Mills, Dennis(Ind. Lib - Broadview, Ont.)          A      X      X

Cummins, John(Ref. - Delta, B.C.)                  A      X      X
Duncan, John(Ref. - North Island-Powell R.,B.C.)   X      A      X
Epp, Ken(Ref. - Elk Island, Alta.)                 X      X      X
Hayes, Sharon(Ref. - Port Moody, B.C.)             X      X      X
Thompson, Myron(Ref. - Wild Rose, Alta.)           A      X      X

Wayne, Elsie(PC - Saint John, N.B.)                A      X      X

These Quebec Catholics are, in fact, disenfranchised because very few of the remaining 21 Quebec MPs, all Liberal except one, care much about Christian principles either. The two votes on Bill C-33 and the vote on Newfoundland schools amply demonstrated that. No Quebec Liberal voted against Bill C-33 and only two voted against the Newfoundland bill. The latter may be a good indication of what will happen when the proposed demolition of the Catholic and Protestant school systems in Quebec comes before Parliament, presupposing that the P.Q. will even bother seeking that body's approval. It also confirms again what a few Catholics have known since 1967-1969, namely that the Liberal Party is almost as secular as the BQ and the NDP.

Outside Quebec the bulk of Liberal MPs come from Ontario (98) and the Maritimes (31), with a sprinkling from each of the Western provinces. All Catholic Maritime-Newfoundland Liberals voted with Mr. Chretien on both bills with three exceptions: George Baker (Nfld), Roseanne Skoke (NS) and Harry Verran (NS).

It is important, therefore, to know--and remember--which MPs put principle ahead of party. The accompanying box lists those who stood fast on all three votes. If Catholics plan to do anything in the next election, we should begin by supporting those MPs who defied the blasts from the feminist-secularist media and their anti-life Liberal Party leaders.

Thus the Liberals are listed first. Then follow the two Liberal Independents, the five Reform members and the lone PCer.

The number of opponents on May 9 was 76; that on June 3 was 46. The difference between these two votes was the split on June 3 among the remaining Reformers, half of whom were absent while the other half voted with the government.

The attached list--we think--would make a good start for a new party (Conservative Liberals?). At this moment there is no real opposition to the Chretien Liberals, with Reform at sea on matters of moral principles which they like to leave to opinion polls. We need a new party badly. Please encourage these 24 MPs to think about it.