Victory!

Let the bells ring out and the banners fly! The Conservatives have been given the opportunity to govern this great land. To be sure, as a minority government, we will have to tack to the centre and use this time as a chance to convince voters that Conservatives are not, if fact, scary. For a social conservative like me, that means I shall have to temper my expectations somewhat (though truth be told I did this a year ago).

As a Catholic conservative I intend to continue to pursue those public policies which support what the late Pope John Paul II called, the culture of life. Currently, there are three parties in Parliament which advocate for public policies supporting the culture of death. Only the Conservative party is (partly) open to the culture of life.

This divide is what the Liberal opposition (what an interesting concept!) calls the Conservative?s Hidden Agenda. It is not, of course, hidden at all. It is well known that the vast majority of Conservative members of parliament see the right to life as the essential underpinning of all human rights, view the family as the essential building block of society, support traditional marriage, and believe that the job of doctors and nurses is to heal, not kill.

But politics is the art of the possible and the possibilities are constrained by the number of opposition seats which will be in the House of Commons. If we want to move the culture of life forward, we conservatives have a job to do to create the climate of opinion required to make policy initiatives viable.

We can start by providing good, clean, solid government in Ottawa.

My Conservative candidate (Tim Dobson) was not elected last night. He is a good man and my sympathies are with him. Dan McTeague (Lib) was. I take comfort in the fact that when the Prime Minister?s Office tried to muscle Dan into voting for same-sex marriage Dan told them to take a hike. He responded that as a Catholic he was prepared to resign rather than compromise on a matter of faith and morals. That, Mr. Martin, is what having character means. Sorry Tim. Congratulations Dan.

It?s a great country!