By LEE HARDING.The Trudeau Liberals election platform called for pro-life pregnancy centres to lose their charitable status, and some Conservative MPs fear the net could spread to include other pro-life organizations..Campaign Life Coalition estimates there are 150 pregnancy care centres from coast to coast. In October, Pregnancy Care Canada, an umbrella organization for 81 centres, said 158,883 people had accessed help at its affiliates during the past 23 years and paid 182,998 visits for supplies such as diapers, formula, and clothes. Also, 18,036 clients received prenatal education; 31,733 clients took parenting programs; and 9,810 women requested and received support after their abortion..Yorkton-Melville, Saskatchewan MP Cathay Wagantall says the federal government shouldn’t deny charitable status to the centres..“It sends a shudder through the hearts of Canadians when they see their rights and their freedoms being manipulated in such an obvious way. And the charitable status in this case, they’re not taking an honest look at it,” Wagantall told the Western Standard. .“They just turned a blind eye to the good that is done.”.On November 24, Wagantall and Peace River-Westlock Alberta MP Arnold Viersen accompanied newly elected Ontario MP Leslyn Lewis at a “Save our Charities” rally on Parliament Hill sponsored by Campaign Life Coalition. The MPs accepted 12,000 signatures on a petition asking that pregnancy centres maintain their charitable status..“This virtue signaling, similar to the attestation that came with Canada Summer Jobs is just this [threatening] chill,” Wagantall said..“I do believe that churches see [pregnancy centres’] services as in line with their belief systems, and definitely do support them. So then the question becomes, ‘Will they also face punishment because of their association with those centers?’”.In 2018, Canada Summer Jobs grants were withheld from organizations that would not attest their core function included support for abortion. Viersen told Western Standard he expects the Liberals will take a similar approach with charities and that pastors also feel vulnerable their churches could lose status..“I don’t think in order to have a charitable status, you should have to agree with the Liberals on anything. So this is why I’m opposed to them politicizing charitable status,” Viersen said..“Basically any organization that has charitable status that doesn’t agree with … the Liberal version of reality, they will have trouble maintaining their charitable status. So that’s your local church, your local summer camp, a local food kitchen, like all of these, your local school, like any your local hospital for that matter, any organization that’s probably somewhat religiously based.”.When asked if Tory leader Erin O’Toole supported the stance of the three Conservative MPs, Viersen said it hadn’t been discussed because the Liberals are expected to make the change through administration, not legislation..“There will be no vote in the House of Commons on this. There will be no debate in the House of Commons, and they’ll probably do this through regulation. And so we as Parliamentarians won’t even get an opportunity to weigh in on what they’re up to. So that’s frustrating.”.In 2019, bureaucrats denied Mill Stream Bible Camp in Ontario a Canada Summer Jobs grant due to their requirement that staff adhere to Christian beliefs and conduct. The bureaucrats wrote that this could “restrict access to programs, services, or employment, or otherwise discriminate, contrary to applicable laws, on the basis of prohibited grounds, including … sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression.”.Marty Moore, a lawyer for the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, successfully litigated on behalf of the camp, which should have received $45,000 to supplement six summer jobs. Moore disagrees with how the government is imposing its ideological bent..“What we see right now goes against our history,” Moore told Western Standard..“It goes against our foundational principles of tolerance and respect for diversity of opinions and weakens the very foundation of a democracy when the empowered majority is targeting minority voices and minority viewpoints utilizing what should be the neutral … criminal code or the tax code. And when we see that, I have great concerns for the undermining of the very foundations of our society.”.Harding is a Western Standard correspondent based in Saskatchewan
