List of Anti-Choice MPs – April 2011
By Joyce Arthur, Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada
April 3, 2011, updated April 23, 2011
*The list below is now archival. See the updated list after the May 2, 2011 election*
The first table shows totals of MPs who are anti-choice (from each party), pro-choice, or unknown – with comparisons just after the 2008 election and now.
The second, long table is a list of known anti-choice Members of Parliament as of April 20, 2011.
Conservatives • Liberals • Independents
Please email info@arcc-cdac.ca if you have additional information or any corrections for this list. Thank you!
MPs | Just after 2008 Election | Current (prior to 2011 election) |
Total Anti-choice MPs | 116 (38%) | 109 (36%) |
– Conservative Party | 97 of 143 (68%) | 95 of 143 (66%) |
– Liberal Party | 17 of 77 (22%) | 13 of 77 (17%) |
– Independent | 2 of 2 | 1 of 2 |
Total Pro-Choice MPs | 123* (40%) | 148* (48.5%) |
Total MPs with unknown stance | 66 (22%) | 48 (16%) |
Total MPs | 305 | 305 |
* This estimate includes Conservative and Liberal MPs with a public pro-choice position and/or pro-choice voting record, as well as all Bloc Quebecois (47) and NDP (36) MPs on their voting records and the assumption they are pro-choice.
Here is a separate list of Pro-choice MPs and those with an unknown stance on abortion. (This is a simple list of names and party affiliation, with no other details.)
In the table below,some MPs have asterisks beside their name. These MPs voted in favour of Bill C-484 or Bill C-510, or opposed the Order of Canada for Dr. Henry Morgentaler, but have no other known public position on abortion. It’s possible they are not anti-choice, so they are not included in the total figures above, but are included in the list below. (Please email info@arcc-cdac.ca if you have additional information.)
Anti-Choice Members of Parliament | Designated Anti-Choice During 2011 Federal Election (1) | Opposed Order of Canada for Dr. M (2) | Voted for Bill C-484 at Second Reading (3) | Voted for Bill C-510 at Second Reading (4) |
Conservative Party of Canada | ||||
Jim Abbott | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Diane Ablonczy | √ | √ | √ | N |
Harold Albrecht | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Mike Allen | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Dean Allison | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Rona Ambrose | √ | √ | — | |
Rob Anders | √ | √ | √ | √ |
David L. Anderson | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Keith Ashfield | √ | — | — | √ |
John Baird * | No response | √ | N | |
Leon Benoit | √ | √ | √ | √ |
James Bezan | √ | √ | √ | |
Jean-Pierre Blackburn * | — | √ | N | |
Steven Blaney * | Refused to say | √ | N | |
Kelly Block | √ | — | — | √ |
Ray Boughen ** | — | — | √ | |
Garry Breitkreuz | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Gordon Brown | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Lois Brown | √ | — | — | √ |
Patrick Brown | √ | √ | √ | |
Rod Bruinooge | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Paul Calandra | √ | — | — | √ |
Blaine Calkins | √ | √ | √ | |
Ron Cannan | Refused to say | √ | √ | |
Colin Carrie | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Rick Casson | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Michael Chong * | — | √ | N | |
Rob Clarke ** | — | — | √ | |
Tony Clement * | — | √ | N | |
John Cummins | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Patricia Davidson | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Stockwell Day | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Dean Del Mastro | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Barry Devolin | √ | √ | √ | |
Rick Dykstra | √ | √ | √ | N |
Edward Fast | √ | √ | √ | |
Diane Finley * | Refused to say | √ | N | |
Steven Fletcher * | — | √ | N | |
Royal Galipeau | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Cheryl Gallant | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Shelly Glover ** | — | — | √ | |
Peter Goldring | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Gary Goodyear | √ | √ | √ | N |
Jacques Gourde * | — | √ | N | |
Nina Grewal | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Stephen Harper | √ | √ | N | |
Richard Harris | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Laurie Hawn | √ | √ | N | |
Russ Hiebert | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Randy Hoback | √ | — | — | √ |
Candice Hoeppner ** | — | — | √ | |
Brian Jean | √ | Refused to say | √ | √ |
Randy Kamp | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Gerald Keddy * | — | √ | N | |
Jason Kenney | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Ed Komarnicki | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Daryl Kramp | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Michael Lake | √ | √ | √ | |
Guy Lauzon | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Denis Lebel * | — | √ | N | |
Pierre Lemieux | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Ben Lobb ** | — | — | √ | |
Tom Lukiwski | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Gary Lunn | √ | Refused to say | √ | — |
James Lunney | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Peter MacKay | √ | √ | N | |
Dave MacKenzie * | — | √ | N | |
Colin Mayes | √ | √ | √ | |
Phil McColeman | √ | — | — | √ |
Cathy McLeod | √ | — | — | N |
Ted Menzies | √ | Refused to say | √ | N |
Rob Merrifield | √ | Refused to say | √ | √ |
Larry Miller | √ | √ | √ | |
James Moore | √ | — | √ | N |
Rob Moore | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Rob Nicholson | √ | √ | √ | N |
Rick Norlock | — | √ | √ | |
Deepak Obhrai | √ | — | √ | N |
Bev Oda * | — | √ | N | |
Tilly O’Neill-Gordon | √ | — | — | √ |
Christian Paradis * | — | √ | N | |
LaVar Payne | √ | — | — | √ |
Daniel Petit * | — | √ | N | |
Pierre Poilievre | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Joe Preston | √ | √ | √ | |
James Rajotte | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Scott Reid | √ | — | √ | √ |
Blake Richards | √ | — | — | √ |
Lee Richardson | √ | √ | √ | N |
Gerry Ritz | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Francis Scarpallegia * | Refused to say | √ | N | |
Andrew Scheer | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Gary Schellenberger * | Refused to say | √ | N | |
Gail Shea ** | — | — | √ | |
Bev Shipley | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Devinder Shory ** | — | — | √ | |
Joy Smith | √ | √ | √ (paired, absent) | √ |
Kevin Sorenson | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Bruce Stanton | √ | √ | N | |
Brian Storseth | √ | √ | √ | |
Chuck Strahl | √ | √ | √ | √ |
David Sweet | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Greg Thompson | √ | √ | √ | — |
David Tilson * | — | √ | N | |
Vic Toews | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Bradley Trost | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Mervin Tweed | √ | √ | √ | |
Tim Uppal | √ | — | — | √ |
David Van Kesteren | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Peter Van Loan | √ | √ | √ | |
Maurice Vellacott | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Mike Wallace | √ | √ | N | |
Mark Warawa | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Christopher Warkentin | √ | √ | √ | |
Jeff Watson | √ | √ | √ | √ |
John Weston ** | — | — | √ | |
Rodney Weston | √ | — | — | √ |
Alice Wong | √ | — | — | √ |
Stephen Woodworth | √ | — | — | √ |
Lynne Yelich | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Terence Young ** | — | — | √ | |
Liberal Party | ||||
John Cannis * | — | √ | — | |
Rudy Dhalla ** | — | — | √ | |
Wayne Easter *** | √ | N | N | |
Albina Guarnieri | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Jim Karygiannis | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Kevin Lamoureux ** | — | — | √ | |
Derek Lee | √ | √ | N | |
Lawrence MacAuley | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Gurbax Malhi | √ | — | √ | √ |
John McKay | √ | √ | √ | |
Dan McTeague | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Shawn Murphy | √ | √ | √ | N |
Massimo Pacetti | √ | √ | N | |
Paul Szabo | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Alan Tonks | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Bryon Wilfert | √ | — | — | |
Borys Wrzesnewskyi | √ | √ | √ | |
Independent | ||||
André Arthur | √ | √ | N | |
Helena Guergis * (Ind/Conservative) | — | √ | — |
* These MPs voted in favour of Bill C-484 but have no other known public position on abortion. They may be either anti-choice or pro-choice, so they are not included in the totals (top of page), just in the above long list (In particular, John Baird and John Cannis are probably pro-choice). (Please email info@arcc-cdac.ca if you have additional information.)
** These MPs voted in favour of Bill C-510 but have no other known public position on abortion. A few may in fact be pro-choice (such as Ruby Dhalla and Shelly Glover), and Ray Boughen, Ben Lobb, John Weston, and Terence Young are probably anti-choice. They are not included in the totals (top of page), just in the above long list. (Please email info@arcc-cdac.ca if you have additional information.)
*** These MPs were opposed to giving the Order of Canada to Dr. Henry Morgentaler, according to a survey done by Campaign Life Coalition, but have no other known public position on abortion.
Column 1 — Anti-choice MPs were listed during the 2011 election. Criteria: They had an anti-choice voting record, or had publicly spoken at or attended events organized by anti-choice groups, or had publicly stated they are “pro-life” or would support abortion only in limited circumstances. (Note: Several MPs on lists prior to 2011 (from 2004/06/08 elections) have been removed due to uncertainties in their stance, or because they have stated they are personally pro-life but would not vote to restrict abortion.)
Column 2 — Whether the MP publicly opposed the awarding of the Order of Canada to Dr. Henry Morgentaler, according to a survey conducted by Campaign Life Coalition.
Column 3 — Whether the MP voted in favour of Bill C-484 (“Unborn Victims of Crime Act”) at 2nd reading in Parliament on March 5, 2008. (Note: Some pro-choice MPs voted in favour of Bill C-484, including Peter Stoffer (NDP) and Liberal MP’s John Cannis, Sukh Dhaliwal, and Francis Scarpallegia.)
Column 4 — Whether the MP voted in favour of Bill C-510 (“coerced abortion”) at 2nd reading in Parliament on December 15, 2010. Note: Harper whipped his Cabinet to vote against it, but 10 out of about 35 Cabinet members still voted in favour of it, as well as 77 of the rest.
Sources:
- 2011 Federal Election, Candidate Evaluations, Campaign Life Coalition.
- Parliamentary voting record on Bill C-510, “coerced abortion”, December 15, 2010.
- Federal Election, CLC National News, November 2008.
- 2008 Federal Elections, Candidate Evaluations. Campaign Life Coalition. October 2008.
- Canadian National Pro-Life Group Presents Detailed Assessment of Federal Election Result, Steve Jalsevac, LifeSiteNews, October 31, 2008.
- Federal Election Results Mixed for Ontario Gays, Xtra.ca, Oct. 15, 2008.
- Over 100 MPs Oppose Morgentaler Order of Canada – List Released Today, LifeSiteNews.com, August 28, 2008
- Parliamentary voting record on Bill C-484, “Unborn Victims of Crime Act”, March 5, 2008.
- Conservative Minority Poses a Danger to Abortion Rights, Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada, June 23, 2006
- Candidate Evaluations / Questionnaire Results – Federal Election Canada 2006, Campaign Life Coalition
- Ontario Questionnaire Results (2000 Ontario Provincial election), The Interim, November 2000.
- A Discouraging Victory, Joyce Arthur, Pro-Choice Press, Spring/Summer 2004
- The anti-abortion MPs, David Akin’s On the Hill blog, May 12