Fringe Party Profiles: The Christian Heritage Party

The Christian Heritage Party is the most openly conservative party in Canada. Even Stephen Harper's policies seem kind of left-leaning by comparison. They would like to make abortion illegal and end same-sex marriage. They dismiss global warming as "alarmist propaganda". They claim Canada's health care system is one of the worst in the world and should be opened up to private competition. They want to bring back capital punishment and take the right to vote away from prisoners. They want to abolish income tax. They'd end government subsidies for the Canadian Pension Plan. They would loosen gun control restrictions. They believe the way arts are currently funded "promotes the lowest common denominator of decency" while rejecting projects "that promote good morals and family values." They believe the National Film Board "should be reduced to an archival facility". And they recently sent out a press release calling for a moratorium on all immigration from Muslim nations because "immigration is being used as a form of jihad designed to undermine Canada’s Judeo-Christian culture and law to replace it with Sharia law".

They are not, however, completely against government spending. They'd raise sales taxes to help offset the lost revenue from the abolished income tax and use it to fund their programs. They'd give $1000 a month to families with one parent staying home to raise their children. They'd make student loans interest free for the first ten years after graduation. They would invest more money in health care, fund improvements to hospitals and pay the tuition of medical students willing to work in rural areas.

The Christian Heritage Party is also the most popular fringe party in all of Canada. In the last election, their 59 candidates won them more votes than another party outside the big five: nearly 27,000 of them, good for 0.19% percent of all ballots cast across the country. (The Greens, who some people like to call fringe, got  nearly a million. Even the Christian Heritage Party would have to grow by about 3500% to rival them.)

The party's current leader is Jim Hnatiuk, a Baptist deacon and former soldier who runs what Wikipedia calls "the largest hunting, fishing and taxidermy business in Nova Scotia." We recently spoke with Vicki Gunn, a candidate and the Executive Director of the party, to get her thoughts on the current campaign.

How would you describe your party to a voter who isn't already familiar with it?

CHP Canada is Canada's only pro-life, pro-family federal political party. We have looked at moral issues, which recent governments have neglected to considering policies, i.e. Debt is theft from future generations - they will be the ones forced to repay it. Abortion kills a child.

What kind of voter do you expect your party to appeal to?

Our appeal is to traditional conservative voters.

What do you think is the most important issue facing voters in this election?

The economy is vitally important. According to StatsCan, by 2031 there will be 2 workers for every retiree. This, coupled with our debt, has left a difficult future for our children and grandchildren. How will they sustain the debt, retirement benefits under a "Pay as you Go" system, the government of the day, plus support themselves and their families. We must address the issue today!

What do you see as the least important issue currently distracting attention away from more vital ones?

The imposition of carbon taxes or cap and trade schemes for a false problem like climate change. The climate has always changed, 10,000 years ago this part of North America was under ice. We do not need increased taxation, which can only increase the debt we impose on future generations and increase the financial challenges faced by Canadians today.

What do you see as the biggest flaw in the way the country has been run over the last few years?

Government has abdicated its responsibility to govern. From the 1989 refusal to initiate laws to protect the unborn, granting abortion rights up to the moment the child fully exits its mothers body, to government's refusal to deal with Section 13 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, with its infringement on Canadian's rights. From government's refusal to protect the institution of marriage, which has historically provided a safe and secure environment for raising children, to government's refusal to protect our culture of freedoms and equalities from infringement by other world views. Government has failed to govern.

What's your response those who might be concerned about an openly religious government in Canada, given the country's religious diversity and the democratic tradition of a division between church and state?

Canada was founded under the Christian worldview from the naming of the Dominion of Canada (Psalm 72:8) under the inspiration of Sir Leonard Tilley to the Scripture verses written on our Parliament buildings. The worldview that gave us these freedoms and equalities that we enjoy have been deduced from Scripture. There is no other heritage that has produced the freedoms that we've enjoyed in the western world. Look to any other worldview to see the legacy they've left of bloody atrocities against their own people.

Your party's website has called for a moratorium on immigration from Muslim nations because "immigration is being used as a form of jihad designed to undermine Canada’s Judeo-Christian culture and law to replace it with Sharia law". Is that a fair representation? Does the Christian Heritage Party believe Canada is in real, imminent danger of falling under Sharia law?

In Ontario, a few years ago, Premier Dalton McGuinty faced the decision about whether to allow Sharia Law to be practiced. Thankfully, he chose to protect the freedoms and equalities of our heritage. We may not be so fortunate the next time it comes up. England now runs a parallel system of Sharia and British law. As women are not equal under Sharia Law then only some women in Britain are equal, the rest are subordinate. We see the challenges faced across Europe as women lose their protection as equal citizens and become forced to adhere to other worldviews. Whether it's the recognition that they must submit to dressing in certain ways if they enter certain neighbourhoods, or whether it's the fear of honour killings, the equality of women in the western world is no longer assured. Canada must protect our heritage and all current Canadians from facing this type of threat.

Some of the federal policies your party opposes -- for instance, funding for abortions and continued support for same-sex marriage -- have been interpreted by the courts as rights enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights. Would your party seek to amend the Charter, or find another way around legal challenges?

The courts have usurped government position by reading into the Charter what had been clearly expressed at its forming to not be there in the same sex marriage issue. That is not the job of judges, they have not been elected to govern. It is undemocratic to have our laws created by unelected people. The courts did not say abortion was a right in 1989, they said the current law was unconstitutional. They sent it back to Parliament to rewrite the law. Parliament abdicated its responsibility to govern.

Should the courts, government, or anyone determine that it is okay to kill handicapped people, that would not make the law just or moral. It is government's responsibility to protect ALL Canadians. Not just those who have exited healthily from their mother's womb and managed to remain without defect throughout their lives.

What's your response to people who suggest that voting for a lesser-known political party is tantamount to throwing your vote away?

Democracy is "Rule by the People". If the people vote for something they do not believe to be correct then they have wasted their vote. Voting to ensure the best government possible for the people of Canada is democracy... no matter how many ways it splits the vote.

What is the biggest challenge you expect your party to face over the course of the campaign?

Since the Liberal government brought in the voter subsidy to political parties gaining 5% of the voter support, they have deliberately made it as difficult as possible for the democratic process. It is undemocratic for government to block people from having the right to politically express themselves but they do it by commandeering that portion of tax payer money while refusing to allow people the right to choose what political party they will choose to support with the $2 government takes from them. Similarly, the government will pay a portion of campaign costs to the larger parties but again have placed qualification to protect their own interests.

What has to have happened by the time the election is over for you to look back on it as a success?

Our candidates will have presented to Canadians a platform that will protect our way of life, protect Canadians at all ages, protected the financial future of our children and grandchildren. The other political parties want to avoid moral issues but our candidates ensure that these issues remain in the public eye.

What are your long-term hopes for your party? Where would you like to see it in five or ten years?

I would like to see continued growth and seats achieved in Parliament. 

You can learn more about the Christian Heritage Party by visiting them online at www.chp.ca.

This is the eighth in a series of profiles we will be posting over the course of the campaign.  Here are the others we have published so far:

Canadian Action Party, leader Christopher Porter here.

United Party of Canada, leader Brian Jedan, here.

Marijuana Party of Canada, leader Blair T. Longley here. 
Rhinoceros Party of Canada, leader Francois "Yo" Gound here.
Libertarian Party of Canada, VP of Political Action John Shaw here. 
Pirate Party of Canada, former leader Jake Daynes here. 
Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party of Canada, leader Liz White here.
Communist Party of Canada, campaign coordinator Dave Andrews here. 
Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) leader Anna DiCarlo here.