Details here; an excerpt:
Christian activists have secured Conservative nominations in clusters of ridings from Vancouver to Halifax -- a political penetration that has occurred even as the party tries to distance itself from hard-line social conservatism.
At least three riding associations in Nova Scotia, four in British Columbia, and one in suburban Toronto have nominated candidates with ties to groups like Focus on the Family, a Christian organization that opposes same-sex marriage.
But organizers say many more will be on the ballot during the next federal election, a feat achieved by persuading parishioners, particularly new Canadians, to join the party and vote for recommended candidates.
Some Conservatives argue that the selection of a large number of candidates from the religious right is an unfortunate turn for a party that was accused in last year's election campaign of harbouring a socially conservative "hidden agenda...."
But Tristan Emmanuel -- the Presbyterian minister whose endorsement at the Kentville rally aided the nominations of Andrew House in Halifax, Rakesh Khosla in Halifax West and Paul Francis in Sackville-Eastern Shore -- makes no apologies.
"It's time we stopped apologizing and started defending who we are," he said. "The evangelical community in Canada, by and large, and socially conservative Catholics, are saying we have been far too heavenly minded and thus we have been of no earthly value for far too long, on too many fronts."
Mr. Emmanuel runs the Equipping Christians for the Public Square Centre, which teaches people of his faith to become political. He is reluctant to say how many adherents have obtained Conservative nominations because he is afraid the news media will portray the campaign as the infiltration of the party by "right-wing fanatics...."
Rondo Thomas beat former Conservative MP René Soetens for the nomination in Ajax, on the eastern edge of Toronto. Dr. Thomas is a top official with the Canada Christian College, which is run by Charles McVety, a senior director of the Defend Marriage Coalition.
"The Defend Marriage Coalition engaged in a concerted effort to help pro-marriage candidates become nominated," Dr. McVety said.
"There is a desire to see pro-marriage nominees as candidates right across the country. We know that we have 141 pro-marriage MPs now and our hope is to achieve a pro-marriage Parliament."
There has been no specific drive to infiltrate the Conservatives, Dr. McVety said. Some religious Liberals have been nominated as well. But the Tories have taken the lion's share, he said, probably because of the party's opposition to changing the definition of marriage.
Like Mr. Emmanuel, Dr. McVety expresses no uneasiness with his efforts.
"The distortion of the separation of church and state has driven people of faith out of leadership and this is very wrong," he said.
And now that the government has decided to redefine marriage, faith leaders have been forced to urge their congregations to mobilize politically, Dr. McVety said.
As a result, they "are typically signing up as members of political parties, some of them for the first time in their lives. Many of them even signing up for political parties that they've never voted for in their lives before."
The only good news is that polls still suggest that voters reject the Conservative Party precisely because of its position on issues like abortion and gay marriage. If the party adds religious zeal to its official bigotries that should only hasten its decline.
UPDATE: A Canadian philosophy student calls my attention to some new poll numbers, and also adds the following pertinent observations:
While I never thought I'd find myself defending the Conservative Party, it's worth pointing out that their official position on abortion and gay marriage are quite different than the positions of your Republicans. Voters reject the Conservatives not on the basis of their official policices on abortion and gay marriage, but on the basis of a perceived hidden agenda (this is, quite likely, an accurate perception). I'm not trying to say the Conservatives aren't right-wing nuts - they are - but, in all fairness, I think our Conservatives are about as liberal as your Democrats when you look at their official policies. As a matter of party policy, the Conservatives have declared that they will not address the issue of abortion (thus, 'officially', putting them in the same boat as the governing Liberals). On the issue of gay marriage, the 'official' Conservative Party policy is to reject same-sex marriage while supporting civil unions with all the benefits of marriage for same-sex couples. Many other gay rights issues that currently trouble the US have been resolved and are no longer political issues; for example, as of 1992 gays were allowed to openly serve in the military.
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