In a quiet but significant shift, Canada’s pro-life movement is celebrating gains in Parliament after the recent election, even as the country reaffirmed leadership under a prime minister openly committed to expanding abortion services.

Liberal Party leader Mark Carney, a Catholic who publicly dissents from Church teaching on abortion, secured a minority government in the April 29 federal election. Carney made headlines during the campaign by declaring his “absolute” and “unreserved” support for abortion rights, promising continued federal funding for abortion services and subsidies for in vitro fertilization, The B.C. Catholic reported.

But in a quieter political current, dozens of candidates supported by the pro-life advocacy group Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) saw success at the polls. 

“We congratulate and celebrate the 42 pro-life candidates whom we green-lit and who were elected,” said CLC President Jeff Gunnarson, according to The B.C. Catholic. Among them were six newly elected members of Parliament. All pro-life incumbents were also re-elected.

While both major parties took explicitly pro-abortion stances — Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre pledged not to introduce any abortion restrictions — CLC emphasized the importance of focusing on individual candidates. 

According to The B.C. Catholic, in the lead-up to the election, Canada’s Catholic bishops issued a pastoral reminder about the moral gravity of life issues. The bishops pointed to growing concerns around Canada’s expanding assisted suicide regime — referred to as Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD). 

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Bishop William McGrattan, head of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, warned of the country’s drift toward legal norms that violate human dignity. He called out what he described as a troubling “disconnect” among Catholic politicians who publicly distance their policies from Church teaching.

Carney largely avoided the assisted MAiD debate during his campaign, while Poilievre took a neutral stance, saying he would neither restrict nor broaden access. That silence drew criticism from CLC, which accused both leaders of ignoring what it called “the most important election in decades” for issues of life and conscience.

Gunnarson sharply criticized the incoming Liberal government for promoting policies that “turned Canada into a death machine,” affecting not only the unborn but also the elderly, sick, and disabled. 

CLC also blamed Poilievre’s defeat on the Conservative Party’s failure to draw moral distinctions from its rivals.

“This proves, once again, that trying to appear more pro-abortion and pro-LGBT than the Libs doesn’t win elections for the Conservative Party,” said Jack Fonseca, CLC’s director of political operations. “Failure to distinguish from the Liberals on moral issues results in electoral failure, every time.”

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