Canada (MNN)–Stephen Harper has led the Conservative Party to a slim election victory in Canada.
When asked whether a Conservative Prime Minister would help Christians in their efforts toward evangelism, Voice of the Martyrs Canada’s Glenn Penner said, “We’re optimistic that we’re not going to see more of the same. We’re not going to see, I think, an increasing slide away from social conservatism, but not, at least in the short term, are we going to see an undoing of some of this legislation such as same-sex marriage, the hate literature laws, such as abortion laws.”
While that’s disappointint news, it’s not for lack of interest. Rather, says Penner, it’s due to the rest of the poll results. “He simply doesn’t have enough strength in the House of Commons.”
Conservative Stephen Harper took the election on pledges of carrying out his campaign promises quickly. He promised to end corruption, cut taxes, get tough on crime and repair strained ties with the United States.
After 13 years of broken promises and scandals, the public decided to take control away from the Liberal Party and handed Harper’s party the national elections.
The good news was his party won 124 of the 308 seats in the House of Commons in Monday’s election. The bad news is he has nowhere near the 155 seats needed to form a majority in Parliament.
The work will be tough, if he intends on following through with his promises. Under the last administration, a bill was passed last year that calls portions of the Bible ‘hate literature.’
Undoing that will be a challenge. Penner urges prayer for the believers who will grapple with these issues in office. “One of the things we learn dealing with politicians it’s that you can’t judge progress by winning, but whether or not you’ve made some progress towards your goals, one step at a time.”
