I was just listening to a local talk radio show with guest Stephen Harper, and he pretty much said his Conservative party is the federal Christian party (no big surprise there). I personally do not want to vote for a party that has so little regard for the separation of church and state, but I don’t know which other federal party to vote for.
Any ideas, Canadian Dopers (especially Gorsnak and Northern Piper), on which Federal parties are strong on keeping church and state separated?
Well, compared to the USA, not even the Conservatives are that deep-dyed religious.
But when it comes to godlessness, give me the good old NDP every time!
(although, come to think of it, they have added many New Canadians to their ranks in the last 20 years or so; many of whom may hold strong views about their traditional religious beliefs, ie Sikhism, Hindhuism, etc. So perhaps you may want to look at this issue on a candidate-by-candidate basis.)
When I think about it, I think we are not so far behind the U.S.A. in losing our minds over religion. I see it in little, creeping ways every so often, just enough to remind me that we are not immune either, and must remain vigilant.
I thought about the NDP - they are a very inclusionary party, so it makes sense that they would stay away from being overtly religious.
One point, although from my perspective the NDP as socially progressive/left with a view on a fairly separation between church and state, I wouldn’t necessarily equate that with “godlessness”.
While the NDP’s roots into the CCF includes advocating democratic socialism and the cooperative movement over capitalism, long-time Saskatchewan premier and federal leader, Tommy Douglas, was a Baptist minister prior to his entry into politics. Even today, Saskatchewan’s premier, Lorne Calvert, was a United Church minister prior to his entry into politics.
And FWIW, I took a quick glance at Wikipedia. The entry includes:
I have always been of the impression that the religious left in Canada has found its home in the NDP, particularly the religious Christian left. But hey, I’m in Saskatchewan, home of Tommy Douglas, and now Lorne Calvert.
The Bloc’s not religious at all so far as I can tell. ;j
The Bloc is clearly the least religiously influenced of the major parties, which is to be expected, as they exclusively represent the least religious province.
Canadian politics has been blissfully free of religious content for many years, although the gay-marriage issue has certainly brought it into the forefront. Now suddenly we have things like Bishop Fred Henry calling for the excommunication of Paul Martin if he doesn’t vote against it. It would certainly be a mistake, however, to cede the idea of religious high-ground to the Conservatives, and I say this as an atheist. They are certainly courting a specific segment of the religious vote, whatever that may work out to be, but they aren’t going to have the monopoly on it. Not everyone in the Liberal party are comfortable with the idea, (see: Pat O’Brien, Tom Wappel) although as the past few months have shown us, party affiliation in Canada is somewhat fluid. I don’t see Canadian religious thinking to be monolithic – just think of all the Unitarians we have. (aside: such a Canadian religion that is). I think the Conservatives are going to find this particular well drier than the Republicans found it in the US.
I forgot about that.
So, Bloc it is. (That’s a joke, for any 'Merkins. The Bloc Quebecois doesn’t run candidates in all provinces - only Quebec, because in spite of having been the Official Opposition, it is very much a special interest party whose special interest is the dissolution of Canada and has absolutely no business being a Federal party.)
Nonsense! If you’re really serious about keeping religion out of federal politics, we expect you to move to Trois Rivieres so that you can vote for the Bloc. Get packing!
It might be more fun to move to Shawinigan and do that! 
Apart from the Big C, they’re all pretty much irreligious parties – at least politically.
I don’t have great reserves of respect and admiration for Paul Martin from which to draw, but our PM did get a reflexive solidarity fist outta me today during a newsradio interview that touched on the efforts to pass Bill C-38 (federal guarantee of same-sex marriage rights.)
(For those following along at home, the Conservatives are the only ones making any serious effort to block the passage of this Bill, and they haven’t got a ghost of a chance.)
Anyway, Mr. Martin’s sentiment is pretty much the standard, innit? I remember Itrath Syed (a hijab-wearing muslim NDP candidate) took a bit of heat from her religious community during last year’s election campaign for supporting efforts to secure same-sex marriage rights. Her open letter to her community was awesome. (Nutshell: We’re a minority group, too. If we want to protect our right to live as we are compelled to, we must of necessity promote the rights of all Canadians.) It’s too bad she was running in a strong Liberal riding – she has the right stuff.
Sorry, rambling.