58 pages of policy, but still one key issue seems to dominate for the Christian Heritage Party

Rod Taylor, the candidate in Skeena-Bulkley Valley is trying to move the discussion of his candidacy in the federal election away from the predictable one of religious overtones and onto a larger examination of his party's 58 page policy platform.

Taylor outlined his thoughts on the impressions of his party with local voters in a Daily News interview, suggesting that voters should look beyond his personal beliefs and look to the Party's plans for such things as taxation and infrastructure renewal.

Frequently looked upon as a one issue party, that being the CHP position against abortion, Taylor gave brief mention to the other policy initiatives of his party, but didn't really offer up much in the way of details on them.

As it is, while he may not wish to be portrayed as a one issue candidate, that one issue of abortion did tend to take up the bulk of the published interview from Friday's paper.

The interview serves as a handy introduction to his participation in the campaign, but as far as outlining the rest of his party's platform it seems that a good number of those 58 pages must either focus in on the controversial abortion issue, or the rest of the talking points were left behind when he began explaining where the CHP would take us if they ever formed a government.

A quick scan of the party's website, offers up a thumbnail sketch of their platform, a rather lean examination of their key issues, numbering in the low twenties, including the main planks of the abortion debate.

A debate which still seems to dominate the party's outlook, despite his introduction of other items for our consideration.

The details of his conversation with the Daily News were found in Friday's paper.

CHP candidate hoping issues get a full airing
Rod Taylor welcoming the chance to share his ideas on regional stage
By George T. Baker
The Daily News
Friday, September 26, 2008

Page three

Rod Taylor is not afraid to speak his mind and the forestry worker from Smithers is hoping voters will open their minds and give him a chance to be heard this federal election.

Running for the Christian Heritage Party seems to have been some sort of scarlet letter but the candidate for Skeena-Bulkley Valley said that he is not afraid to endure some criticism of his political and personal beliefs. That's the reason he's running in the first place. He wants the discussion about his views to be considered, even if voters don't agree with his platform.

"The numbers will show that our policies are supported and when parties see that our policies are supported they will have a good look at our policies and adopt them," said Taylor during a visit to the Daily News office.

There is no doubt that the man is pro-life. He and the CHP do not support the federal funding of abortion because they say it does not fit into the country's four-post policy for medical help - the party contends abortions are not medically necessary, beneficial to the patient, offering benefits that outweigh the risks, and are not the result of informed consent.

"We believe in all health care decisions that we need more information," said Taylor.

"Women for instance are having abortion out of fear and without adequate information about the risks involved. There are serious health care issues when it comes to abortion, not only for the child who dies every time, but for the woman who undergoes the procedure."

But it isn't just the right to have an abortion or not. Taylor is also concerned about the rights of fetuses.

He supported the Conservative MP Ken Epp with his private members bill, C-484, or the Unborn Victims of Crime Act. The bill debated this spring supported Taylor's view that when a mother is a victim of a murder, so too is her unborn child.

"It clearly excluded abortion as a bill and it could stand on its own and I believe that every Member of Parliament should have supported it. It was supporting the right of a woman to bring her child to term if she so chose and any charges against the pregnant woman or her doctor were specifically excluded," said Taylor.

Taylor said it was a myth that perpetuated in to some sort of truth that the private members bill advocated making abortion illegal.

Myth making has become a part of the campaign process. The magical wand that evokes political magic usually comes with a trail of set-in-stone attitudes about where a party stands versus another. However, Taylor does not buy that.

Taylor considers his party not to be just for the Christian and monotheistic groups of Canadian society.

"We feel we are the party that is best positioned to represent people of all beliefs. We believe in freedom of religion and one of our top battles is to protect freedom of religion in the public square," said Taylor.

The full-time forestry industry worker believes that secular atheism is also a religion but the difference is that this religion is being pushed on Canadians so that people who have religious values are hindered from presenting their beliefs in a public forum.

Another myth he wished to clear up was that the CHP is a one-issue party - that they only defended religious beliefs and have no plan for the communities of this riding, nor the country.

"We have a 58-page policy," said Taylor. "Number one is we want to abolish to income tax and replace it with a consumer tax. This would give taxpayers, working people, the opportunity of saving more of their income for investing into business and entrepreneurial businesses in Canada. We have an infrastructure renewal program unlike the one the Liberals unveiled.

Ours would involve interest-free loans from the Bank of Canada for municipalities, Crown corporations and provinces to build more infrastructure projects like the Port of Prince Rupert," said Taylor.

If any of this is going to come to fruition, the CHP and Rod Taylor will have to be elected first, a giant task given the relative size of the party in comparison to the big three in Skeena-Bulkley Valley - the Conservatives, Liberals and NDP.

Or maybe not.

"We think the only wasted vote is for the party that doesn't represent your views and if you keep voting for the lesser of two evils all you are going to have left to choose is evil," said Taylor.