Taylor vying for local federal seat

By Collin Gallant
Southern Alberta Newspapers
Rod Taylor, the national leader of the Christian Heritage Party, has told the News he plans to campaign for the local federal seat. Taylor, 65, was elected party leader in 2014. He lives in northern British Columbia but plans to campaign here until election day.
In an interview in late September, he said Canada is a Christian nation and that traditional Christian values need to be defended. For CHP members, said Taylor, that includes banning abortion, an end to same-sex marriage, and a crackdown on provinces liberalizing their sexual education curriculum. According to the party’s platform, it would also work to eliminate the national debt and oppose a national carbon tax.
“We don’t think that we can expect God’s blessing on our nation when we are deliberately killing innocent people,” said Taylor. “We support traditional marriage … freedom of speech and freedom of worship, and both of those things are under attack in our nation today.”
His doesn’t expect to win this byelection, but Taylor says his party represents a chance for locals to vote their values.
“People should realize that strategic voting (in the byelection) isn’t going to change the makeup of government,” said Taylor. “But it is an opportunity for residents of Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner to send a message to Ottawa about the kind of society that they want to live in.”
Taylor said his connection to the local riding comes through his relationship with party members. He also spent one winter working on a hog farm in the County of Warner in the mid-1970s. More recently, he had a private career in railways and as a lumber grader. He also owned and operated a Christian bookstore with his wife, Elaine.
He also says the CHP should be seen as an alternative to the Conservative Party. That party’s members voted in their May 2016 policy convention to end the party’s official opposition to marriage for gays and lesbians, choosing a more neutral stance.