EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the fifth in a series of six federal election candidate profiles, appearing daily in alphabetical order.
Tara Jeffrey
Tom Laird says his love of country inspired him to get into politics.
“My dad was in the Second World war, so for me, being patriotic was important to me because obviously it was important for my dad,” said the second-time federal Christian Heritage Party candidate for Sarnia-Lambton and longtime associate.
“My wife and I have been members of the Christian Heritage Party for about 30 years, and it’s just been in about the last five that I thought, ‘You know what? I really need to get a better understanding of what’s going on.’
“Everybody says, ‘Well you might not win,’” he added. “But if we make a difference in our community and everywhere that we go, we can be an example of what’s right and try and point people in the right direction, or even give them something serious to think about.”
Born and raised in Sarnia, the personal support worker and father of four says he’s active with his church’s ‘music-worship team,’ enjoys his motorcycle, and is kept busy with 10 grandchildren.
Laird said his party’s strong stance against abortion is a top priority.
“Obviously, we’re the only pro-life party that’s running in this election, so obviously that’s always going to be one of the number one issues for us,” he said, noting the CHP believes life begins at conception and that abortion should be defunded.
“The country’s debt is right up there, and our freedoms are being taken away from us,” he said in listing other concerns.
“Our judicial system, our defence system, our military. At the end of the Second World War we were number two in the world. Now we’ve got jets that are 50 years old and we need to be updating and being state of the art.”
Laird noted his opposition to Bills C-6 (an act to amend the Criminal Code regarding conversion therapy), C-10 (an act to amend the Broadcasting Act) and C-36 (an act to better define online hate speech in law).
Children must be protected from the LGBTQ “gender agenda” according to the CHP, which has pledged to defund the Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC), rescind government support for same-sex marriage, ‘reduce divorce’ and protect ‘freedom of speech.’
“What we try and do is encourage and help families to be stable. One of the big reasons I got involved was because we are a party of honesty and integrity,” said Laird, who earned just over 500 votes in 2019.
“Our motto is ‘life, family and freedom. That encompasses everything in our lives.”
“Life is from conception until natural death, family is important for all, and freedom — well that goes without saying,” he said.
“We try and follow and uphold the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and right now, some of that’s not being done.”