Leadership Candidate
Wappel was the first declared candidate in the Liberal Party's 1990 leadership convention, announcing his candidacy on June 29, 1989. He described himself as the only candidate willing to make abortion a leadership issue. Wappel spoke against abortion in all circumstances, saying that while rape and incest are terrible tragedies, "they cannot possibly be compounded by the further tragedy of destroying human life." He also called for increased immigration to Canada and harsher penalties against drug traffickers, while opposing the Meech Lake Accord and "distinct society" status for Quebec.
Wappel spoke against federal daycare programs during one all-candidates meeting, arguing that the Canadian government should promote stay-at-home parenting instead. Late in the campaign, he said that he did not consider single-parent households or homosexual couples to be families.
His candidacy was not supported by any other MPs although he won the endorsement of Liberals for Life, an anti-abortion pressure group working inside the Liberal Party, in March 1990. During his nomination speech at the convention, Wappel called for abortion to be made a criminal offence with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. He finished in fourth place, as Jean Chrétien won the leadership on the first ballot.
Read more about this topic: Tom Wappel
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