We have a new Prime Minister here in the Great White North. After thirteen years of the Liberal Party reigning in Canada, the Conservatives have fought back. Thirteen years of corruption and mismanagement left Canadians angry and disillusioned with a party that seemed as intent on destroying Canada as they did on protecting it. Now it is the Conservative’s turn to prove that they can do better.
There is much reason for hope. For the first time in far too long a Prime Minister has been elected who hails from the Western part of Canada – the area of Canada that is much more conservative socially and spiritually – the part of Canada that so rarely has a voice in our nation. For the first time in far too long the Prime Minister will not be from Quebec. And that is a good thing. And, in fact, for the first time in a long while the Prime Minster will not be Roman Catholic. And that is also a good thing. I don’t know if Stephen Harper is a Christian. He was raised Presbyterian, I believe, and attends Christian and Missionary Alliance congregations in Calgary and Ottawa. I hope and trust that he is a believer. But even if he is not, he represents a conservative perspective that is far different from what has driven Canada for the past decade.
Yet he will have to tread carefully. Those hoping that he will make radical changes to abortion policy or policies regarding homosexual marriage probably hope in vain. He holds only a minority government and it is rare that a minority government last out its mandate in our system of government before it is toppled in a vote of non-confidence. He has promised free votes in parliament on a variety of important issues and these will go a long way to showing what Canadians really want. The Conservative government will have to prove itself to skeptical and disillusioned Canadians and will have to exercise great judgment and discernment in doing so.
Today is a big day for Canadians. It is a big day for Canadian Christians who have, for the first time in quite a while, been given just a glimmer of hope that perhaps the moral decay that has pervaded our country and that has been encouraged by the Liberal government, will be tempered, at least for a little while. And so please join with me today in praying for this country. I love Canada. I truly do. I want the best for Canada and plead with God that He will take what is largely a pagan nation – a nation that has been declared a mission field by the Southern Baptists and other denominations – and begin a fresh work here by and through His people.
