Guide for 2011 Federal Election | Canadian Catholic Bioethics Institute – Affiliated with the University of St. Michael's College in the University of Toronto

(CCCB – Ottawa)… With a federal election campaign underway, the Commission for Justice and Peace of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) has issued a guide inviting Catholics to vote with discernment.

In its “Federal Election 2011 Guide”, the Commission lists some basic principles from Catholic moral and social teaching to help voters analyse and evaluate public policies and programs.

The document focuses especially on respect for life and the dignity of the human person, social justice, the family, world peace and the environment.

While recognizing there are times when “choices may prove very difficult,” the Commission for Justice and Peace also observes that a well-formed Christian conscience does not permit one to vote for a political program or an individual law which opposes or differs from the fundamental content of faith and morals.