Larry R. Heather

Larry R. Heather (born in Vulcan, Alberta) is a politician and activist in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He is a perennial candidate for the Christian Heritage Party of Canada, and has also campaigned in provincial and municipal elections.

He holds a Bachelor of Religious Education degree from Briercrest Bible College in Saskatchewan, a Bachelor of Arts degree in Religion from Rocky Mountain College in Calgary, and a Graduate Certificate of Christian Studies from Regent College in Vancouver. A shipper/receiver and audio editor by profession, he is a member and performer in the Canadian Badlands Passion Play Society and a member of the Creation Science Association of Alberta. Heather also hosts the radio program "Gospel Road" on AM1140 in High River, and is webmaster of the William Aberhart Historical Foundation. He has lived in the electoral district Calgary Southwest since 1963.

Heather is best known as an anti-abortion activist. He was briefly detained in 1985 for throwing ketchup on abortion activist Henry Morgentaler, upon the latter's arrival in Calgary on a fundraising tour.^[1] He later protested against funding for the Calgary Birth Control Association in 1988, on the grounds that the organization provided abortion counselling.^[2] A few months after the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the nation's abortion law, he was quoted as saying, "a woman's womb is the most dangerous place to live in Canada".^[3] During a debate over a Calgary abortion clinic in 1991, he described Morgentaler as "a mass murderer who has murdered thousands of unborn babies".^[4]

He has also been active in other socially conservative causes. During the 1989 municipal campaign, he described a local gay bar as a "major public health threat"^[5] and claimed that condoms in washroom coin machines would result in a "flood of promiscuity".^[6] In 2005, he criticized Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper for supporting civil union rights for homosexual couples.^[7]

Heather is a member of Cedars of Lebanon (CoL), a group which believes that the growth of cedars in Lebanon and Israel will signal the return of the Christian Messiah.^[8] He spoke in defense of fellow CoL member Bruce Balfour in 2003, upon the latter's arrest by Lebanese authorities on charges of spying for Israel.^[9] The charges were not proven, and Balfour was released.

As of 2007, he was the 2nd vice-president of communication of the Alberta Social Credit Party. Heather is a member of the Fairview Baptist Church, and for many years was president of Christians Concerned For Life in Calgary.^[10][11] He has also written and performed gospel songs and is a playwright with three produced two act dramas including a Messianic Hanukkah Musical Tree of Light.^[12]

One of his campaign documents in 2006 featured the headline, "Purge Supreme Court Activist Rulings!", accompanied by the image of a judge smashing his gavel on a husband-and-wife centrepiece. This was a reference to the recent legalization of Same-sex marriage in Canada. His campaign website also featured images of aborted fetuses, which are juxtaposed with and likened to images of massacred children in Rwanda.^[13]

In October 2007, he entered the campaign for the leadership of the Social Credit Party of Alberta. He lost to Len Skowronski in a vote in Red Deer on November 3, 2007.

Electoral activity

The 1989 municipal results are taken from the Calgary Heraldof 17 October 1989, with 38 of 44 polls reporting. The 1992 municipal results are taken from the Calgary Heraldof 20 October 1992, with 30 of 50 polls reporting.

References