“Morality is part of politics,” said the Conservative MP for Saskatoon-University in a phone interview. “The question is, what level of morality? Are we going more towards proper morality, Christian morality, which has governed the West, or are we going toward immorality as far as everyone takes what they want?”

It’s a question he explores in speaking at the annual general meeting of the pro-family group REAL Women of Canada in Toronto May 26.

The organization of society is based on legislation passed by our governments, and that is generally put together based on society’s morals, Trost said. The aim is for fairness, and fairness is based on morals.

Politics influences culture, but culture also has a strong influence on politics, said Trost. 

“It’s a symbiotic relationship. So essentially a society has to have a moral, upstanding culture to have a good political system, but political leaders need to have moral character to be good political leaders.”

So the question arises, he said: “How do we put together a public morality that is good for everyone?”

That can be tough on a government. You need look no further than Question Period on Parliament Hill to see that the Opposition and governing party do not see eye-to-eye. 

The key is to find a broad consensus, said Trost, who has represented his riding since 2004 but lost the party’s nomination to run in the 2019 federal election. 

“Societies where morality is completely absent from politics tend to be (a system) of lies and corruption. What you end up with ultimately is a strongman in charge,” he said.

Still, morality is in the eye of the beholder. Canada is undergoing a bit of a crisis with its immigration policy right now. Thousands of refugees are crossing our border from the United States. The question becomes, do we look after those coming in first or do we look after the interests of Canadians? It can all be a delicate balancing act, Trost said.

Though Trost reiterates that Canada has done a good job in finding the right balance, he is bothered about one dramatic step back over the past 50 years: the respect for the sanctity of human life. Trost is staunchly pro-life and says for Canada’s first century the respect for human life “was not perfect,” but “it was pretty good.”

“For the last 50 years, the value of human life has increasingly dropped and we’re seeing more of a what can I get from society for myself (mentality) rather than how can I protect the weakest,” he said.