How to right the Conservative ship
- Thread starter mentalfloss
- Start date
Well, when you put all the fatass Old Stock Canadians to the right of center, it's hardly surprising that the ship lists badly.
Does Canada need the Conservative Party?
One of the more surprising aftermaths of the election of Justin Trudeau and the Liberals was seeing the speed with which former Conservative cabinet ministers distanced themselves from Stephen Harper and his style of government.
“Clearly we’ve got to turn a page, and we’ve got to reattach Conservative values and principles to the hopes and aspirations of Canadians,” Tony Clement, the former president of the Treasury Board, said the night the Tories handed their solid majority in Parliament to the Liberals.
“We need a conservatism that is sunnier and more optimistic than what we have sometimes conveyed,” said Jason Kenney, the former minister of national defence.
No kidding. So where were Messrs. Clement and Kenney during the years Mr. Harper ran the party, and especially during the election campaign? Were they speaking out about their leader’s oppressively dark and pessimistic conservatism, one that pitted Canadians against each other, sowed fear and put the party in a win-at-all-costs headlock that brooked no dissent? These are two capable people – why did it take the disaster of the 2015 election for them to acknowledge that negativism, truculence and disdain for Parliament are political liabilities in Canada?
Similar questions can be asked of Rona Ambrose, the interim party leader and Leader of the Opposition. As a Harper cabinet minister, she tacitly supported her leader’s dubious position that the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women was a police matter only, and that a public inquiry was unnecessary. The minute the Liberals were elected and reaffirmed their campaign promise to hold an inquiry, Ms. Ambrose announced the Conservatives would support it and that this was a “non-partisan issue” that “should never be political.”
This lack of conviction doesn’t bode well for the renewal of a national party whose ability to compete in elections is critical to the health of Canadian democracy. The CPC brand was no doubt damaged mostly by the insular and combative Mr. Harper, the only leader the party has ever had, but many of the leading men and women who remain in its ranks were groomed by Mr. Harper and seem content to work in his image.
The question is, as Mr. Kenney put it, can Canadian conservatism become “sunnier and more optimistic,” or is it doomed by its Reform Party roots to forever view government, the civil service, the Supreme Court, the media, unions, social liberals and other so-called “elites” with Mr. Harper’s unpleasant, sneering suspicion?
It’s evident that the Conservatives themselves don’t know the answer to that yet. Thankfully, the party’s leadership campaign is at least 18 months away, giving its MPs and leadership hopefuls time to reflect and, possibly, to learn.
The first thing Tories need to do in Opposition is to demonstrate respect for Parliament, something they conspicuously failed to do while in power. They can perhaps take notes from the Liberals, who have promised to make Question Period more civil, strengthen the role of committees, eschew omnibus budget bills and end the Harper government’s animosity toward critical watchdogs like the Auditor-General and the Parliamentary Budget Officer. If the Liberals keep their promises, it will be a useful refresher course for the likes of Ms. Ambrose and Mr. Kenney, not to mention Pierre Poilievre, on the primacy of Parliament.
The second thing the Conservative Party must do is remind Canadians why the country needs it. The job of preventing unnecessary expansions of government is never done. But Conservatives must recognize that many voters want something more than just tax cuts, sometimes with good reason. This is an opportunity for the Tories to refocus on fiscal prudence (which is more than just balancing a budget) and good government (which is not always less government), and get away from the divisive and embittering social issues that helped them lose the election. The Harper Conservatives stopped being a party of ideas. That has to change.
To do so it must abandon divisive, win-at-all-costs politicking. It must stop treating Parliament like an assembly line cranking out boutique tax breaks and targeted legislation designed for fundraising. It also needs to stop treating political opponents, judges, civil servants and independent-minded MPs as enemies to be destroyed. And above all, it must convince Canadians that it is the party with the best ideas for increasing the country’s peace, order, good government and prosperity. Otherwise, it will lose the next election, and deserve to.
Year in review: Does Canada need the Conservative Party? - The Globe and Mail
One of the more surprising aftermaths of the election of Justin Trudeau and the Liberals was seeing the speed with which former Conservative cabinet ministers distanced themselves from Stephen Harper and his style of government.
“Clearly we’ve got to turn a page, and we’ve got to reattach Conservative values and principles to the hopes and aspirations of Canadians,” Tony Clement, the former president of the Treasury Board, said the night the Tories handed their solid majority in Parliament to the Liberals.
“We need a conservatism that is sunnier and more optimistic than what we have sometimes conveyed,” said Jason Kenney, the former minister of national defence.
No kidding. So where were Messrs. Clement and Kenney during the years Mr. Harper ran the party, and especially during the election campaign? Were they speaking out about their leader’s oppressively dark and pessimistic conservatism, one that pitted Canadians against each other, sowed fear and put the party in a win-at-all-costs headlock that brooked no dissent? These are two capable people – why did it take the disaster of the 2015 election for them to acknowledge that negativism, truculence and disdain for Parliament are political liabilities in Canada?
Similar questions can be asked of Rona Ambrose, the interim party leader and Leader of the Opposition. As a Harper cabinet minister, she tacitly supported her leader’s dubious position that the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women was a police matter only, and that a public inquiry was unnecessary. The minute the Liberals were elected and reaffirmed their campaign promise to hold an inquiry, Ms. Ambrose announced the Conservatives would support it and that this was a “non-partisan issue” that “should never be political.”
This lack of conviction doesn’t bode well for the renewal of a national party whose ability to compete in elections is critical to the health of Canadian democracy. The CPC brand was no doubt damaged mostly by the insular and combative Mr. Harper, the only leader the party has ever had, but many of the leading men and women who remain in its ranks were groomed by Mr. Harper and seem content to work in his image.
The question is, as Mr. Kenney put it, can Canadian conservatism become “sunnier and more optimistic,” or is it doomed by its Reform Party roots to forever view government, the civil service, the Supreme Court, the media, unions, social liberals and other so-called “elites” with Mr. Harper’s unpleasant, sneering suspicion?
It’s evident that the Conservatives themselves don’t know the answer to that yet. Thankfully, the party’s leadership campaign is at least 18 months away, giving its MPs and leadership hopefuls time to reflect and, possibly, to learn.
The first thing Tories need to do in Opposition is to demonstrate respect for Parliament, something they conspicuously failed to do while in power. They can perhaps take notes from the Liberals, who have promised to make Question Period more civil, strengthen the role of committees, eschew omnibus budget bills and end the Harper government’s animosity toward critical watchdogs like the Auditor-General and the Parliamentary Budget Officer. If the Liberals keep their promises, it will be a useful refresher course for the likes of Ms. Ambrose and Mr. Kenney, not to mention Pierre Poilievre, on the primacy of Parliament.
The second thing the Conservative Party must do is remind Canadians why the country needs it. The job of preventing unnecessary expansions of government is never done. But Conservatives must recognize that many voters want something more than just tax cuts, sometimes with good reason. This is an opportunity for the Tories to refocus on fiscal prudence (which is more than just balancing a budget) and good government (which is not always less government), and get away from the divisive and embittering social issues that helped them lose the election. The Harper Conservatives stopped being a party of ideas. That has to change.
To do so it must abandon divisive, win-at-all-costs politicking. It must stop treating Parliament like an assembly line cranking out boutique tax breaks and targeted legislation designed for fundraising. It also needs to stop treating political opponents, judges, civil servants and independent-minded MPs as enemies to be destroyed. And above all, it must convince Canadians that it is the party with the best ideas for increasing the country’s peace, order, good government and prosperity. Otherwise, it will lose the next election, and deserve to.
Year in review: Does Canada need the Conservative Party? - The Globe and Mail
After their defeat, the Conservatives need to ask what they stand for.
Before Stephen Harper became Prime Minister, he made a pact – and mostly kept to it – to tamp down the right-wing of his own party. He promised to not legislate abortion access. And he didn’t. He acknowledged social diversity and sent then-Minister Jason Kenney to court new Canadian associations. He did not debate or bring back the death penalty.
To be sure, Harper took steps to keep the right-wing from rebellion. He created the office for religious freedom. He celebrated the military and royalist symbols of Canada’s colonial past.
But for most of his ten years the Harper coalition included libertarians, foreign policy hawks, free-market conservatives and the business elites and lobbyists often drawn to the Liberals. Right-wing insurgents were excluded.
But then, at the end, he reached for xenophobia. The signatures of that effort were his push for laws banning niqabs and setting up a barbaric practices snitch line.
And now Conservatives must choose. Was right-wing populism a desperate error to be rejected? Or be embraced?
There’s a constituency for Trump-style insurgency politics in Canada. Currently, the most obvious proof is in the reaction to improved safety laws for Alberta farmworkers.
A government bill to stop senseless deaths in a dangerous industry is reasonable policy. And the opposition’s effort to find problems with the bill is also fair and reasonable. But some right-wing groups are calling the bill a conspiracy to destroy the family farm. They’re rallying the violent and irrational.
Amid this insurgency have come death threats against Alberta’s progressive woman Premier – threats to “kill,” “shoot” and “pitchfork” the elected head of government. It’s disturbing and ugly.
In public, Wildrose Leader Brian Jean condemned the threats and appealed for calm. But if you think Jean and Wildrose have chosen reasonable conservatism over the pitchfork variety, they haven’t.
Fact is, Wildrose has been fanning the flames of hysteria from the start. Wildrose MLAs have promoted and spoken at right-wing rallies. They stoked irrational fears with absurd claims -- Wildrose MLA Ron Orr even claimed the aim of the bill was to “kill farmers.”
And ugly, violent comments that have no place in our democracy were allowed to remain undeleted on their Facebook site for days.
And despite all Wildrose’s help, the insurgents aren’t even thankful. Wildrose now finds itself denounced by a leader of the most prominent group for “using the movement for furthering its cause” and using their rallies “as a campaign tactic.” For the insurgents, the culture war never ends.
Wildrose’s encouragement of the insurgents leaves their party no further ahead. It associates Wildrose with irrational right-wing groups and violent threats. It hurts their plan to merge with the PCs. It won’t help Wildrose win seats in Calgary and Edmonton.
Federal Conservatives considering the way forward, take note. Harper held the insurgents at bay for most of the last decade. And won. In weakness, at the end, he appealed to them again. It failed.
Rona Ambrose should take a tougher line on Harper’s xenophobic error soon -- before some leadership candidate begins to rally the insurgents and sends her party back a decade.
Conservatives must keep far-right in check | PARKIN | Columnists | Opinion | Tor
Before Stephen Harper became Prime Minister, he made a pact – and mostly kept to it – to tamp down the right-wing of his own party. He promised to not legislate abortion access. And he didn’t. He acknowledged social diversity and sent then-Minister Jason Kenney to court new Canadian associations. He did not debate or bring back the death penalty.
To be sure, Harper took steps to keep the right-wing from rebellion. He created the office for religious freedom. He celebrated the military and royalist symbols of Canada’s colonial past.
But for most of his ten years the Harper coalition included libertarians, foreign policy hawks, free-market conservatives and the business elites and lobbyists often drawn to the Liberals. Right-wing insurgents were excluded.
But then, at the end, he reached for xenophobia. The signatures of that effort were his push for laws banning niqabs and setting up a barbaric practices snitch line.
And now Conservatives must choose. Was right-wing populism a desperate error to be rejected? Or be embraced?
There’s a constituency for Trump-style insurgency politics in Canada. Currently, the most obvious proof is in the reaction to improved safety laws for Alberta farmworkers.
A government bill to stop senseless deaths in a dangerous industry is reasonable policy. And the opposition’s effort to find problems with the bill is also fair and reasonable. But some right-wing groups are calling the bill a conspiracy to destroy the family farm. They’re rallying the violent and irrational.
Amid this insurgency have come death threats against Alberta’s progressive woman Premier – threats to “kill,” “shoot” and “pitchfork” the elected head of government. It’s disturbing and ugly.
In public, Wildrose Leader Brian Jean condemned the threats and appealed for calm. But if you think Jean and Wildrose have chosen reasonable conservatism over the pitchfork variety, they haven’t.
Fact is, Wildrose has been fanning the flames of hysteria from the start. Wildrose MLAs have promoted and spoken at right-wing rallies. They stoked irrational fears with absurd claims -- Wildrose MLA Ron Orr even claimed the aim of the bill was to “kill farmers.”
And ugly, violent comments that have no place in our democracy were allowed to remain undeleted on their Facebook site for days.
And despite all Wildrose’s help, the insurgents aren’t even thankful. Wildrose now finds itself denounced by a leader of the most prominent group for “using the movement for furthering its cause” and using their rallies “as a campaign tactic.” For the insurgents, the culture war never ends.
Wildrose’s encouragement of the insurgents leaves their party no further ahead. It associates Wildrose with irrational right-wing groups and violent threats. It hurts their plan to merge with the PCs. It won’t help Wildrose win seats in Calgary and Edmonton.
Federal Conservatives considering the way forward, take note. Harper held the insurgents at bay for most of the last decade. And won. In weakness, at the end, he appealed to them again. It failed.
Rona Ambrose should take a tougher line on Harper’s xenophobic error soon -- before some leadership candidate begins to rally the insurgents and sends her party back a decade.
Conservatives must keep far-right in check | PARKIN | Columnists | Opinion | Tor
That kind of silly talk undermines the Conservatives. Look, a little common sense was all that was needed to beat the Liberals. Instead the government abandoned common sense. To make matters worse, they ignored reality. You can't claim the fiscal conservative high ground when you run deficit after deficit. If they focus on fiscal responsibility and dumped their anti-immigrant nonsense, then winning the next election is a slam dunk. If they cowtow to their base, Justin will be laughing again in a few years.
Federal Conservatives considering the way forward, take note. Harper held the insurgents at bay for most of the last decade. And won. In weakness, at the end, he appealed to them again. It failed.
He knew damned well that the Reformacon philosophy has no traction with the greater Canadian population. It appeals to a niche in one region, only and Harper had to keep a lid on them to hold onto power.
It was actually a good thing for the Conservatives to lose the election. They could see the economy was going to crash and burn regardless of any efforts the government makes to stop it. That's a bad situation for any government to be in. The Liberals will have to take the heat for the hard times ahead.
Trudeau can boast 'Sunny Ways' until his lips fall off but the world economy is declining and his stupid 'Sunny Ways' isn't going to stop it from happening.
The Liberal promises were made on the expectation that the economy would pick up when they injected their billions of dollars into infrastructure. It isn't going to happen. Polls already show that the majority of Canadians are looking at a gloomy future.
After a few hard years people will be happy to get a Conservative government back. It wouldn't be surprising if it comes down to, 'Anybody but Trudeau'.
...by pointing out you're nothing more than a party hack. Somehow I'm not surprised you had difficulty with the concept.
are you joking,all that left vs right politics is long gone Walter,time to wake up and smell the sunshine.
delusional content,see a professional immediatly!
get rid of their supporters who are "crazy",the Conservative party attracts strange individuals with strange thoughts.
another ridiculous statement.
that sounds right.
i thought these thoughts too,exactly as stated.
Canada has never really needed or benefitted by a Conservative party but there is a clear opportunity now for them to change for the better.
you are correct mentalfloss,the front of the class you come.
conservative leaders have demonstrated they would wh ore their mothers,communities,brothers,children and yes their country,i find their ethics around selling out Canadians none deserving of any opportunities,they are disgusting and deserve to be backbenchers until eternity.
do you want me to tell you how i really feel?
Way back when he was diaperfloss do you remember the squabbling in the house about the future of the Crown Corporation Petro Canada? Were any of the parties ever out to kill it?
Where do our interests in Suncor/PetroCanada stand today?
Where do our interests in Suncor/PetroCanada stand today?
i don't even know what your talking about,but let it be reassured canadians/albertans are seeking some opposition,any would be nice,true or untrue,it is nice.
Mulroney did a lot of good with the GST and free trade. In Alberta, you can't deny the great shape Ralph left us in.
