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SUNDAY SPECTATOR
July 4, 2004
Getting uncowed
The media consensus is that the Conservative Party erred by being too conservative; that Stephen Harper erred by not disavowing positions quickly enough when they were challenged; that the party should show more discipline in preventing individual members from spouting off; that it should make a clearer commitment to the "Trudeau heritage" of charter rights and bilingualism; that it should stay as far as it can get from such divisive issues as abortion and gay marriage and child pornography. In short how can it hope to govern if it doesn't first eliminate everything that might distinguish it from the party that is still in power? Mr. Harper ran his campaign -- or tried behind the media flak -- in implicit acknowledgement of all these criticisms. He didn't sell out; he just shut up. He was determined not to give the country's overwhelmingly liberal media the field day they had with his Reform/Alliance predecessor Stockwell Day (who had also just shut up). Why he would spend final moments of his campaign basking in the sunlight of Alberta instead of desperately stumping through the drizzle of Ontario I do not understand. At the end of the day the Liberals actually improved their margin on the popular vote in Ontario (against the combined CA/PC vote the last time) in apparent reward for an incredible display of corruption waste arrogance and administrative incompetence; and for provincial colleagues who had just won their election thanks to a bald-faced lie. The defection of the Red Tory vote was inevitable and is good riddance in the long view. But the newly-amalgamated Conservatives failed to exchange this for twice as many votes from the right of the Liberal Party. There is one party to the right in Canada; there are three to the left and a fourth the Green one now sprouting from the same compost. The opportunity to divide and conquer verily screams. Even in Quebec where the right flanks of both Liberals and Bloquistes are entirely unprotected there is opportunity for ambush. The left will demonize the right no matter how moderately how pusillanimously it behaves. So -- bwa-haha! -- let us actualize their nightmares. Cheryl Gallant the most demonized of all the "social conservatives" -- she who compared abortionists to the terrorists who beheaded Nick Berg -- won Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke by a landslide in an exceptionally high turnout. The TV networks rubbed in the victory of Scott Brison in Nova Scotia while the polls were still open from Ontario to B.C. But meanwhile in neighbouring New Brunswick the other Red Tory turncoat now carrying the pro-choice gay-rights Liberal standard was easily deep-sixed by the "socially conservative" Tory Rob Moore. And note Mr. Brison won against Bob Mullan a Tory whose publicly-stated views on social issues were indistinguishable from his own. This is anecdotal evidence; but I think the full statistical will be found throughout the fineprint of the election returns once the reader's pink shades have been removed. In this election as in the last one almost every publicly-declared pro-life candidate regardless of party won re-election. (I can't find a single example of one who was defeated this time around.) On this and related gut issues why do Conservatives obey their "media-savvy" backroom trolls? Why aren't they mobilizing the huge number of immigrants with explicitly Christian right-wing views? Ditto with the economic issues including healthcare. If you tell people clearly and repeatedly the true reasons for long waiting lists in Canadian hospitals they will listen -- because they are waiting in line. The news that Canada's "one-tiered" system exists no where else but Cuba will get through. Coming right out and saying it is what made the Republicans in the States the party that controls the White House and both wings of Congress. They learned a generation ago from the sainted Ronald Reagan to stop being bashful. Trying to keep their opinions to themselves is what has made our own Conservatives into roadmeat. Once again: the demonization doesn't stop when you agree to stand quietly on the shoulder of the road. The Liberals need a target: they are more than happy to swerve. Make them aim instead for a big brick wall. Mr. Harper will now spend the summer considering whether there is any point in continuing to lead the Conservative Party. If he doesn't think he's up to the dirty fight ahead let him go. I and several million other Canadians who are unabashedly conservative don 't like losing. But we really hate losing without a fight. David Warren
© Ottawa Citizen
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