Because right now, we’ve got so-called Conservatives wearing Liberal clothing (and Liberals pawing through the NDP’s cast-off pile). There’s no major federal party in Canada that actually pursues fiscally responsible government policies, no matter how much they may talk about the virtues of smaller government.
Shortly after his government’s defeat, Prime Minister Stephen Harper attempted to deflect focus back to Tuesday’s budget. The economy, he said, is the number one priority of Canadians and the budget was the key to the country’s economic future. Then he said: “There was nothing in the budget that the opposition could not or should not have supported.” True enough — but what does that say to Canada’s conservatives? Based on the budget, they are now called on to support a Conservative party that has presided over an extravagant full-scale national revival of big government by fiscal expansion.
Only a few days ago, it seems, Canadian politics was abuzz with the possibility of a new ideological era that favoured smaller government and lower taxes, with less waste, more discipline and a determination to cut taxes. There were signs of revolt in British Columbia, a shake-up in Calgary and reform in Toronto, where Mayor Rob Ford captured a staggering 47% of the vote in a town where The Globe and Mail is considered a right-wing propaganda sheet. Ford Nation, they called it.
There is no Harper Nation. After five-plus years in office, the Harper Conservatives have singularly failed to change the Canadian ideological landscape. Instead, Canadian politics changed the Conservatives. In power, they transformed themselves into another basely partisan party that willingly and even eagerly pandered to whatever the political three-ring circus put on display. This week’s budget, in which $2-billion in loose cash was promptly distributed to a score of special interests and political agendas, left in place a $40-billion deficit for 2010 and solidified a $100-billion increase in the national debt over five years.
There’s no threat on the right to force the Conservatives to actually live up to their talk, so they’re free to drift as far into Liberal territory as they like — and they seem to like it a lot — because small-C conservative voters have nowhere else to go.
We tried a real Conservative Party, it was called the Reform Party. It split the right vote so badly that Jean Chretien won majority after majority. As the left splits its vote between NDP and Liberal the CPC can hope that they can scoot up the centre. You can tell that the Liberals actually think this as well with Iggy talking about the big red tent and all that drivel. They are trying to scare NDP voters into voting Liberal to stop the scary Harper Conservatives.
My opinion, not that it matters more than a single vote, is that the CPC have drifted centre left because they recognize that more than 50% of Canadians have been brain washed in that direction, and if they want a majority, and you know they do, then they have to pander to that wavering jelly to pull votes their way. Only if they have a majority will we know if the pandering was posturing or just good old fashion political expediency to gain/remain in power. My money is on Mr. Harper to act conservatively if they win a majority.
Comment by Dwayne — March 26, 2011 @ 22:02
Reform was a movement too tightly tied to the West (specifically Alberta). The first time that Preston Manning came to the Toronto area after the party was founded, he attracted an audience of about 30 people, most of whom were then active in the Libertarian Party of Canada (I know, as I was at that meeting).
Reform never managed to throw off that image, even as they slowly gained some recognition in Ontario, and the Ontario-centric media were delighted to have a bunch of easily ridiculed hicks to voluntarily act as foils for their “sophisticated” japes and tricks.
The Conservatives have been pretty careful to avoid playing to that image, although it hasn’t stopped the Toronto Star from running the same kind of slanted coverage that they did 20 years ago (they can’t help it: it’s in the newspaper’s DNA).
I hope you’re right, although with our luck even if that’s true, he’ll only go “conservative” on issues that will be highly unpopular and rile up the moderates.
Comment by Nicholas — March 27, 2011 @ 10:09