I don’t wish to lead anyone down the garden path; I am a conservative. I’m not at all hung up about being fair and balanced in my opinions and as a result I generally and unabashedly support conservative points of view. In the past I have supported the Conservative Party of Canada, both morally and financially.
No more. I can’t see myself throwing good money after bad, so the last time I received a fund raising appeal from the Conservative Party of Canada I sent it back without the requested donation. Instead I sent an explanation that I would no longer be supporting the Conservatives financially until they behaved like real conservatives and stopped attempting to emulate the Liberals.
I believe that the party convention last week was an abject exercise in cynicism, as the Conservatives refused to debate conservative issues and brought forth a consensus that curiously sounded like the Liberals. In their desire to gain power at any cost, it seems to me that the Conservative Party has reinvented itself as the Liberals’ less fortunate twin. Perhaps Stephen Harper, who I’m sure is a brilliant man in his own right, believes that if the Conservatives stay out of the crosshairs of politically-correct criticism and pawn themselves off as Liberals, they’ll somehow be able to displace the Liberals.
Stephen, does the name Ernie Eves mean anything to you? In case you may have forgotten, Ernie Eves, Ontario’s Unmike Harris, had his and his party’s butt creamed at the polls in 2003 precisely because the voters decided that the Liberals were better at being Liberals than the Conservatives and haplessly opted for Dalton of the long nose.
Throughout recent history conservative politicians have been elected because they offered the voters a clear alternative to the status quo. Think Ronald Reagan, Ralph Klein, Mike Harris and, yes, even George W. Bush; their success lies in the fact that they offered voters an alternative to the same-old same-old status quo. Had Reagan offered americans a platform similar to Carter’s he would have lost. Had Mike Harris promised the voters of Ontario bigger government and higher taxes, he would have lost. and if Harper offers Canadians a watered down version of the Liberal platform he and his party will lose.
If the Conservatives are truly serious about winning an election, they will have to stop hiding from the voters. While the average Canadian voter isn’t likely to be a rocket scientist, he certainly isn’t the hayseed the Conservatives seem to think he is, who will cast his ballot in favour of a cottage-cheese party that offers vague Liberal-like platitudes. The only way to win is to face the Liberals head-on and logically convince voters that the Liberals’ platform isn’t worth supporting.
Sure, they’re liars and they’re thieves, they’re unscrupulous to the point of criminality. But that isn’t what’s going to excite the voters enough to turf them out of office. This is clearly evident by all the kudos Paul Martin is getting from the press for not scotching the Gomery Inquiry, despite the fact that while all this money was disappearing, Martin was the Finance Minister. The only way to trounce the Libs is to offer the voters a clear, well thought-out alternative. and that’s going to take a little work. It means that it will take a vision that can be clearly articulated and that will resonate with the voters of Ontario (Because after all, the next election will be won, or lost in Ontario).
There are a number of issues that I believe will reach the voters. These are offering a solution to the health care crisis that entail more than throwing additional money at it. It means calling the government on its ridiculous travesty of a firearms registry that’s now headed into $2 billion territory without having an iota of effect on violent crime. It’s about the obscenely high taxes that have billions in capital fleeing this country annually and threatening to turn us into a northern Cuba. It’s about the open and honest debate of issues such as same-sex marriage, immigration, national security and our ongoing relationship with our biggest trading partner. If the Conservative Party of Canada can’t meet the Liberals head-on, they shouldn’t even try, as it will be yet another exercise in futility.
all that’s left for them to do is to come to that realization. Until then, I think I’ll put my money into RRSPs where it will eventually give me some benefit, rather than fork it over to a party that’s working overtime on staying in opposition.