Whither (Canadian) Conservatism?
I was present on Tuesday evening when Belinda Stronach won the nomination in our local riding for the new Conservative Party. She beat her opponent, Lois Brown, by about 100 votes out of about 900 votes cast.
Needless to say, this was a big riding meeting. The local executive members ran the meeting, and they announced that at the founding meeting a few months ago, there were about 450 members. By the time of the nomination meeting, supposedly 1900 or more memberships had been sold, and an estimated 1200 would-be members may have attended. Some were disqualified, or found not to be on a list, so that's why fewer than 1000 votes were counted.
Still, a big deal. Lots of TV and media, obviously mainly because of the Belinda factor. Mike Harris was there with a bit of an entourage, and some people who worked for him when he was Premier. Two I recognized were Stew Braddick (sp?) and Jaime (pronounced Jamie) Watt. Belinda recognized Harris during her speech, and he told the media he was there to support her. Two MPs were there, also supporting Belinda. Frank Klees, MPP and former Minister, was there. I left after the voting, before Frank spoke, but he is apparently a Lois (and for the leadership, Tony Clement) supporter.
Both candidates spoke about making Canada more competitive, keeping taxes low if not cutting them, and improving health care. Belinda suggested more military spending. Lois had clearly read more detailed stuff on what the federal government does--she mentioned points in the Romanow Report on health care, and recommended, based on what's in there, a tax break for anyone with a health club membership. Instead of just talking about "the wasteful gun registry system," Lois mentioned the number of the government bill.
Probably the clearest difference between them is that Belinda is in favour of same-sex marriage, and Lois is not. A lot of Lois's supporters were "church" people--a famous local pastor who associates himself with Elvis as a way of getting the word out was there--and they were vociferous on this issue. One of the four questions "drawn" to be asked of both candidates was: are you in favour of same-sex marriage, yes or no? Belinda, sensing trouble, tried to start with a diplomatic opening, and people started to yell "Yes or No?" The only real heckling that happened.
Lois said the law should support traditional marriage, but then she added: something has to be done to protect the rights of people in same-sex relationships. Sometimes (Lois knows from her constituency work for Mr. Klees) when they break up, one of a pair is financially dependent, and ends up resorting to government programs. If only for this reason, there should be some legal protection "even if we call it a social union." I suspect she meant "civil union," the term that is used in the States.
So gays can have 90% or more of the benefits of marriage, just not the name?
I keep wondering where conservatism is. Canadian conservatives used to know who they were, by and large--English-speaking (with a Quebec wing that was a world unto itself), either going back in Canada a few generations, or not wanting to be known as ethnic, vaguely "old-fashioned" on certain matters of "morality" (before the term "social issues" came into use).
In a way Reform/Alliance got the folks with the clearest principles: a kind of libertarian tax-cutting agenda, indifferent to social issues and sometimes to the military; combined with some die-hards on social issues. They had a reputation for harbouring "anti-immigrant" Archie Bunker-type bigots, but they actually did a good job of attracting New Canadians as candidates. (Many New Canadians, of course, would almost die rather than live on welfare, want to get ahead for themselves and their children, and favour a tax-cutting agenda).
The old Progressive Conservatives got the "red Tories," and sometimes just Tories who kept saying: let's not go to extremes, let's not rush to identify the ship we'll go down with, we have to be prepared to out-Liberal the Liberals in order to win. Win? What have you been winning?
The old "ethnic" identity thing means practically nothing, although it may overlay the "church" folk a bit. (I think that as in the States, evangelical Christians--the enthusiastic ones, who attract young people--tend to be heavily from old Anglo stock. Evidence? I don't know). Catholics in Canada still tend to vote Liberal; except maybe in Mulroney's majorities, we don't really have something similar to the "Reagan Democrats." (Update: See the interesting article on whether Kerry is "Catholic enough" from Slate. Canada is (at least nominally) more Catholic than the U.S. Many recent immigrants--Filipino, Portuguese, Vietnamese are "real" Catholics, not just "cultural Catholics"--yet one is less likely to hear a moral argument about abortion or same sex marriage in the media in Canada than in the U.S.).
I think there is a feeling in both Canada and the U.S. that legal recognition of same sex marriage is coming, and a significant minority is going to be pretty unhappy. No party really wants to be "pro-life." (The Republicans kind of are in the U.S., but Republican women, among others, once they make money, tend to be pro-choice, and Republican presidents benefit from the fact that Roe v. Wade has kept the issue in the hands of the courts; if it became political, it might split the party in two).
Update: Lois was definitely a smoother and more accomplished speaker than Belinda. I overheard someone say Belinda is a lot better than she used to be, but she still sounds a bit stilted. Sometimes it seems to be a matter of putting the emphasis on the wrong syllable, which makes me wonder if she speaks German to her parents.
To the surprise of many people, the federal Liberals are starting to seem beatable. Chretien's long-time suspicion that Martin couldn't cut it may have been correct. But is any other party able to defeat them? Do the Conservatives have a magic formula with: tax cuts, cut many areas of spending, spend more on health, the military, and certain aspects of law and order? Lois at least seemed to recognize that we need areas where money can be saved at little cost if we are going to launch either tax cuts or cuts in spending on programs that people are counting on.
Update: Belinda's father, Frank Stronach, ran as a Liberal in 1988--the election in which Mulroney won a second majority--in opposition to free trade, and in the recent PC Party leadership, he supported David Orchard, who opposed free trade. Stronach pere remains the real head of a multinational corporation. Hmmm....
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