January 12, 2004
There are a lot of positive things that can be said about the new Conservative Party of Canada. The right wing alternative to the federal Liberals is long past overdue and is exactly what this country needs. Whether you agree with the principles or the policy of the new party or not, an intelligent person can’t help but acknowledge that, at the very least, a national party that isn’t overly weighted in one region or another of the country is needed to give the voters an option and keep the Liberals honest.
The problem lies in the debate over who should captain this new ship. Stephen Harper is regarded as the front-runner for leadership and, until a viable alternative can be found (sorry Jim Prentice isn’t viable), he seems all but unstoppable. as has been said rather simply by several of my close conservative friends, "This is bad."
Harper as leader represents a move backward in the evolution of a party only a few months old. Harper is viewed by the vast majority of Canadians as a rabid, out-of-touch social conservative with political leanings far too right of centre to relate to the general public. The membership of the Conservative party even have a hard time seeing him as anything but the leader of the alliance. The unfortunate fact is that Harper’s total lack of anything that even looks like charisma or a personality makes him virtually un-sellable to the Canadian public. The matter worsens when you account for the fact that the leader of this fledgling party is going to have to get up in front of a national audience and debate with the relaxed and well tempered Paul Martin and the blinding flash and over-the-top ranting of NDP leader (Texas) Jack Layton.
The other problem is one of simple perception. Either Harper or McKay at the helm of this party is going to have the effect of making it look like a re-warmed, microwaved version of either the alliance or the old PC party. Both of them should have chosen to stay out of the race for leadership and opened up the floor to someone new, who can properly bridge the two parties. The week old meatloaf brand, that a Harper-led party will create will make no inroads in Ontario, have little to no support in Quebec, and will probably drive the Conservatives on the east coast over to the Liberals. "Leaving the country with a Liberal stranglehold over everything east of Manitoba and a western opposition party with no hope of forming a government." Sounds familiar doesn’t it? — Different name, new logo placed in the microwave for a few seconds, but in the end; a Harper or McKay, led Conservative party has all the appeal of week old meatloaf: Still safe to eat, but wasn’t all that great when it was fresh, and is even worse the second time around.
The solution to the problem is simple: Find someone else, anyone else. No not you Jim! a strong Leader who has some experience dealing with Liberal smoke and mirror tricks and knows how to get yahoos like Jack Layton to sit down and shut up.
Tony Clement offers a strong alternative to the Harper movement and is the ideal bridge candidate to keep the two parties together. The former Ontario Health minister has experience dealing with Paul Martin already, having had to make the Ontario health books balance while Martin was cutting federal transfers. and it is damn close to impossible to be a politician in the Greater Toronto area without having to put up with Jack’s stuntman antics. He speaks very good French, something integral to winning support in Quebec, and having a power base in Ontario means that he can probably make some decent inroads in this province as well.
Even Magna mogul Belinda Stronach would be a drastic improvement over Harper. (Hell, she at least looks better.) She does have some political experience in the backrooms of the Harris government and she played a rather signifigant role in the merging of the two parties. But the fact remains that the woman has never been elected so much as dog catcher, and her corporate ties make her look so much like Paul Martin that it is hard to draw a clear line between the two. all that aside I just can get behind a movement with the slogan: "BS for PM!"
Lets face fact here, the reality of all of this is, that short of finding pictures of Paul Martin playing golf with Hitler, the Liberals are almost without a doubt, going to win the impending election. But if this new party wants to make a real impact on the national stage at all, they need to begin building, not for a 2004 election race, but rather a race in 2008.
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