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Politically Incorrect

Who’s Tory now?

by Arthur Weinreb

June 9, 2003

Since the Reform/Alliance party became a major political force in Canada, with the Reform Party winning 52 seats in the 1993 election, a movement has been waged to "unite the right." Without a merger or an association of some sort between the two right of centre parties, the Liberals could be assured of winning through vote-splitting. Peter MacKay, the newly elected leader of the Progressive Conservative Party, managed to do what conservatives have failed to do in the last decade--he united the right. Approximate time to unite the Canadian right--20 minutes.

It was so simple that it is surprising that no one ever thought of it before. Simply take the PCs and move them so far to the left, somewhere in the vicinity of the New Democrats and leave the Canadian Alliance Party, united under leader Stephen Harper, as the only right wing party in Canada.

After the 3rd ballot in the recent PC leadership convention, MacKay was left on the ballot with Calgary lawyer Jim Prentice. MacKay made a deal with Saskatchewan organic farmer, Canadian nationalist, environmentalist, and ardent anti-free trader David Orchard, to endorse his candidacy, ensuring his victory on the 4th and final ballot.

In the deal MacKay made with Orchard, who was once referred to by former leader Joe Clark as a tourist in the PC Party, MacKay agreed to appoint a panel to study free trade, to appoint Orchard supporters to the panel, to make the environment a policy priority, to shake up the Tories head office, and to appoint Orchard supporters to the PC governing body. MacKay also undertook to run candidates in all federal ridings during the next election, precluding a possible agreement with the Alliance to have both parties run only one candidate in certain ridings.

Defeated leadership candidate, Scott Brison, put it best when he said that the deal will enable the Tories to run star candidates, but he wasn’t sure whether Maude Barlow and David Suzuki want to run. Maude Barlow has since come out and criticized her leftist colleague, David Orchard, for joining a party which Barlow assumes, incorrectly, contains conservatives.

The irony is that before the MacKay/Orchard pact was entered into, the Tories seemed poised to make a recovery. The PCs not only won the recent by-election in the southwestern Ontario riding of Perth-Middlesex, but they doubled the vote that the Canadian Alliance obtained. It is generally accepted that the Alliance can never form the government unless they can make a significant breakthrough in Ontario. The plurality of the Tory victory in an Ontario riding indicated that perhaps the years that the once proud national party spent in the wilderness was coming to an end. All the party needed was a new young leader to lead the party into the future, instead of pining for the glory days of yesteryear.

But it was not to be. Even before the last delegate left the convention floor, disgruntled Tories were calling the Canadian Alliance Party to switch. Peter MacKay, in an effort to obtain power, sold out any principles that the Tory party held. He took a big step in confirming what many people already thought--that there is little difference between the PCs and the Liberals. Power is everything--principles have little meaning. MacKay tried to put a positive spin on his agreement with Orchard--that the free trade agreement should be reviewed so it can be made stronger, yada, yada, yada…, but it’s not about free trade.

It’s about David Orchard. Unlike the 1998 Conservative convention, when Orchard lost the leadership to Joe Clark, he and his supporters, many of whom have provincial NDP affiliations, are not going to simply go away. The Canadian nationalist anti-free traders have now been brought into the mainstream of the Tory party. Some of them will be given positions of power, and will have a say in the policy direction of the Progressive Conservatives. If the party doesn’t move close to the NDP, they will at least appear to be to the left of a Paul Martin-led Liberal Party. The big winners in MacKay’s unprincipled quest for power were the Liberals.

And what was Prime Minister Jean Chrétien’s reaction to the MacKay/Orchard Pact when he was informed of it while attending the G8 summit in Evian, France? Chrétien didn’t laugh--he chuckled. That said it all.