Tag Archives: Conservatives

Hunting for the Elusive Quebec Conservative

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By Jason Menard

In la belle province for a vacation, I decided to take the opportunity to go hunting for an almost-extinct breed of political animal, of which I had heard was making a stunning resurgence with this federal election.

Yes, in the best spirit of Marlon Perkins I am in hunt of the Quebec Conservative.

With Bloc fever raging and disenchantment over the sponsorship scandal sending Liberal support plummeting to new depths, the popular idea is that the Conservative party may be the option of choice when it’s time for federalist Quebecers to head to the polls.

Since the rise of the Bloc, Quebec’s federal and provincial political worlds have been polarized into two distinct camps, not separated by parties but rather by ideologies. One’s answer to the question of Quebec’s place in Canada is the deciding factor as to whom you choose to vote. Separatists find a haven with the Bloc and Parti Quebecois parties respectively, while those of a federalist mindset have chosen the Liberal Party exclusively.

While the federal elections are ostensibly a four-party race – the fact of the matter is that there have been only two horses worth putting your money behind. Nervous federalists, regardless of which side of the political spectrum they fall on, have found refuge in the Liberal Party of Canada. Choosing to avoid vote splitting, the Liberals have remained a solid foil to the separatist forces of Quebec, to the point where federalist forces have elected a Liberal provincial party.

Yet with so much displeasure over the ruling Liberal Party, have Quebec Conservatives stepped back from the brink? If they are, they’re doing a good job of hiding. Perhaps they’re preparing for an electoral sneak attack, but in the game of politics visibility is the key.

Traversing the island of Montreal and making forays onto the neighbouring shores, there is a definite trend towards a Blue/Red political mosaic. Unfortunately for Stephen Harper’s troops, that shade of blue belongs to the Bloc. A simple search of signs reveals that Conservative supporters appear to either be continuing to hedge their bets with the Liberals, or remaining in hiding.

Oh sure, there is some Conservative signage here and there – but only on public lands, where everybody’s free to put their placards. Private property, where the signs actually matter and indicate someone’s personal preference, remains remarkably devoid of Tory support.

Of course, some of the difficulty in finding signs of the elusive Conservative may be due to their ability to blend in with the competition. While camouflage may be an acceptable way to survive in the wild, it ’s a questionable tactic when trying to stand out from the crowd. Yet, one would be hard pressed, from a distance, to differentiate between Bloc signage and Conservative signage. And at the speed that Montreal drivers travel, there’s no way to tell which blur belongs to which party. Politics is a game of visibility, and blending in with the opposition may not be the best way to get the name out.

No, it appears the federal race is still being run by two horses — despite the best efforts of the politicos and the pundits alike. In Quebec politics is a serious sport and there’s no time to back a lame horse when there are proven stallions willing to charge to the finish line. And it appears that even if one of those stallions has been rolling around in the mud and still reeks of dirty play, Quebecers feel that it’s better to back the steed that knows how to run instead of the horse that’s still looking for its footing.

So the hunt goes on and I will continue my search. While the Quebec Conservative may actually no longer be on the endangered species list, until they leave the safety of their refuges and spread among the population, they’ll continue to suffer a political fate worse than extinction – they’ll continue to simply be irrelevant.

And in the game of federal politics, that’s truly a fate worse than death.

2005 © Menard Communications – Jason Menard All Rights Reserved

A Conservative Gambit, An Uncertain End Game

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By Jason Menard

Circling the battered and bloody Liberal carcass like vultures, the Tories and the Bloc have used the trickle of information flowing from Gomery inquiry to fuel a campaign to shut down our Parliament in the hopes of riding a wave of public distrust to an election victory.

But by masking political opportunism with the façade of public concern, will their plans blow up in their respective faces? The next election may come down to how each voter answers the question, “Is the devil you know better than the devil you don’t?”

As the Bloc and Conservatives work themselves into a lather about the alleged misappropriation of funds in the Sponsorship Scandal, voters will have another number in the back of their minds — a quarter of a billion dollars. That’s approximately how much last year’s election cost Canadians, through donations and dipping into the government coffers – which are filled with our tax dollars.

Voters will have to reconcile how parties preaching from a pulpit built on fiscal responsibility can employ tactics to shut down the Parliament, prevent it from doing its duty to its constituents, force another election down our throats, and stick us with the bill. Might that cause some resentment in the electorate?

How will voters react to the potential scrapping of one of the most humane budgets we’ve seen in ages? Will voters be resentful that the so-called deal with the devil — which saw the Liberal Party plugging the holes in its political dyke with a band of New Democrats all-too happy to sell their allegiances for fiscal concessions, finally able to leverage their legislative presence for power — trampled by a stampeding conservative caucus racing towards a chance at power?

And how will those disaffected swing voters upon whom the Tories are counting, reconcile the presence of that Unholy Trinity – separatism, the alleged hidden right-wing conspiracy, and George Bush? If we thought last year’s campaign was ugly, when the Liberals went into the election somewhat confident of the outcome, how will this wounded animal, fearing its very survival, fight back during this year’s campaign?

As the Bloc enjoys the swelling bandwagon from soft-separatists just looking for a reason to jump back on board, the Liberal Party will raise the spectre of political turmoil and financial instability caused by an emboldened sovereigntist movement. And to counter the right-wing parties, will the Liberals float the rhetorical balloon invoking mass cuts to our social programs, attacks on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and any number of insidious inferences to a hidden small-c conservative agenda? As well, if there’s one thing that many Canadians will agree on is its general antipathy towards the President of our neighbour to the south. By tying Stephen Harper to Bush Jr.’s politics, the Liberals are well aware – as they were in the last election – that they can play on Canadian fears of increased Americanism in our social and financial policies.

Already we see the public’s initial venom towards the Liberal Party is dissipating. There is any number of polls showing any number of results, but as we’ve seen time and time again, polls aren’t worth the time and effort it takes to get them. Canadians will be vociferous in their opposition when it doesn’t count, but the act of marking a ballot prompts sober reflection and fear of the unknown. If the current Liberal Party is able to distance itself from these accusations – or find someone who will fall on their sword – they may be able to convince the electorate that this scandal will usher in a new era of accountability.

Most importantly, can the resurgent right fight the hardest battles of all – voter fatigue and apathy? Last election, only just over 60% of Canadians went to the polls in an election that was rife with intrigue. Indications are we may see even fewer as voters express their resentment of being called to the polls yet again. And, as the pundits like to say, poor voter turnout favours the incumbents. Can the Conservatives win over the hearts of an electorate that really doesn’t want to have an election? If not, can the right effectively translate the anger of those outraged voters into fuel for an election win?

The final question is whether or not the status quo is the best option available? The Conservatives and Bloc have shown that they wield the power in Parliament, and can demand greater concessions from the Liberal minority. By refusing to play nice now with the Liberals, does that set up a culture of retribution should they be voted in as a minority government in their own right? Is turnabout fair play? It would seem that forcing an election is an all or nothing gamble – anything less than a majority government would result in a Parliament paralyzed by Liberal and NDP opposition, and an emboldened Bloc Quebecois concerned only with its own best interests with added clout to back it up.

The pawns are in motion but will the Conservatives’ gambit eventually lead to their desired end game, or will their bold move to wrest power backfire? The Tories are banking on a nation that hates politicking but loves its politics forgiving such a brazen power grab. Yet, Canadian’s love their politics from afar, and when it comes to consummate the affair, they generally shy away from actual commitment.

Who said politics was boring? This year’s pending election stands to be one for the ages.

2005 © Menard Communications – Jason Menard All Rights Reserved

Right or Left?

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By Jason Menard

What’s this country coming to? Lately our country’s political map displays all the form and reason of an Escher print! Like an ambidextrous drunkard, we’re having trouble differentiating our rights from our lefts.

On the one hand we’ve got Belinda Stronach throwing support behind gay marriage, while our Liberal party continues to waffle on the subject. Who knows what phoenix will arise from the ashes of Sir John A. MacDonald’s PC party, and is that really Ed Broadbent back on the radar?

Buckle up Canada – with an expected election just around the corner, we could be in for a wild ride.

Whatever happened to the days when you could define people by the colour of the electoral signs on their yard? Blue meant right, Red meant left, and Yellow meant you were probably out hugging a tree! But now, we’ve encouraged and fostered a hyphen-obsessed political landscape that can leave your head speaking.

We’ve got Liberals jumping to the right, Tories dancing to the left, and other parties desperately singing their own tunes trying desperately to be heard over the din of the allegedly different, but vaguely similar song played by the big two. Candidates no longer define themselves by party focus – because most parties don’t have a defined focus. You have your social-conservative candidates on one side mingling with the fiscal-liberal hopefuls – their party colours only separated by the slightest shades of gray.

On the other hand, you’ve got those on the other end of the spectrum, either proclaiming themselves true blue and longing for a return to a more conservative past, or lamenting the loss of social concern and caring that was the hallmark of Liberal parties of days of yore.

So where does that leave the voter? More and more we’re finding our electorate swinging faster than Benny Goodman on uppers. And for a country that has long identified its political leanings based on party politics, this new dynamic can be frightening. But, believe it or not, this new reality can – and will – work out in our favour.

Perhaps we are now entering a time when political upheavals won’t be the grand tidal waves of the past, washing one party out of power just to return that party to prominence years down the road when that initial tide ebbs. While the party system is too strong at this time to do away with, we seem to be now entering a time when our elected Members of Parliament will have to be accountable to their own ridings – a shocking concept!

What politics should be about is electing the person who most effective combines the wants and needs of his or her constituents with the greater good of the country as a whole. I once was a party voter, believing that my ideals meshed with the philosophy espoused by one or another federal party. But due to the changing dynamic of our political landscape, that type of thinking is outdated – and adjusting to the new reality requires effort on all our parts.

No longer should we ignore the election process and simply vote for our traditional party. Now it behooves us to go out and learn about each candidate in our riding, and vote for the one who best fits our needs. On a macro level, the party differences are so insignificant for the most part that it’s at the micro level – the constituency – where the greater variance takes place. And it’s on that variance from which we should determine our vote.

Now, obviously it would help encourage this new voting dynamic if we had a strong alternative party – either from the left or the right – to provide a legitimate alternative to the Liberal juggernaut and to combat voter apathy. Many choose not to vote if the conclusion seems foregone.

Yet this upcoming could be the most exciting yet! In addition to the new faces in new places, we’ve got a chance to truly effect change on our own level. We’re arriving at the dawn of a new era in Canadian politics — but just don’t try to follow the traditional maps to get there!

2005 © Menard Communications – Jason Menard All Rights Reserved