The 29-year Old Crisis (1993–2022)
The dilemma of Canadian Conservatism
Part III
The outcome of the 1993 Canadian general election had had wide-ranging effects on the political and electoral system in the country, owing to the precipitous replacement (elimination) of the right- of- centre Progressive Conservatives party (PC) by the far right regional Reform movement. This sudden replacement represented a watershed that was detrimental to the Conservative Right camp, because it happened primarily due to aberrant reasons, and not because of normal evolution or protracted ideological shift within the traditional conservative base, or the so-called “grand blue coalition”.
This unexpected replacement happened accidentally because of a severe backlash caused by a tasteless commercial advertisement, which led many traditional conservative voters to abandon the PC towards the end of the election campaign. In an attempt to stave off a liberal majority win, the PC 1993 campaign team decided to run a series of commercials attacking Mr. Jean Chretien. The line in one ad read, “I would be very embarrassed if he became Prime Minister of Canada,” flashed with undercutting of images of Mr. Chretien’s face and its facial deformity (caused by Bell’s palsy) which, many people considered as an attack on Mr. Chretien’s appearance.
The backlash came from all sides of the spectrum, including some PC candidates, prompting then-Prime Minister Kim Campbell to order the ad off the air immediately. The ad proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back , as the PC went down to a humiliating defeat, the worst ever suffered by a governing party in a Westminster System.
The result gave the Reform party 52 seats, at least ten times more than the most optimistic observer had ever predicted at the outset of the election as the right wing conservative vote across the country split almost 45%-50% in favour of Reform. Allowing the liberals to come through the middle in many ridings especially in Ontario and the West. The liberals won a majority and the separatist Bloc Quebecois garnered 56 seats in Quebec and came second in the number of seats. In consequence, it made Reform the sole representative of the Canadian right in Parliament, and made the separatist bloc, Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition! Unquestionably, this was a grim outcome for the Canadian conservative movement. Firstly, because the “grand blue coalition” had imploded, and secondly, because the Reform party had no appeal outside of its traditional western base. In the next two elections, 1997 and 2000 the conservative right vote would continue to split between the Progressive Conservatives and Reform, giving the Chretien liberals three majorities in a row.
The Reform party was born out of the concept of western alienation and discontent, correctly described as the western equivalent or the Anglo-Saxon nemesis of the French separatist movement in Quebec. However, while the Quebec separatists articulated and expressed their objective explicitly and bluntly, the Reform agenda was mostly an ambiguous populist agenda, big on slogans and short on substance. Most importantly, its founders did not originally envision a national party anyway, but a western regional protest movement.
Nonetheless, the agenda of the Reform is the Canadian version of the neo-conservative Republican Party agenda in the United States; crude laisse faire capitalism, social conservatism, tax breaks for the wealthy and big corporations, small government and private health care, anti-environmental, climate change sceptics, and anti-gun control etc… Their positions on immigration are also similar; selective refugee and asylum criteria preferring white Christians and discriminating against Muslims, Latinos and non-whites. In addition to a belligerent defence policy, and “holier-than-thou patriotism”, based on the perceived notion of the existence of an external menace, recently Islamic fundamentalism, terrorism etc…. In the past, during the cold War, the neo-conservatives’ external enemy was communism.
Populism, by its very nature compensates for its lack of style and wider voter appeal by stirring fear, mistrust and by adopting a hawkish stand against a perceived enemy. Prior to 2015, the Harper government has committed Canadian combat air force planes to fight ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) in order to look tough and rally support and sympathy behind the government. A region, so complex and so messy, that only very few Canadians understand. Noting lest we forget, it is messy thanks to American and British incursions and the invasion of Iraq. This whole idea of fighting somebody else’s war more than 12,000 Kilometres away from home and putting Canadian troops in harm’s way for political reasons is most repugnant and irresponsible.
The neo-conservatives are further emboldened by contrived extreme right wing media outlets, the likes of Fox News and Rebel media that exaggerates threats posed by Muslim fundamentalists around the world. These media organizations bombastically blows every incident or terrorist attack out of proportion for political reasons. The mostly foreign-owned and controlled media interests in Canada promulgate foreign political agendas dictated by powerful lobbies and interest groups wrapped with the pretence of false patriotism and common enemy. It goes without saying, however, that XYZ country’s enemies and antagonists are not necessarily Canada’s enemies and antagonists. No Canadian government should ever go out of its way to please a friend by endangering our troops and gain new enemies in the process.
Ironically, the victims of mass shootings in the United States are statistically more than 100 times the victims of terrorist attacks, but the right-wing media habitually treats mass shootings as isolated incidences, and cosy up to the gun lobby instead. While the smallest terrorist attack in Europe or the United States takes up so much coverage, and gets pompous reporting with “expert“ analysis and details of the details which delve deeper and deeper into the perceived” ideological and political motives” behind it and so on and so forth. The kind of coverage that, at the end of the day breeds anti-Muslim sentiment and a disavowal of the Islamic faith at large. Conversely, when Muslims are the victims of violence or hate crime themselves, whether in Canada or abroad, the media coverage of these attacks is rather mute or indifferent at best.
In addition to scaremongering and wedge politics, the right wing Reform-cum-CP employs dirty tactics and character assassination of political opponents as legitimate tools for winning power. The Harper conservative’s 2011-election campaign strategy had almost entirely focused on attacking the personality of liberal leader Mr. Michael Ignatieff with political ads focusing on him and implying he was not Canadian enough but merely a visitor in Canada, because he had worked for many years at Harvard University in the United States. The CP advertisement blitz during the campaign managed to mar Mr. Ignatieffs’ standing, and negatively influenced voters’ intentions. It eventually stuck and had an overkill impact on the election result, giving Mr. Stephen Harper his only majority, and the liberals their worse defeat ever. For the Reform Harperites it is always the ends justifies the means.
Since 1993, the Reform party have poisoned Canadian politics by embracing right-wing American style mudslinging and dirty tactics, hitherto unfamiliar in Canadian politics. They stooped politics to new lows. By its very definition, populism is a dogmatic philosophy that thrives on ignorance, lack of education and class, fear of the different other, conspiracy theories and turning falsehoods into facts regardless of the hard evidence. It is no wonder that ex-US president Donald Trump still finds many admirers among the Reform-cum-CP crowd in Canada. Moreover, many of its students have now risen to prominence in the current Conservative Party.
Mr. Pierre Poilievre, the CP leadership candidate is doubling down on Tumpism, whipping the CP base by trafficking in anti-science, anti-vaccine rhetoric, and –if I may add- anti-common sense accusations of conspiracy theories and outright lies and personal attacks against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. His self-coined term “Justinflation” is detestable and dishonest, because inflation in the Post-Covid-19 era is a global phenomenon affecting the World at large and not only Canada. Mr. Poilievre has demonstrated an alarming ignorance on the basics of economics and macro financial management, suggesting that cryptocurrency was the solution for rising inflation.
However, in the age of populism, MAGA movement, and “the end justifies the means” tactics, Reform-CP politicians exploit health, public safety, everything, and anything for personal benefit and cheap popularity. Sadly, they find people and followers who buy into their misrepresentation and populist rhetoric.
The slogan “Make America Great Again” has mutated in Canada into the slogan “Make Canada the freest country in the world”. Just what exactly this means is unclear. We know that America was great before Donald Trump appeared on the scene and still is, and we know that Canada is among the best countries in the world to live in and among the freest already. Therefore, if it is not broke, we do not want anybody to fix it. Thank you very much.
On September 10, 2022, for the first time in 29 years, Canadian Conservatives have a real opportunity to restore dignity, decency, honesty and common sense to their old political movement by electing a sensible leader who can rebuild and unite. Alternatively, they can simply opt to keep the status quo of internecine rancour and divisions indefinitely, and stay on the same trodden path of lethargy, empty populism, fearmongering, mistrust and misogyny.
This time the stakes are very high and the choice is very clear. It is a not a leadership convention but rather a showdown between two different political mentalities which, will determine the very soul of the Canadian Conservative movement and the future direction of the Conservative party and the country.
Finally yet importantly, the next CP must be capable of making major breakthroughs in two important seat-rich areas, Quebec and the country’s major metropolitan areas and urban centres.
Failing which, the Trudeau liberals might as well enjoy power for many, many years to come.
