CKNW Editorial
for September 7, 1999

I’ve often been asked what I am politically – we’re all supposed to fit into one of the accepted categories. Well, I suppose I am a liberal democrat. The natural home for me would be, in normal circumstances, the Liberal Party. But I despise the Liberal Party, not for its philosophy, whatever the hell that might be, but because – at least until recently - they it’s so Central Canada oriented that it would risk losing this part of the country in order to appease Quebec. My disaffection with the Liberal party began with the so-called Quebec crisis of 1970 and was thereafter aggravated by the elections that followed where the Liberals deliberately ignored the concerns of the Western half to the country in order to win the election in Central Canada where the votes are. Smart politics but politics that created an almost formal schism in our country marked, I suppose, at the Saskatchewan-Alberta border.

I was relatively happy as a Red Tory especially if people like Flora Macdonald and my long time friend John Fraser were running things. But then Mulroney embarked upon the path marked Meech and Charlottetown and my disaffection with them became complete. Not that it mattered a damn to them, but I had become disenchanted with the then two major parties in Canada not for reasons of political philosophy but on the grounds that they had a much different vision of Canada than I did. They saw Two Founding Nations and I see ten equal provinces – a gap I saw as unbridgable.

When the Reform Party came on the scene I saw a party that I could support on the question of national unity, the biggest issue of all to me. I saw these strange and scary people like Doug Collins moving around the party but I consoled myself with the thought that this was a new party and that it would settle down and shake out the sort of people I couldn’t bring myself to associate with. Moreover, as unity matters reached a crucial point, I saw the battle between the equality forces and the “Two Founding Nations” forces becoming crucial. The Liberals, after succeeding the Tories, were out-appeasing their predecessors when it came to Quebec.

Then three things happened.

On the Reform side, there were no changes. The party actually refined its sharp edge. It was a party of passion, not compassion. It was homophobic and anti Quebec despite what Preston Manning said. It was not just run on Christian principles but upon charismatic, fundamentalist principles. It’s stated policies often seemed liberal but whenever a crisis arose Reform retreated to its natural haven. Whether it was the flag debate, rights for gays, law and order, or refugees, the shrillness of a Reform Party cornered made my flesh creep. For a long time I explained all this away as just immaturity but its gotten worse. The instinctive reaction of Reform and its allies to the refugees question was to call them all criminals just as Art Hanger’s response to law and order was to go to Singapore and see how floggings worked.

The second thing came in two sections. Reluctantly, kicking and screaming all the way, the Federal Liberals got into the Supreme Court of Canada reference on separation. At last, the Federal government had enough jam to stand up to this Province and fight.

Almost coincidentally, Stephane Dion, stood up to Quebec on the same issue and did so in clear, unmistakable terms. Long time listeners will know that this is what I had been urging the Liberals to do for a long time.

The third thing to happen was the revival, to some extent, of the Conservative Party … at least to the point where they will be competitive in Ontario which is the base of Liberal supremacy. This means that in the next election The Liberals may actually have to care about British Columbia.

I still hate the Liberal Party of Canada. I hate the way Jean Chretien has made himself a dictator … I hate the Liberals penchant for parachuting candidates into ridings … I despise their utter lack of concern for the way British Columbians feel about their country … I’m nauseated by their commitment to winning at all costs, that being their only discernible philosophy. Yet I see something else. I see the Liberals as the only party, (aside from the NDP which is hopeless), that truly cares about people, especially those not born to be comfortable fighting for their lives in the marketplace. I see a party which, while it is by no means free of racism (in history the Liberals were the party of official racism) is nevertheless the party where most tolerant people seem to congregate.

I will not support the Reform Party again – despite its many fine MPs the Art Hangers and John Reynolds of the party make it impossible for me to support them – and the Tories cling to their appeasement of Quebec policy and would make a special deal with them. Joe Clark believes in special arrangements – asymmetrical federalism he calls it - and to me that is anathema. The NDP are simply pathetically out of touch in every way.

This doesn’t mean I will now go back to my youth and support the Liberal Party – but it does make it, with all its ugly warts and authoritarianism, an option for the first time in almost 30 years.