CKNW Editorial
for May 3, 2000

Let me tell you what troubles me about the Canadian Alliance as I see it going through the pains of its first leadership campaign.

In my political youth I was a Liberal … for two reasons – I thought they cared for the country as a whole and went out of their way to see that BC’s voice was heard, even though the machinery of government militated against that happening … and I believed that they cared for the less fortunate of our society in a tangible way. Well, Pierre Trudeau quickly disabused me of my first notion. As Trudeau’s rule was extended, it was clear that he cared not a fig for any part of Canada except Ontario & Quebec and he saw politics in Canada as winning a majority government in those two provinces alone, a policy that continues to this day. When the October Crisis of 1970 came and Trudeau put the entire country under martial law that was too much for me and I quit the party.

Serendipitously, at this time the "Red Tories of Joe Clark, John Fraser and Flora Macdonald emerged and it appeared that not only would a Tory government care about my part of the country but that they would also care about the less fortunate. I found I could support such a party. Joe Clark failed badly – as he is still failing badly – and like most Canadians I was so tired of the Liberals by 1984 that I voted Conservative again if only because Brian Mulroney wasn’t Joe Clark.

By 1986 I began to worry about the constitutional attitude of the Tories after Mulroney arranged Meech Lake, a policy that would have given Quebec not only special status but a veto over all constitutional change meaning that such things as a reformed senate would never be achieved.

1988 was a strange year because the main issue was free trade which I supported and am glad I did. But by 1993 the Tories had made it clear that British Columbians could go to hell and that the country, in Tory minds, was Ontario and Quebec with a few territorial nuisances thrown in. While Mulroney had made prominent western Canadians powerful cabinet ministers, he, through his lackey Joe Clark, was bound and determined to perpetuate Central Canadian hegemony by an unamendable constitution with Quebec in charge. So I supported the Reform Party even though I trembled at the thought that they might some day have control over the social policies of the country.

From the early 1990s to today I’ve seen Reform, now the Alliance as the best bet for BC although with huge misgivings about their social philosophy which seemed to be mostly get the poor folks back to God, give ‘em a shovel and hang ‘em high.

Now I’m watching the Alliance leadership contest with interest. I have just read Stockwell Day’s speech to the National Conference of Civitas, a Libertarian group, and I must say I was shocked not only at what I read, but what I didn’t read. To summarize Mr Day on social policy, our nation has gone to hell on a handcart and by every measure has crumbled morally with terrible social consequences. He would fix this by encouraging family values and lowering taxes. He spends about ¼ of his speech dealing with his religious principles, with the balance devoted to what conservatism is all about and how terrible our society has become, one presumes because of the Liberals.

Not a peep on governmental reform. Not a word on the system that bids fair to destroy the country, Nothing about how under this egregiously bad system 100% of the power is held by 50%+1 of the Commons which is elected, mostly out of two provinces, by less than 40% of the electorate. He spares not a word for senate reform. He doesn’t even bother to trot out panaceas like electing senators and free votes in the Commons.

Now I’m not angry at Stockwell Day any more than I am at Preston Manning whom I know well or Tom Long whom I’ve never met. In fact I have, as listeners know, raised all the concerns I have spoken of today with Mr Manning and told him that I thought his proposed governmental reforms were not only inadequate but unworthy of any who wanted to see real change.

My concern is this – am I just seeing, in the Canadian Alliance, the Progressive Conservative Party reborn?

Is this entire exercise just an effort to finally send Joe Clark back to High River, Alberta!

At the end of the day will I see, in power perhaps, a party that only cares enough about the poor to preach at them and goes back to bribing Quebec?

Will I see a party that once stood for reform now basking in the reality of political power, Canadian style while bringing in a couple of silly little reforms to make it appear that such things matter?

Am I, in short, in a time capsule going backwards so that I’m at 1984 again?

With respect, I think these questions had better be dealt with by our Alliance MPS. For I think the Alliance Party has a much better shot at power next time than the polls and pundits think. And I also think that, if nothing changes – if no feet are held to the fire before the election – we’ll just have a replay of the same old politics that got us into this mess.