CKNW Editorial
for May 3, 2001

The ongoing dustup in the Canadian Alliance has many Canadians, especially in Western Canada, very upset ... so much so that a Liberal listener wrote me and asked if I wasn't now sorry that I supported the Alliance editorially. A fair question - but I would ask in return, compared to what?

Compared to voting Conservative and a party that has as its core belief endless pandering to Quebec and having it declared a special place constitutionally? Compared to voting NDP, a party with neither a leader nor a policy? Surely he couldn't be asking me if I regretted not supporting the Liberals who are led by a certified liar and who have not, for 40 years, given a tinker's dam about British Columbia.

I am, of course, disappointed in Mr Day and in the party as a whole. Since he was selected leader 8 month ago Mr Day has stepped on one land mine after another. He has lost the respect of his caucus and the party generally and has demonstrated that he really is, so far, unsuited to politics, Ottawa style. Moreover, still dealing with the listener's question, I am not a member of any political party and would not be even if I were out of this business.

Since I do not associate myself with many core values of the Alliance I certainly would not be a member of that party. My editorial support was based on the on principle that of all issues which face us, national unity is perhaps the most serious and the Alliance comes closest to reflecting my views on that subject.

It is clear that one of two things must happens. Either Stockwell Day makes a Lazurus type revival or he is replaced.

I don't discount the former. He may recover because the party simply has no alternative but to make that happen. Like it or not, they must prop him up to survive. It is this fact that makes such fools of Deborah Grey, Art Hanger and Chuck Strahl. For there is a cardinal rule about assassinations -never try one unless you are certain of success or you don't give a damn about the consequences. If a leader survives an assassination, by that fact alone he becomes more powerful ... for the people that have saved him will continue to hold him harmless from his enemies. They have to. As for the second option, this is Catch 22 for those who have supported MR Day, even though they would like to see him replaced at the earliest opportunity will be locked into staying with him ... thus effectively removing themselves from the race and making it difficult for them to look for a successor.

There is another factor here - If not Stockwell Day, then who? This was the second fatal flaw in the assassination attempt. For not only must you be sure it will work, you have to have a clear option to fill the vacuum created by the leader's political death.

There will be many in the Alliance who will be carping about a leadership change. To them I say this - the party has, at present, a hopeless incompetent as a leader. But it is rather like Franklin Roosevelt's assessment of a Latin American dictator - "he may be a son of a bitch", said FDR, " but he's our son of a bitch". This, I fear, is how the Canadian Alliance by reason of a botched palace coup must look at Mr Day for some time to come. For the Catch 22 continues - for there to be the proper basis for a leadership change there must be a credible candidate but for a creditable candidate to appear there must be a vacancy and a vacancy can't occur unless the party all but self destructs.

Other parties have handled similar crises but with the exception of the great good luck in timing that accompanied the Tories dumping Joe Clark in 1983, only the Liberals have shown the ability to insert knives in the back with no blood appearing and with the victim going with a smile on his face. Moreover, they have such experience in government that successors can be groomed. One need only look at the attempted coup by Paul Martin a year ago to see how it's done. It failed because it never happened. All that happened was the Martin forces laid the groundwork if a successful assassination appeared feasible. Unlike Grey, Hanger and Strahl, Mr Martin was never seen with a dagger in his hands.

The Canadian Alliance has, alas, showed themselves to be political incompetents, leader and caucus alike. And their struggle to recover may be long and, as I see it, unlikely.