The Written Word
for July 22, 2001

It’s really hard to see how Canada’s version of Humpty Dumpty, the Canadian Alliance can put itself together again. For what seems to be lost on everyone is that the split we are seeing is a fundamental one – no pun intended as it is the fundamentalist Christian Church versus the rest.

All political parties are coalitions but the permanent ones manage to make all in the party feel comfortable. One of the most successful of BC’s coalitions, the Social Credit Party, managed for nearly forty years create a political atmosphere in which Conservatives and Liberals could live together in reasonable harmony. But here too it was the Christian Right that caused the trouble in the person of Bill Vander Zalm.

The similarities between the Bill Vander Zalm of 1986 and Stockwell Day are eerie to contemplate. Both came from the Christian right - even though Vander Zalm is Catholic he wowed ‘em in the Fraser Valley. Each is charismatic and each was selected because it was thought that they could win. (Not that this isn’t a serious consideration it can be disastrous if it’s the only one.) Both of them came from outside the party, especially outside the parliamentary caucus.

It’s interesting to note that since World War II most Canadian Prime Ministers have been Catholic yet never until 2000 was abortion an issue. That took Stockwell Day and it happened on Day 1 of the campaign. Similarly, the Bennetts managed to keep delicate social issues out of all campaigns and while Vander Zalm managed to keep from mentioning it in the 1986 campaign, he had scarcely got comfortable in his office before he had his Attorney-General screaming at him on the subject.

Stockwell Day has managed, in a year only, to have the party badly divided on his leadership. Because supporters of the old Reform Party, which is to say Preston Manning supporters, and those who joined just to support him against Mr. Day, are leaving the party in droves Stockwell Day has a lock on re-winning the leadership whenever the convention is held. It might be different if a new white knight in shining armour happened along and brought in plenty of new supporters, but there is no such knight in sight. Moreover, talented people like Deborah Grey and Chuck Stahl have blotted their copybook and would find it hard to avoid the "traitor" tag.

Where this hurts the party especially is in BC which, more than Alberta, is the backbone of the party. With the exception of the Fraser Valley Bible Belt, British Columbians are not so right wing as against Ottawa and the Liberals which to them seem to be much of the same thing. They are not especially right wing and won’t stay with the Alliance for that reason. Without BC, more than Alberta, there is no Alliance Party. And with Stockwell Day, there is no BC.

I haven’t the faintest idea what fills the vacuum but the Canadian Alliance, barely a year old, has committed collective suicide.