You're quite right, Stephen Harper would make an outstanding Prime Minister. It's not often that I agree with Norman Spector, but the last line of the following is right on .....
Alberta's not the problem; Day is
Norman Spector
National Post
In Friday's National Post, Stephen Harper, president of the National Citizens' Coalition and Reform MP for Calgary West from 1993 to 1997, wrote a column suggesting the Canadian electorate has turned its back on Alberta. Today, Norman Spector, deputy minister to former B.C. Social Credit premier Bill Bennett and chief of staff to former Progressive Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney, replies:
Dear Stephen, I found myself nodding in agreement at several points in your analysis of the federal election results in Friday's National Post. In particular, I share your assessment that the Alliance's poor showing cannot be attributed to a "badly run campaign." And that Reform/Alliance has "hit a wall," despite having "twisted itself into a pretzel to please."
Still, it is hard to understand such meagre results against an ethically challenged and vulnerable Prime Minister. From out here in British Columbia, I will not comment on your view that Alberta should seek a new relationship with Canada. I do disagree, however, that the Liberals' success was due to "pull(ing) up every prejudice about the West and every myth about Alberta that could be dredged."
This is not to dispute that Jean Chrétien's attack plan was both "shrewd and sinister." To lampoon Stockwell Day for not campaigning on his Sabbath was truly bigoted; associating him with dark forces, Holocaust deniers and anti-Semites was beyond the pale.
But the defeat -- or rejection, as you put it -- was of Stockwell Day, not of Alberta. Mr. Day is a relative newcomer -- a transplanted Ontarian who went to high school in Quebec. The only native Albertan and Westerner in the race, Joe Clark, exceeded expectations.
While I am not a fan of the Tory leader, it seems many even in your province were more turned off by Mr. Day.
In Victoria, where I live, even staunch New Democrats held their noses and voted Liberal, for the first time ever. In the beginning, their objective was simply to stop Mr. Day. At mid-campaign, when an Alliance victory no longer seemed realistic, they still wished to prevent that party from ever forming a government. On the eve of the election, the anti-Alliance vote -- particularly amongst pro-choice women -- was visceral and almost esthetic, as they recoiled from the prospect of living in a constituency represented by the party.
Delegates to your founding convention made a fundamental political error in selecting Stockwell Day, the candidate closest to their core beliefs but with the least possibility of growth. Though he tried to tack to the centre, Mr. Day was unable to moderate his image because his record in Alberta shows he puts his beliefs into action -- which is honest, principled and commendable. But the downside was clear: Delegates should have heeded the warning of Alberta Premier Ralph Klein -- to stick to fiscal/economic and stay away from social conservatism.
Recently, Jimmy Carter -- the first born-again U.S. president -- quit the Southern Baptists because they were moving away from individual conscience toward fundamentalism and a literal interpretation of the Scriptures. If Mr. Day held that approach or of another religious politician, vice-presidential candidate Joe Lieberman, he could have dismissed talk that man walked with dinosaurs, thereby calming the high-tech community. Were he not a fundamentalist, he could have stated that reason, persuasion, the law and the Constitution -- not someone's interpretation of the word of God -- are supreme in a democracy.
Were Mr. Day not an extremist on the issue, he could have taken a substantive position opposing partial-birth abortions, like George W. Bush, or campaigned against extremists who oppose any legislation to protect the fetus. Fiscal conservative Premier Bill Bennett used to fire elected hospital boards that restricted access to abortion; he won three elections and governed for 10 years. His successor, Bill Vander Zalm, moved to cut off public funding at abortion clinics, and ultimately brought about the death of Social Credit in British Columbia.
The challenge we face, Stephen, is not only to unite the centre-right, but to attract Liberal voters as well. Despite its dismal standing and prospects, "PC" remains the best available brand name, and the surest, shortest route to power -- especially since "Canadian Alliance" is now imprinted with the taint of Stockwell Day.
This does not mean, as you fear, that a united alternative must be a second Liberal party, or be led by Paul Martin or Joe Clark -- or by any Ontarian, for that matter. It will, however, require someone other than Stockwell Day to persuade Canadians that bloated Ottawa is part of the problem, not solution. And that their interests would be better served by smaller government, and by government closer to where they live.
Two Westerners in the past half-century have been elected prime minister, both under the PC brand name. To tell the truth, I hope someday you become the third.
nationalpost.com |
