Solutions for Conservative Temperament (Response for Andrew Coyne)
Clinton P. Desveaux
Recent polling has the Conservative Party of Canada at 23.6%. I believe Conservatives have become a party of extreme coalitions that don’t represent Canadians at large in the year 2021.
Liberals are Canada’s natural governing party embracing cities, multiculturalism, science, marriage equality, innovation & technology - the Conservatives are Canada’s natural opposition party. Debates & election missteps trip up Conservatives on a regular basis; issues like abortion, gay marriage, identity & nationalism, crazy talk of privatizing roads & sidewalks, attacks on “Big Tech”, dismissive views of environmental issues and outright disdain for something as simple as recycling are ballot box problems for Conservatives in the 21st Century.
The theme of conservative thinking seems to be a longing for an era of black & white television and AM Radio. When everyone played hockey and soccer was something other parts of the world did. A longing for the ‘good ole days’ — when Asian Canadians were not given the vote until 1948, when being gay was illegal and remained so until 1969, when the last residential schools for native children were all the rage and not closed until 1996. Women were expected to stay home and more specifically the kitchen baking apple and lemon pies. Who the heck were ‘the good ole days’ good for? And why would anyone want a return to the ‘good ole days’? Republican style nationalism found in the Trump corners of the dark web has been slowly creeping into Canadian culture and making conservatives less palpable.
I believe the Conservative Party of Canada’s dumb policy of one member one vote, in order to elect its leaders, has caused it to become unelectable with mainstream Canada. Social media rabbit holes, purchased audio/visual advocacy pretending to be media, and questionable push polls — all in combination cause potential leadership candidates to embrace extreme fringe voters in the 1 member 1 vote system. This is done in order to differentiate themselves from their competition. These voter models also encourage specific economic advocacy groups and in some cases industries to have a disproportionate influence among party membership. The bigger problem is once a candidate wins by staking out extreme territory which appeals to only 20% of Canadians, the candidates are unable to pivot to where the overwhelming majority of Canadian voters are for a general election because of fear that the 1 member 1 vote party membership will turn on them for doing what is right by most Canadians.
As my friend and former NDP MP Lorne Nystrom has said to me multiple times, “when you play wedge politics, eventually you find yourself so far out on the ledge, you have nowhere to go but down.”
Solutions exist to get off the ledge and back in the mainstream for the Conservative Party, but people have to be willing to demand them.
A return to delegated conventions is one solution. Party members from Newfoundland to British Columbia and all points in between end up being represented with equal weight. Compromise mattered at delegated conventions and likeable personalities were more important than ideological puritans and social misfits. It weeds out the kooks…
Getting rid of the 1 member 1 vote system for choosing individuals who seek out local nominations in order to represent the party as candidate for MP at the local riding level is one answer. An interview & resume process in combination with an examination of personality in order to judge the ability of a prospective candidate to work within a team and represent the broader public should also be a priority.
The Conservative Party would have a chance over the course of 2 or 3 elections to turn things around. It could become a truly competitive natural governing option. Developing the ability to win a majority government by appealing to mainstream Canadians in all regions of Canada. It’s a history lesson taught to us by Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Mulroney won the largest majority government in Canadian history and won back to back majority governments in the process by appealing to and governing for mainstream Canadians.
My colleague Andrew Coyne over at the Globe and Mail recently penned a wonderful column “More than leadership or policy, it’s the Conservative temperament that’s putting off voters” which you can read here:
I decided to write this column as a response to his with solutions to the problems he describes.
Clinton P. Desveaux is a former Conservative Party activist, and has had leadership campaign manager roles for past Conservative Party leadership races. He can be reached ClintonDesveaux@gmail.com