Is a Conservative Party uprising in the offing? No. Is there dissension in the ranks? Yes. The importance of this for their opponents is that we have to pay attention and help keep the scabs from forming over these tears in the fabric of Canadian Conservatism. Nobody wants to smooth the ride for Stephen Harper when Canada goes to the polls next year.
From the roots of the Conservative Party in Alberta to the anti-Conservative streets of Toronto, there is rebellion and the challenge to Stephen Harper is to prevent the spread of the discontent. While in Alberta, the arguments might rage between the extreme Conservatives and the more extreme Conservatives, Harper’s major challenge is to hold together the soft underbelly of the Conservative Party: the oft-mentioned ghosts of conservatism, the red Tories whom we only hear about but never see these days.
In Alberta, the fights between unreformed Reform, Conservative and Wild-Rose Party adherents are becoming the stuff of sleepless nights for Stephen Harper. Mind you, not all Albertan MPs are as narrow-minded and unreformed Reform as Rob Anders MP for Calgary West. He is facing a serious challenge for the new Calgary Signal Hill electoral district by Conservatives who are tired of him embarrassing them.
Not all government MPs are running into fights over Alberta’s new ridings but some of them are quitting the rat race rather than face another term of being treated like a trained seal by Harper and the Prime Minister’s Office lackeys. Some of these people ran for nomination and election as Conservatives thinking they could go to Ottawa and make a difference. They were not allowed to make a difference—particularly if they thought they could change Canada’s position on abortion or same-sex marriage.
Potential Liberal and New Democrat candidates are watching some Western Canadian ridings with interest as the internal Conservative fighting is leaving the ridings open to improved possibilities for other parties. The work that Justin Trudeau has done in Alberta might have been questioned by Liberals at the time but if it can produce three or four victories in that province, the effort will be worthwhile.
While the Liberals expect to do better in the Atlantic and British Columbia, the major gains will be made in Ontario and Quebec. In Quebec, the Orange Wave will disappear into a sea of Liberal red, leaving the decision on the election in Ontario. Considered the heartland of fiscal Conservatism, Ontario is the one province where Harper can ill afford arguments between the religious right, libertarians and red Tories. Maybe, we should stir the pot for him!
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Copyright 2014 © Peter Lowry
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