Why the Right Went Wrong in Canada
WALLER, HAROLD M.
Seeking U.S.-Style Solutions Why the Right Went Wrong in Canada By Harold M. Waller Montreal Canada's election last November 27 was easily decided: The Liberal Party, which has governed...
...For a brief moment it appeared the CA might have found the key in its goodlooking, youthful, high profile leader...
...Ontario and Quebec) runs the country...
...They feel he is an aging leader devoid of new ideas, and a political liability in his home province...
...Third, the Liberals cleverly robbed Day of the tax cut issue...
...Doubts about the stewardship of Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, who secured a third consecutive mandate, a rare feat in a democracy, had been raised some time ago...
...The first name that was adopted, Conservative Reform Alliance Party, had an unfortunate yet strangely unforeseen acronym, and was quickly replaced by Canadian Alliance...
...Policy toward Cuba is a good example...
...Finally the CA, in the short time available to it, never sank roots in Ontario, not to mention points east...
...The lack of burning issues led to the lowest turnout in years—about 63 per cent, rather than the more normal 70 to 75 per cent...
...The big story during the campaign was the competition between Chrétien and Stockwell Day, who gained control of the new CA earlier in the year...
...As a result, he took a lot of flak on editorial pages for subjecting the people to an unnecessary contest during a period when the weather could be extremely unpleasant...
...As it turned out, the Liberals took seats in every province, maintained their hammerlock in Ontario, and renewed their status as Canada's natural governing party...
...But it is confidently assumed that the priorities of the two countries will prevent any prolonged strain...
...Because they are so big, the Federal government responds to their needs and not to those of less populated areas...
...First of all it selected Day, another Albertan and the provincial Treasurer (the top financial post), as leader...
...With that accomplished, he may well return to traditional Liberal instincts and look for new programs, such as the guaranteed annual income...
...One reason for the Right's division is Western alienation, which is strongest in oil-rich Alberta but has some resonance as well in British Columbia and other provinces...
...Pundits had speculated that they would be weak outside their Central Canada strongholds, and that this could produce a minority government...
...On top of all that, Chrétien had exercised his prerogative to call an election when there was no need for it...
...What is clear in the wake of the election is that the Alliance can only gain power if the Right really unites...
...As the Reform Party, under Preston Manning, it had performed credibly since splitting from the Progressive Conservative Party (PC) a decade ago...
...After all, for many Englishspeaking Canadians one of the main attractions of their country is that it is not the United States...
...Recently it has lost ground in Quebec, but it continues to attract Ontarians and Maritimers mounting an alternative to the Liberals who are turned off by the Alliance...
...A newly-formed successor to the Western-based Reform Party, the CA was designed to appeal to voters in Ontario, the country's largest province (one-third of the parliamentary seats) and a Liberal stronghold...
...to vote against, or even abstain on, one-sided resolutions condemning Israel...
...Finance Minister Paul Martin, in his budget last February and particularly in what amounted to a minibudget just days before the campaign began in October, introduced significant tax relief for the first time in years, including a reduction in the capital gains rate that approached U.S...
...levels...
...But did it score a decisive victory...
...He contended such icons as universal medical coverage would be endangered by an Alliance government...
...This prompted Jean-Pierre Kingsley, the Chief Electoral Officer (a nonpartisan post in Canada), to propose in December that the country consider a mandatory voting statute à la, say, Australia...
...That he won handily is a tribute to his doggedness...
...The latter was the first party to govern Canada after Confederation in 1867...
...Nevertheless, in November the Liberals picked up six Quebec seats from their archrivals, the separatist Bloc Québécois, and enjoyed a plurality of the popular vote in the province for the first time since the Bloc was created...
...Reform, in contrast, commanded highly concentrated regional support...
...The National Energy Program imposed in the 1970s by the government of the late Liberal Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau symbolizes what the West resents...
...The conventional wisdom is that the 1995 Quebec referendum would not have been close had he not been the Prime Minister...
...The only Liberals with some regrets about Canada's election are those who hoped Chrétien would be retiring soon...
...missile defense programRussia strenuously opposes...
...His views on abortion, prayer, capital punishment and other social matters were frequently debated in the media and formed the basis for innumerable questions directed at him...
...The Prime Minister suggested this was at odds with the Canadian way, which traditionally has been more oriented toward collective values...
...As recently as 1985-93, it also headed two majority governments under Brian Mulroney...
...Chrétien has also chided the U.S...
...Martin represents the party's business wing and is widely credited with shepherding Canada through tough economic times by taming the deficit, getting spending under control, and finally beginning to cut taxes...
...Even his standing in Quebec looks better now...
...Second, Day's fundamentalist religious background became a campaign issue, putting him on the defensive...
...Although he did not emphasize the religious dimension to the extent that some of his colleagues did, many Canadians perceived Reform as composed of fundamentalist Right-wingers with the odd racist thrown in for good measure...
...And just last month, during a visit by Russian President Vladimir V Putin, Chrétien riled U.S...
...The Prime Minister faced hostility from nationalist forces in his native Quebec...
...Since Trudeau took office in 1968, Westerners point out, Canada has been led by prime ministers from Quebec, except for three intervals of less than a year each...
...But he is only a few years younger than the Prime Minister, who now talks about going for a fourth mandate in 2004 and reputedly has said he does not want Martin to follow him...
...Middle East policy is another example...
...For while Liberal rule has been prolonged up to five more years, the persistent underlying divisions that make it quite difficult to govern a population roughly the size of California's have not been resolved...
...The overriding objective of the new political venture—backed energetically by media mognl Conrad Black's new newspaper, the National Post—was to "Unite the Right," to bring together the adherents of Reform and the Progressive Conservative Party...
...There was considerable evidence of discontent within the Liberal ranks, though usually buried deeply (in this system challenges to the party leader lead to dead ends for aspiring back benchers and ministers...
...That left the PCs with substantial but widely scattered support, a recipe for winning very few seats...
...Despite brave talk from the Alliance camp early in the mercifully short (only 36 days) campaign, the Liberals were comfortably ahead throughout...
...It was viewed as a grab of Western natural resources at below-market prices by energy-short Central Canada...
...resorts...
...So Chrétien can look forward to a term that may offer him inviting possibilities...
...That is another question...
...But such a measure is unlikely to be adopted...
...This group would like to see Finance Minister Paul Martin succeed Chrétien, who defeated him at the 1990 leadership convention...
...Characteristically, he shrugged off the criticism and blithely went off to campaign, taking pains to demonstrate his physical fitness at age 67 as he tried mightily to disguise his tiredness...
...To his credit, Manning dealt forcefully with any racists who popped up, but the party seemed to attract a number of such people...
...Manning was from Alberta, the center of Reform support...
...The Liberals, with some 40 per cent of the popular vote, won about 57 per cent of the seats...
...At present that seems like an impossible dream...
...During the last few months, Canada's voting record in the United Nations has varied considerably from that of the U.S...
...In many respects the balloting's outcome was surprising...
...The establishment of Reform broke up the Right's voting alignment...
...Despite the excitement generated by the Alliance's founding convention last spring, the party failed to achieve a breakthrough because it never escaped from Reform's image...
...foreign policy makers by suggesting that Canada might raise questions about the U.S...
...And most important, a younger, more vibrant leadership confronted him from the Canadian Alliance (CA...
...The Liberals were last in power when the U S. had a Republican President from 1981 to 1984...
...Joe Clark, the former Prime Minister (for nine months in 197980), has again won control of the PCs...
...Canadian policy makers are concerned, for instance, that George W. Bush's greater interest in Mexican affairs will lead to a de-emphasis of Canadian ties...
...The two parties on the Right drew a total of about 3 7 per cent of the vote, yet captured only about 26 per cent of the seats, with 67 of them going to the Alliance...
...His garnering a mere 12 seats in the Commons, barely enough to retain official party status, reflects the diffuseness of the PC constituency...
...Trudeau and Ronald Reagan did not exactly get along famously, and the expectation here is that tensions will develop in the bilateral relationship at the beginning of the new Administration in Washington...
...So far, no Canadian politician seems to have figured it out how these people might be induced to support a Western-dominated party...
...Cuba is a popular winter destination for Canadians seeking an inexpensive alternative to southern U.S...
...Although Mulroney, who swept to power in 1984 with extensive Western support, was seen as an improvement, ultimately he too came to be perceived as overly solicitous to the needs of the Central provinces, notably his native Quebec...
...So Manning opened the door to new ideas and members, announced a leadership contest for the revamped party, tried to make it a player from coast to coast, and renamed it to emphasize the change it was undergoing...
...Canada has been much less willing than the U.S...
...For one thing, even at 63 per cent Canadians can gaze smugly at their neighbors south of the border, who barely managed a 50 per cent turnout in their November Presidential election and then took over a month to pick the winner...
...His mandate had another two years to run and no pressing national issue was in the wings...
...He had a narrow majority in the House, but it was adequate to govern against a divided opposition...
...Harold M. Waller, who writes for the NL on Canadian affairs, is a professor of political science at McGill University...
...This gave it considerable representation in the House of Commons, but little scope to grow into a truly national party that could successfully challenge the Liberals...
...On occasion they do lose to the opposition, but their longterm performance has been remarkable...
...Small wonder, then, that the Reform Party immediately captured the bulk of the conservative vote in the West, reducing the appeal of the PC to Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes...
...He clearly would like the top job and probably would have gotten it had Chrétien won only a minority government...
...What better way for a Prime Minister to leave a legacy to his country than to create a government spending program that will be associated with him for decades to come...
...Hardly anyone expected the Liberals to take 172 of the 3 01 seats in the House of Commons, even against a fragmented opposition of four other parties...
...His brand of conservatism, the so-called Red Tory approach, emphasizes a combination of market oriented economic policy with quite liberal social policies...
...Political leaders, while mindful of the consequential integration between the two societies, often look for ways to differentiate Canada from its neighbor...
...models is a popular one in Canada...
...During his first seven years as Prime Minister, his top priority was getting the budget deficit under control...
...In any event, on the heels of his resounding victory Chrétien appears to be in no mood to contemplate abandoning politics, his life's work since he entered Parliament when Lyndon B. Johnson was President...
...Seeking U.S.-Style Solutions Why the Right Went Wrong in Canada By Harold M. Waller Montreal Canada's election last November 27 was easily decided: The Liberal Party, which has governed the country for most of the past century, won a clear majority and continues to be the only political formation that can make a reasonable claim to truly national competitiveness...
...The onslaught deflected him from the economic changes (smaller government, less regulation, tax cuts, more emphasis on the market) he wanted to stress...
...But Chrétien, in countering Day's demanding less government intervention and greater emphasis on individualism, accused him of opting for U.S.-style solutions...
...But it was unable to shake the image of being a Western protest group with a religious tint and some very provocative social stances...
...He hoped restructuring would broaden its appeal, especially in vote-rich Ontario, believed to be ripe for the plucking because a great many of its voters appeared to sympathize with conservative principles and over the years had mainly elected Progressive Conservative provincial governments...
...So it was not much of a stretch for him to insinuate that an Alliance victory would bring a form of Reaganism to Ottawa that would replace Canada's kind, gentle caring society with a more sharply competitive and decidedly less compassionate one...
...for having so many millions of citizens without health insurance and, for having very high university tuition...
...The essence of the syndrome is a feeling that Central Canada (i.e...
...He has been hated by the nationalists for collaborating with Trudeau in the 1980s and in general for being an ardent foe of Quebec independence...
...Day did manage to put the Alliance on the map as the main opposition, but Reform had been able to make the claim since 1997 anyway...
...The argument against slavishly following U.S...
...Throughout the Castro years, Ottawa has maintained friendly relations with Havana, including economic and tourism ties...
...Indeed, one of the motivations for Chretien's premature election was undoubtedly a desire to go the polls before Day could get his act together...
...By all accounts, he and his followers do not want to be subsumed under the Alliance label...
...Actually, Clark ran a reasonably effective campaign this time...
Vol. 84 • January 2001 • No. 1
