4 December 2003

Won't Work, Can't Work, And It's Being Proven

For some time now we've been hearing talk of a united right-wing of Canadian politics, a merger of the Progressive Conservative Party and the Canadian Alliance Party into the Conservative Party of Canada.

My prediction is already on record, but I will repeat it anyway. It's a good idea, and it's the only way that any right wing party will ever be able to challenge the Liberal Party federally but it won't work. It can't work. There are just too many things that must be overcome, and can't be overcome, for the thing to work.

The problem isn't the Progressive Conservatives, not this time, although they are part of the reason why the conservative side of things is as fractured as it is. In order to explain things I must give a recent history lesson. Forgive me if I start to sound professorial.

The last time that the Progressive Conservative party was able to form the government was when Brian Mulroney was the Party Leader. Now I personally think that both Brian and his chin are stuck up swine but there have been more harmful Prime Ministers in office, I suppose. Anyway, the Conservatives lost one year and Brian of The Chin resigned as Party Leader and retired from the field. That's when some interesting things started to happen.

The Western Provinces, Alberta in particular, were infected right about this time with a Reform Party movement under Preston Manning. The Reform movement was a good idea, but the vast majority of its members were disaffected conservatives who defected from the Progressive Conservative Party to take part in the new movement. Some of these fellows probably shouldn't have ever been allowed out in public without some form of shock therapy apparatus permanently embedded into their skulls, but then hindsight is 20/20.

Preston had quite the thing going with his little Reform Party. He was able to capture some national attention and took his Reformers into the federal arena, and actually came close to forming the official opposition in one election. Now personally I always thought that Old Preston was a little too fond of the word Reform, but I will admit that he did say some things that Western Canadians wanted to hear and that's what got him elected. However, Old Preston's Reform Party was the beginning of the end for the Conservatives, because that's when we started to see just how fractured the Party really was.

Eventually the Reform Party was swallowed up by a new Conservative Movement called the Canadian Alliance Party. Even more disaffected Conservatives flocked to the Alliance Banner, and now the Progressive Conservative Party is a pale shadow of its former glory.

The point behind it all is that there are reasons why the Progressive Conservatives fractured. There are reasons why there are two Conservative political entities in Canadian politics. The reason behind it all is that some of the members of the Alliance party are nuts.

I really wish it wasn't the case, because the only thing that can challenge the federal Liberals is a united conservative party, but it can't happen. There are perfectly sane, reasonable, and logical members of the Alliance Party but they are eclipsed by their less rational brethren, such as the gentleman who recently publicly stated that he would support any imitative that would make it a federal crime to be a homosexual. Its people like this that cause unrest.

Even Joe Clark, probably the single most rational and sensible Progressive Conservative on the planet has proclaimed to anyone who will listen that it can't work and that its political suicide to even try. But then no one has listened to Old Joe for quite some time. It's a pity, really, because I see him as the party's only hope. They stand an even greater chance of failure as long as Old Joe isn't the Party Leader.

On the one hand a United Right Wing is the only thing that can challenge Federal Liberal power in this country. On the other hand the Right Wing is just too damn fractured to ever have any hope of uniting.

On the Gripping Hand if by some sheer statistical fluke the Conservative Party of Canada ever comes into being and manages to take power then we can be assured that the ancient Chinese curse will come to life, and we will live in interesting times.