Crisis for Canadian conservatism

Conservatism is in a crisis. The “big shift” turned out to be an aberration, and the Laurentian elites are back in control. Oil is out, and Bombardier is in. The victory the Reform Party and its successors had won in challenging Central Canadian statism has turned out to be short-lived, and Millennials have seemingly embraced Justin Trudeau’s “post-national state” and identity politics lite expansion on his father’s multiculturalism. Quebec is the only province allowed to have its own cultural identity. The rest of us live in “Hotel Canada”. And massive deficits regardless of economic condition are back in fashion.

My own theories about an urban agenda overtaking the traditional Laurentian one turned out to be largely incorrect as well. Justin has settled into his role, and that role is as the new figurehead of what remains of the Laurentian Consensus, now more accurately labelled the Laurentian Majority View.

Trump didn’t help matters, although he is almost as far removed from American conservatism as both are from the Canadian variety.

The fundamental question that has been presented to voters in Canada, and on a smaller stage in Ontario is “How much arrogance, sleaze, economic mismanagement and authoritarianism are you willing to put up with to preserve activist/interventionist government?” The answer for a majority in both cases seems to be “quite a bit”.

And therein lies the crisis for conservatives. It turns out that the left’s long-time boast that Canada is an inherently left-leaning country might have some element of truth to it, at least in the more populous, urbanized regions. Harper and the Reform Party have become bogeymen for these regions in the same way Mike Harris has been for Toronto voters. People remember the unpleasantness of the chemotherapy, but forget the cancer of bloated, corrupt, arrogant government that had forced its usage. And these men were hard and unyielding because they were fighting institutionalized bias in the civil service, education system and media. Gentle doesn’t cut it in those circumstances, just ask Joe Clark.

And now leaders like Trudeau and Wynne are growing back the tumour. But what to do if the patient refuses treatment? The majority of Canadians have accepted the basic logic of the welfare state, and wish to preserve and enhance it rather than shrink it. They have repeatedly expressed a willingness to give up a large degree of individual freedom in exchange for a less risky life, and to feel that they are protecting the economically and socially vulnerable. That risk-averse mentality and sense of obligation to fellow citizens is a reality Canadian conservatives must work with rather than fight.

I think what Conservatives have to start offering is a better management approach to the “helping state” - one which preserves the services Canadians want, but with better and more transparent financial management and less social engineering. Leave enough flexibility in the system so that the true “rugged individualists” can prosper, but don’t let anyone fall through the cracks. The current Liberals are undisciplined, ineffectual spendthrifts milking the popularity of an affable leader. They’re not good at getting stuff done, and right now that’s their chief vulnerability.

Western Canadian populist conservatism has accomplished a great deal. It achieved a (FPTP) majority government without significant support in Quebec and shut the Laurentian elites out of power for the first time in the country’s history. But it’s hit a wall. And the empire has struck back, and having accepted that their ideologically compatible spare tire is gone, their project is now to “reform” the electoral system so as to bring about a virtual one-party state.

I am not proposing re-Laurentianizing the CPC. The days of both major parties competing over which can show greater favouritism to Quebec or generate bigger deficits are long gone, and good riddance. What we need is a conservatism that is willing to govern within constraints, the most significant being that the majority Canadians don’t want government to shrink, and will reject the otherwise good ideas of a party that tries to shrink it. Do more with less, but don’t do less.

There's Canadian Conservatism? [huh]

An absolutely sickening waste of life.

Five dead animals killed for the sake of shitty male ego, six fuckwits with no shame behind the carcasses.

There are actually a million and a half but the liberal fake news media is deliberately making it look like 5