Tories buck global swing to right
TORONTO • Conservatives around the world have sought to shake up the status quo in the last year, voting for Britain to leave the European Union and electing a neophyte as president of the United States.
But Canada’s Tories couldn’t bring themselves to do something similar by choosing libertarian Maxime Bernier.
Andrew Scheer is the “Goldilocks” candidate, not too hot, not too cold, said Gerry Nicholls, the former vicepresident of the National Citizens Coalition, a conservative lobby group. “I guess they call them conservatives for a reason,” he said.
“They didn’t want to take that radical, sort of populist step, or even maybe that libertarian step. They’d rather just sort of be safe.”
The thing is, said pollster Frank Graves, it seemed like the Conservatives were in fact ready to not just take the step, but jump.
The majority of Canadian Conservative supporters he’s polled have backed not just Trump, but the right-wing candidate Marine LePen, who mounted a strong campaign in elections in France.
While social conservatives did help Trump win and are understood to have helped Scheer too, those views are out of lockstep with the majority of Canadians and there’s little political traction to be gained from seizing on them nationally, Graves said.
And while Scheer promises to put an optimistic, positive tone on Conservative politics and promises, Canadian conservatives have a dark view of the economy, and like conservatives in the U.S. and U.K., have deep concerns about free trade and immigration, Graves said.
“I have no idea how Mr. Scheer will be able to capitalize on that kind of populist wind,” Graves said.
Kellie Leitch had hoped she could, running a campaign seizing on populist themes of anti-elitism and a Canadian values test for newcomers. She captured seven per cent of the vote on the first ballot and never gained more than eight, dropping off at the 10th round of counting. Another contender with a populist appeal — celebrity businessman Kevin O’Leary — had dropped out of the race just three months after launching his own campaign this year.
The party will convene in Halifax in August 2018 for its next convention, which will be of utmost importance in policy terms, said Chris Alexander, who sought the leadership as well but dropped off after the fifth ballot.
“Winning in a democracy is finding that fine balance between blowing things up and too much inertia,” he said. “You have to find the sweet spot, turn the page of the past without giving up the principles. That’s what we’ll be searching for in the weeks and months to come.”