The Harper decade
Canadian conservatives were pleased to see 2015 come to an end. The year was marked by a disappointing election result and closed with the fawning reception of our new, young prime minister.
But time and distance brings fresh perspective, especially today, on the 10-year anniversary of the modern Conservative Party of Canada’s first electoral win. Canadian conservatives have a solid foundation from which to build for the future. And for this we are indebted to the intellectual and political legacy of Stephen Harper.
His first electoral victory 10 years ago was far from a foregone conclusion. It required a positive vision and plan of action and Mr. Harper offered both. In so doing, he became the most important conservative in modern Canadian political history. His is not only a legacy that all conservatives can be proud of, but also a strong basis from which to continue the march.
Mr. Harper was a conservative thinker and activist before he became a politician. He was sworn into office in February 2006 with a clear sense of what he believed and what he wanted to accomplish. One of the distinguishing features of Mr. Harper’s prime ministership was his consistency in thought and action. This was a leader who knew what he believed.
His governing philosophy drew from the best traditions of Western political thought. He understood that freedom and responsibility and liberty and order are competing tensions that must be carefully balanced. Freedom unrooted from customs and tradition and or civil institutions such as the family can become a licence for moral recklessness and social atomization. Yet a preoccupation with order at the expense of liberty undermines individual choice and the economic and social dynamism that flows from the market economy. Thus Mr. Harper advanced a vision that saw order and liberty as two sides of the same coin. This was the foundation for his governing record.
The “order” side of the coin was evident in Mr. Harper’s pro- family agenda, his willingness to use the levers of government to nudge people in the right direction with respect to charitable giving and voluntarism, home ownership, and personal savings. It was also the basis for his criminal justice reforms that stood up for victims and sought to better protect neighbourhoods and communities. The “liberty” side was seen in his commitment to market economics, including his historic free trade record, his consistent reductions to the federal tax burden, his focus on controlling discretionary spending, and his respect for federalism and provincial jurisdiction.
It was an intellectual blueprint that produced tremendous results. The record is too long to list. But just com- pare Canada’s performance to other countries around the world. Mr. Harper has left office with one of the best economic records in the developed world, a more unified and harmonious country, and an abiding respect on the world stage.
Yet to see Mr. Harper’s two-sided coin only as an intellectual blueprint would miss its political fecundity. It was more than a mere governing philosophy. It became the basis for his robust political coalition and the party he founded.
Canadian conservatives found themselves in opposition for much of the 20th century because they too often defined themselves only through regional interests, personal political ambitions, and differences with the Liberal government of the day. We lacked an underlying organizing principle. The result is that Conservative parties may have periodically won elections when the public soured on the Liberal party but governments shaped only by regional grievances and unified largely by a “toss the bums out” expediency were often short- lived. They also suffered catastrophic defeats.
Mr. Harper’s political vision was different. It is a coherent, confident conservative movement intellectually rooted in pragmatic con- servative principles. Under his leadership, the Conservative party became a “big tent” for Canadians from different backgrounds and regions brought together by an inclusive set of values and priorities. The durability of his political coalition, as evidenced by the party’s share of the popular vote in 2015 after nearly 10 years in office, is a validation of this model.
There will be much talk in the coming years about the path that Canadian conservatives ( and Conservatives) ought to follow to return to government. Fortunately we will be guided on this journey by Mr. Harper’s powerful intellectual and political example. His legacy provides us with a map and a compass for the future. Conservatives would be wise to use them.
THE CONSERVATIVES WON THEIR FIRST GOVERNMENT 10 YEARS AGO TODAY. AND THEY’RE WELL POSITIONED TO WIN AGAIN.