Quebec ‘fertile ground’ for Tories
Province ready to vote for Harper, senator says
OTTAWA – Quebec voters are ready to vote for the federal Conservatives, even though Prime Minister Stephen Harper might not believe it himself, says a high-profile Tory senator.
Sen. David Angus, who retires from the Senate at the end of this week, said the Conservatives could retake many of the seats the party lost in Quebec by having a more visible spokesman in the province, and that person should be Harper.
“They don’t have a sense that he’s their flesh and blood, so it isn’t that easy,” Angus said.
“But they’re ready to vote. I’m telling you – Harper doesn’t even believe this himself – they’re ready to vote Conservative.”
The more Harper is seen in Quebec, the more likely federalist voters in the province will side with the Conservatives.
“You’ve got to get the minds and the people and the way you do that is you’re present,” Angus said in an interview in his Ottawa office, currently being packed up.
“Quebecers by definition – and this is a theory I really believe in – are small-c Conservatives,” Angus said. “I feel that Quebec is fertile ground. I deplore the fact … we don’t have more representation in Quebec.”
The Montreal-area senator retires from the Senate at the end of the week after 19 years.
The former lawyer and one-time journalist has played major roles within the Conservative Party, including being the party’s chief fundraiser.
Angus says he’s a through-andthrough Tory, a loyalty that began in the late 1950s when he became involved in the youth wing of the party.
His connection to the party grew after a meeting with then-prime minister John Diefenbaker in 1959. Diefenbaker asked Angus, then a graduate of Princeton University, where he stood politically. Angus was wishy-washy, but Diefenbaker wouldn’t let him off the hook easily.
Diefenbaker told Angus to call his secretary, Flora MacDonald, and get himself further involved with the Tories. “That was it. I’ve been a loyal Tory ever since,” Angus said.
Angus said he sees himself as a red Tory, having sat first in the Senate as a Progressive Conservative. But with the term “Progressive” gone from the title, he admits that makes wooing Quebec voters more difficult.
“Harper is portrayed as not a good person and having these strong right-wing doctrines, which are not true. I wouldn’t be there, I wouldn’t be such an activist and a strong supporter of Harper if I thought, or saw any evidence of it,” Angus said.
Adding to Tory woes in Quebec is that there are few spokespeople to be the face of the party in the province, he said. The Conservatives won only five of 75 seats in Quebec in the 2011 election.
On Senate reform, Angus said the government shouldn’t tinker with bits and pieces, but through an amendment to the Constitution.
The government’s Senate reform bill doesn’t open the Constitution. Instead, it would create a voluntary framework for provinces to hold Senate elections, with the winners presented to the prime minister as potential Senate appointments.
Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter has been adamant that Senate reform should be done through a constitutional amendment. The province of Quebec has taken the government to court over the Senate Reform Act, arguing it amounts to a substantial change to the Constitution, requiring the consent of at least seven provinces.
“If you’re going to start reforming the institution, then do it in the right way,” Angus said.
“I’ll support the government laws … but I personally feel there’s a much better way to do it. If you’re going to mess with the Constitution, you’ve got to amend it properly and you don’t hope that you can do it in a backdoor way and the Supreme Court won’t overturn it.”
Angus said the nearly 150-yearold institution needs reforms, but shouldn’t be abolished. The Senate should act as a check to the House of Commons, he said.
“That was the role of the Senate that the Fathers of Confederation wanted,” Angus said.
Even though Angus has hit the mandatory Senate retirement age of 75, he laughed when thinking about what he might do in the future. “I’m even thinking of running if they have elected senators,” he said with a laugh.