Canada needs a ‘ right’ school right now

Re: Manning Proposes a School of Right, Sept. 19. Mr. Manning is on the right track with the establishment of his Centre for Building Democracy. Unlike the United States, Canada lacks a strong conservative institutional infrastructure to supply the conservative movement with much-needed intellectual ammunition.

With a wealth of political talent but few resources or constituencies, GoldwaterAmerican conservatives had no choice but to look beyond the two- and four-year cycles that dictate traditional political strategy. Instead of fighting an intra-party struggle they were certain to lose, they built an infrastructure outside the Republican party that was dedicated to promoting talent, not winning the next election.

In Canada, a critical mass of conservative counter-intelligentsia must be constructed — and soon. Canadian conservatives must acknowledge that they will not advance their ideas by a political party single-handedly, but by a network of third-party advocacy groups, conservative media organizations and wellfunded think-tanks.

Canadian conservatives such as Preston Manning have demanded nothing less than a revolution — a cataclysm of change — for the conservative movement. The objective now should be to develop and create an insurrection of ideas to win the hearts and minds of all Canadians who want a better nation. The future of this great nation depends upon it. Will Lymer, Ottawa. Re: Good Idea, Bad Name, letter to the editor, Sept. 20. This letter, questioning why the proposed conservative centre would be named after Reform’s founder, is a beautiful example of exactly why a Manning Centre for Building Democracy is desperately needed in Canada. Many dyedinProgressive Conservatives of pre-Reform days are still walking around with chips on their shoulders because Preston Manning had the gall to publicly state that Canadian conservatism was dying of malnutrition. And Mr. Manning had the courage to do something about it.

To cite but one of his impressive accomplishments: The fact that we have a balanced budget today is due not to Paul Martin, but to the Manning-led Opposition that held the Liberals’ feet to the fire and forced them to face up to the economic facts of life.

But it seems that Canada — or at the very least the eastern half of this country — is incapable of admitting that there are a lot of very sound conservatives in our Western provinces. John T. Sangster, Burnaby, B.C.