Conservatives ask ‘what next?’
Activists discuss post-election strategy
RED DEER , A LTA. • The pall of Western alienation hung heavy over a regional gathering of right- wing political activists on Saturday, as they gathered at a conference in Red Deer, Alta., to map out whether there is a road to victory for conservatism in Canada, or whether the West needs to go its own way.
The federal Conservatives’ inability in the recent election to break through in Ontario and Quebec, allowing Justin Trudeau’s Liberals to secure a minority government and a second term, was the matter most on the minds of those gathered at the Alberta Manning Networking Conference, which was themed “What Next?” It was put on by the Manning Centre for Building Democracy.
Conservatives have been successful at the provincial level recently — in Manitoba and Alberta this year, and Ontario last year — and federal Conservatives kept Liberals from winning a single seat across Alberta and Saskatchewan in last month’s election. But those victories have been overshadowed by Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer’s loss in the federal election — “the worst possible result as far as Alberta’s concerned,” said Preston Manning, founder of the Reform party and of the Manning Centre. That in turn has stoked already simmering embers of separatism in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Saturday’s event was a regional prelude to next year’s national Manning Networking Conference, an annual Ottawa event that draws the who’s- who of Canadian conservatives to a weekend-long shmoozfest in the nation’s capital.
Alberta Premier Jason
Kenney delivered the keynote address late Saturday.
While it was a strategy- heavy event, there were the standard Conservative concerns, with complaints about biased media, the CBC and its failure to communicate “true news” and worries about Laurentian elites controlling the country.
In panels held Saturday, discussions and questions focused heavily on whether conservatism can sell outside of the West, the future of the West — in this context, mainly Alberta and Saskatchewan — within Confederation, and what strategies can be employed to improve the relationship with Ottawa.
In the first panel, Diane Francis, a Financial Post columnist, argued passionately in favour of a referendum on separation — a “sword of Damocles” — to hoist over the heads of Justin Trudeau and his cabinet.
“The West … has to do a workaround of the problem of Canada as it’s currently constituted,” said Francis.
There was an emphasis on how the West can emulate Quebec in its ability to leverage its power to wring concessions from Ottawa, something Kenney has indicated he’s looking to do.
“It’s not anger anymore,” said Ted Morton, a former Alberta finance minister. “It’s fear. … What’s causing the fear is the Trudeau government.”
However Ken Whyte, a book publisher and founding editor of the National Post, warned against this: “Quebec’s the worst example we could take in dealing with our problems.”
He said “sulking and whining” has been toxic to Quebec, and Conservatives should look at their party and their strategies to game out how they’re going to win in elections in coming years. Whyte said the issue was that Scheer’s party did not have “a legitimate conservative” message to persuade voters with.
“We’ve gotta look at ourselves too, and we ran a terrible campaign,” he said.
Whyte pointed out that there may be two years until the next election, given the minority situation. Trudeau, he said, is going to try to govern with “Kim Campbell levels of popular support.” He was referring to the former leader of the Progressive Conservatives whose party was crippled by the rise of the breakaway Western-backed Reform party.
Manning agreed that conservatism can win beyond the West. With several other provinces under conservative leadership, he believes there should be an alliance between those provinces and the federal Conservatives to push back against the Trudeau Liberals. Given the decade that Stephen Harper’s Conservative party held power, he said, clearly, conservatism can sell.
While other panellists weren’t as optimistic, a panel on advocacy and advertising said there had to be strategies to get the conservative message out.
They pointed to the True North Centre, a think- tank and right- wing news outlet, as an example of how conservatives can seize some of the power in the debate space for conservative ideas. The pro- conservative social media organization Ontario Proud was also cited as an example of a way to help build a conservative coalition and push back against campaigns from similar groups on the left, such as Pressprogress.
“We have to actually beat them at their own game,” said Dimitri Pantazopoulos, who worked on Kenney’s campaign. “We can win elections with a left- of- centre media.”
There was discussion also over the questions of social conservatism that dogged Scheer in the campaign, and could hound future Conservative leaders.
Francis said leaders need to reflect the people who conservatives want to attract.
Said Morton: “If you want to lose election to left-of-centre parties, drive (social conservatives) out.”