Social conservatives engage in self-sabotage

There are not many mainstream conservatives comfortable describing themselves as social conservatives these days and it's not hard to understand why.

Despite many Canadians passionately describing their personal political convictions as centring around the role of the family and the community, social conservatives in Canada are understood to be single-issue outsiders, intent on disrupting, rather than building — opposing rather than governing. Unfortunately, the lead-up to the Conservative party's upcoming convention demonstrates exactly why a vocal few party members are giving social conservatives a bad name.

This distraction could not come at a worse time. As the global pandemic eats away at the fabric of Canadian society, social conservative policy solutions have never been more relevant or politically appealing. And yet, instead of presenting Canadians with thoughtful proposals, prominent social conservatives are fixated on playing the victim and settling political scores.

With the Conservative party convention approaching in March, members are meeting virtually across the country to elect delegates from every riding to vote on policy and elect a National Council (the party's governing body which represents the interests of its members). You might expect that in the year of Zoom meeting burnout, interest in attending virtually would be quite low. Instead, these local meetings have been heavily contested, as elements of the party organize to elect their own slates of delegates with the sole intention of undermining recently elected leader, Erin O'Toole.

The organizing appears to be driven by Derek Sloan, the failed leadership candidate who was recently kicked out of caucus, and the single-issue Campaign Life Coalition, an organization which seems to count its wins in number of political careers destroyed, rather than abortions averted. These rabble rousers are seeking to install their representatives into positions of power in the party, fixated on internal party policy, with no plan for Canada or perspective on how to win the next election.

Sloan and the CLC are already boasting about their success in the media, using the cause of social conservatism to justify their unhelpful campaign. These distractions should be particularly disappointing to those of us whose policy agenda the disruptors claim to champion, especially since our cause is so salient today.

As we emerge from a once in a generation crisis, our biggest challenges are ripe for socially conservative solutions. According to the Brookings Institute, already dropping fertility rates in the U.S. are being exacerbated by a COVID-19-related baby bust, with families delaying or opting not to have children at all due to precarious financial situations. We can assume the same is true for struggling Canadian families.

Under government-mandated isolation, we are growing more atomized, separated from our families, our friends and our community institutions. Places of worship, already suffering from public indifference, have been left empty and the less fortunate among us, those who most need our help, are struggling as jobs are lost, mental health supports fall short and opioid addiction reaches an all-time high.

Canada's social conservatives have a unique opportunity to present solutions to increase birthrates and strengthen and support families and community institutions. Instead, a few malcontents are fighting intra-party battles under the social conservative banner, trying to embarrass our leadership and losing touch with the dire needs of struggling Canadians.

As Canada's conservatives are distracted by infighting, American conservatives are engaged in a passionate debate about how best to support families and increase birthrates. Mitt Romney, Senator for Utah, has put forward an ambitious proposal to streamline bureaucratic welfare programs and replace them with direct financial support for families with incentives built-in to encourage parents to both have more children and find and keep meaningful work. Some proponents of his plan even point to a reduction in abortion rates when similar programs have been implemented elsewhere.

Of course, Stephen Harper understood that direct transfers support families better than state-funded programs. That's why his government introduced the extremely popular and highly impactful Canada Child Benefit, since embraced and tweaked by the Liberal government.

Today, Canada's Liberals are pivoting back to their comfort zone, promising universal childcare in the vein of the one-size-fits-all approach to public policy we're more used to from them. What better opportunity for social conservatives to propose policy solutions that would empower families and communities to make their own choices?

Since 2011, the Conservative party has failed to knit together enough groups of voters to form government. As a 2021 election nears and the government's popularity seems to finally be taking a hit over its delayed vaccination rollout, now is the time for the Conservative party and its thinkers to build and present a winning policy program. No doubt Erin O'Toole and his team are hard at work piecing this program together. But the movement is sadly distracted, and our party's position in an election year is worse off for it.

This year's election will be a pandemic election. O'Toole has rightly pointed out that Canadians are particularly concerned with how the economy will recover from this crisis. We know what the Liberals and the NDP will propose because for them, there is never a problem so big or complex that a new government program won't solve it. And we shouldn't fool ourselves that this approach won't be appealing to Canadians who are struggling and desperate for support.

Social conservatives can step up and lead the movement, supporting its leadership by presenting thoughtful solutions to a once in a generation challenge — solutions that will increase birthrates, strengthen families and support community institutions, just when they need it most. Instead, we're fighting each other, trying to embarrass our leadership and losing touch with the dire needs of struggling Canadians.

THIS YEAR'S ELECTION WILL BE

A PANDEMIC ELECTION.