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Blog of Adam Daifallah -- author, journalist, law student. Lover of politics, writing, golf, curling, fitness, fashion, bacon and maple products -- not necessarily (but probably) in that order. Partisan of the Anglosphere. Contact me via email at adam@daifallah.com. This summer I am joined by Keir Wilmut and Omar Soliman.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Rescuing Canada's Right: a bestseller!
I am pleased to announce that Rescuing Canada's Right is officially a bestseller! Last week the book made it onto the BookManager list for Current Affairs (see below for a screen capture.) Thank you to everyone who has bought the book and made it a big success!
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 10:00 PM
Monday, February 27, 2006
Conservative infrastructure news -- congrats Tasha
Bond concert review
The James Bond tribute concert Saturday night was a really good show. A number of Bond actors were in the audience, including the ogre-like guy who played Jaws, Richard Kiel, Honor Blackman (Pussy Galore), and of course, Sir Roger Moore. The Quebec Symphony Orchestra was definitely on Saturday night, the highlight being when Shirley Bassey, the original singer of Bond themes, belted out Goldfinger like there was no tomorrow (listen to original by clicking link.) Great night.
The Bond festival was the brainchild of Hillary Saltzman, the daughter of original Bond films producer Harry Saltzman. A few years ago Hillary (who lives in nearby Stoneham) found out her father was born in Sherbrooke, Quebec. That's why the festival was held here. Hopefully it will become an annual thing.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 9:16 AM
Great Olympics
What a stupendous showing at the Olympics for Canada. And what great athletes we have. Really impressive. I wonder what the reaction will be from all those who have been complaining that governments don't adquately fund our athletic programs? To finish one medal behind the U.S. with one tenth the population seems to show we are punching well above our weight.
On to bigger and better for Vancouver 2010!
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 12:02 AM
Friday, February 24, 2006
CBC Sunday interview transcript
For those of you who missed it (which is, I'm sure, 99.999999% of you) CBC Online has posted a transcript of our interview with Evan Solomon from CBC Sunday. It is pretty long, but whatever. A few things to keep in mind:
1. This interview was conducted at the end of November. The Tories were still in the 20s in the polls and expectations were not high for a Conservative victory.
2. This is a transcript, likely done by machine. As a result, there are quite a few typing and grammatical errors (eg: "the (?) report" is the Allaire Report) and so on. Just so you know.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 2:53 PM
James Bond Festival
Today the Vue sur Bond festival begins here in Québec City. This may not seem like a big deal but trust me, for this town at the end of February any sort of activity is welcome news. Sir Roger Moore is in town for the festivities. The big event is tomorrow night at Le Grand Théatre, when a concert of old Bond songs is being staged. I'm going, and will try to take some pictures.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 2:47 PM
The way curling is supposed to be played
Fantastic curling game today for Team Gushue to bring home the gold for Canada. An absolute clinic. Mark Nichols deserves two medals for his 97% performance! I'm so glad for Russ Howard. What a way to end a career for such a great person and a great Canadian. (Actually, it may not be quite over yet.) I'm also happy for my Newfoundland friends and all the people of The Rock! Would kill to be in St. John's tonight...
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 2:41 PM
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Crunchy Cons: Worth buying just for the title
Rod Dreher, formerly of National Review (he left for the Dallas Morning News soon after 9\11) is out with his much-anticipated book, and what a mouthful of a title: Crunchy Cons: How Birkenstocked Burkeans, Gun-Loving Organic Gardeners, Evangelical Free-Range Farmers, Hip Homeschooling Mamas, Right-Wing Nature Lovers, and Their Diverse Tribe of Countercultural Conservatives Plan to Save America (Or At Least the Republican Party.)
Dreher is also out with a blog at the now blog-stacked National Review Online. The blog has a description of what exactly a Crunchy Con is, in case you are wondering:
1. We are conservatives who stand outside the conservative mainstream; therefore, we can see things that matter more clearly.
2. Modern conservatism has become too focused on money, power, and the accumulation of stuff, and insufficiently concerned with the content of our individual and social character.
3. Big business deserves as much skepticism as big government.
4. Culture is more important than politics and economics.
5. A conservatism that does not practice restraint, humility, and good stewardship—especially of the natural world—is not fundamentally conservative.
6. Small, Local, Old, and Particular are almost always better than Big, Global, New, and Abstract.
7. Beauty is more important than efficiency.
8. The relentlessness of media-driven pop culture deadens our senses to authentic truth, beauty, and wisdom.
9. We share Russell Kirk’s conviction that “the institution most essential to conserve is the family.”
10. Politics and economics won’t save us; if our culture is to be saved at all, it will be by faithfully living by the Permanent Things, conserving these ancient moral truths in the choices we make in our everyday lives.
Dreher has been writing about this for a few years now, so I'm glad to see him put out a book on the subject, since he obviously cares about it deeply. I actually find this pretty neat. It appears to be an ideology loosely based on the idea of marrying a devout Catholic lifestyle/belief system with modern free-market conservatism. I'm going to pick it up, and hope you might too.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 5:31 PM
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
On curling
Canada has just lost the semi-final in women's curling by a score of 7-5 to Switzerland. I watched most of the game, painful to watch as it was. I'm sorry, but Canada absolutely deserved to lose the game. The way the women's team has played this last week, they don't really even deserve a medal, although they will play for bronze.
As the commentators politely kept pointing out, the Canadian skip, Shannon Kleibrink, has been bailing out her team all week. But today, even Shannon was lacklustre. This was really bad curling. Sorry for being harsh, but I've seen better curling at 3 am at the Peterborough Curling Club junior-curl-a-thon. Maybe they were just having a really bad week. Either way, the team selection system for curling should undergo a serious re-examination once Turin is over.
UPDATE: The same can't be said of the men's team. After a so-so round-robin, looks like the Gushue rink is hitting its stride just at the right time.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 11:28 AM
Fukuyama on the neocons
There's a ton of chatter about Francis Fukuyama's New York Times magazine cover story of Sunday, "After Neoconservatism." No surprise. Anything written by Fukuyama, he of "The End of History" fame, is going to carry serious weight. I read it, and found that while it is a nice overview of some of the foreign policy problems the U.S. has experienced since 9/11, it is not particularly insightful or original. I'm with Roger Simon in that the main point of this piece is for Fukuyama to publicly distance himself from the neocon movement, which he was only tangentially -- even half-heartedly -- involved with in the first place.
I do agree with some of his conclusions, namely that the U.S. must do a better job on the non-military side of the fight against Islamism, especially funding democracy-promoting organizations. The "hearts and minds" part of the project has been a dismal failure so far, due at least in part to the rank incompetence of State Department bureaucrats.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 8:41 AM
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Turning their backs on Thatcher
For some dumb reason, the British Conservatives are trying to forget their glorious past. According to this article, it is now the American conservative movement that is ensuring the Thatcher legacy. Shame. (Thanks to Peter Ryan for forwarding):
IN BRITAIN the Tories may be trying to escape the shadow of Baroness Thatcher. But in the United States any right-thinking Conservative, including the three Shadow Cabinet members who arrived here this week — is still seeking to bask in her reflected glory.
David Cameron, the new Tory leader, may be publicly distancing himself from his predecessor, seeking to brand himself the centrist “heir to Blair”. But such is the former Prime Minister’s enduring popularity in America that her political legacy has now been exported across the Atlantic.
In Britain the Thatcher Foundation closed down two days after last year’s general election: funding had all-but dried up. The Margaret Thatcher Charitable Trust shut up shop in 2003, having not reported any trading activity since the end of 1999 when its gross income was just £299.
In Washington, by contrast, the right-wing Heritage Foundation recently set up the Margaret Thatcher Centre for Freedom endowed with a $3 million (£1.7 million) gift that the US-based Thatcher Foundation had raised from American admirers. Heritage promises to raise an additional $6 million for the centre and has received $4.3 million of this from more than 30 wealthy benefactors.
That means the only significant Thatcher legacy left in Britain — apart from the former Prime Minister herself — is the Margaret Thatcher Archive Trust, which manages her papers stored at Churchill College, Cambridge. It is now cross-subsidised by the Thatcher Foundation in America.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 8:09 PM
Monday, February 20, 2006
On Ben Chin
I read over the weekend that Ben Chin, the one-time CBC anchor, has become the Liberal Party of Ontario's by-election candidate in Toronto-Danforth. (The riding was vacated by the NDP's Marilyn Churley for her recent unsuccessful federal run.) Most people seem to be saying he won't win the riding, but bank on it to be close.
The reason I am bringing this up is that I will always remember Ben Chin as an excellent broadcast journalist for the way he handled Elinor Caplan in an interview during the 2000 election after she called Canadian Alliance members "bigots and Holocaust deniers."
I was following that story closely, as was everyone else involved at the time. Caplan's comments were a disgrace. But of all the interviews I saw her give on the topic, Chin was the one and only reporter to ask Caplan how she make such a statement given her own party's shameful record on Jewish refugees during World War II. Caplan looked stonefaced! It was a great TV moment. I guess he wasn't that upset about it personally, though, or he wouldn't be running for them, would he?
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 12:23 AM
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Standing up for press freedom at U of T
Nick Ragaz from Live Free or Die (a blog he runs with his brother, Mike Barrenger, with whom I used to flip burgers at Peterborough's Chemong Road McDonald's) brings to our attention a controversy surrounding the paper he edits at U of T, the Victoria College Strand.
The Strand has gotten itself into hot water over its decision to publish a cartoon of Jesus and the Prophet Muhammad. Some, including the tin-pot representatives of the U of T student government, are claiming to be "deeply offended" by the drawing. (Apparently they didn't get the memo that freedom of speech does not guarantee you freedom not to be offended.)
Victoria College's president has even put out a statement, which can at best be described as equivocal, although less critical in tone than one would have expected given the abysmal track record of university administrators on freedom of speech issues.
Nick Ragaz and The Strand should be given an award for bravery for taking this principled stand on such a politically-charged issue -- especially for doing it in the most hostile and politically-correct environment possible: a Canadian university campus.
PS - Anyone see the CBC Sunday piece on our book this morning on Newsworld? (It isn't airing on the main network because of the Olympics.) It was OK. Let's just say they did a, ummm, tidy editing job. Replays on Newsworld again at 3:00pm ET.
(UPDATE: Sorry, it was not rebroadcast at 3pm as it was supposed to be. Hopefully CBC will put it up online.)
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 2:23 PM
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Keeping an eye on the prize
Yours truly is quoted a couple of times in a thorough (and might I say, very fair) article by the excellent Sean Gordon in Saturday's Toronto Star on the Conservatives and the strategy going forward to win a majority government. Check it out here.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 9:46 AM
On the Michael Wilson announcement
It's great news. Finally, an end to using the U.S. as a punching bag and sacrificing our most important relationship for petty political gain. This was one of my biggest pet peeves with the Liberals. It was so petty. As Michael Ignatieff said, such behaviour is trite and shallow. It serves absolutely no purpose whatsoever.
I wouldn't be surprised if Brian Mulroney is involved in manoeuvering behind the scenes with Wilson to solve softwood lumber. No Canadian citizen has better relations with the Bush White House. With or without David Emerson's involvement, expect this file to be closed by the end of March. The Tories will do in a month what the Martin Liberals couldn't do in two years.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 12:27 AM
Jeux Olympiques + patinage artistique
Chaque soir ma blonde et moi regardions les Jeux Olympiques à la télé. Une performance forte impressionnante pour les Canadiens jusqu'à date. Nous avons plus de médailles que les américains. Étant donné que je suis un amateur passionnant du curling, je m'intéresse à ça en particulier. Nos deux équipes ont des fiches de 5-2. Pas pire, mais on devrait faire mieux. Fortes chances pour deux autres médailles d'or.
Une question : Qu'est-ce qui est arrivé au patinage artistique pour hommes? Un sport en déclin? Je me souviens des jours de deux Brians -- Boitano et Orser. Ils étaient des artistes de qualité. Mais aujourd'hui, une performance comme celle de Jeffrey Buttle hier (il a tombé deux fois) lui méritait une médaille bronze. J'étais un peu étonné.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 12:03 AM
Friday, February 17, 2006
Please no, say it ain't so
Thursday, February 16, 2006
I'm not crying wolf -- promise
Our interview with Evan Solomon about Rescuing Canada's Right for CBC Sunday is apparently finally set to air this Sunday, February 19. The show can be seen at 10 am on CBC TV or at 9am and 3pm on CBC Newsworld.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 12:49 PM
Gairdner blog
When I was a teenager and just learning about conservatism, a friend gave me a book to read called The Trouble with Canada by William D. Gairdner. It had a profound impact on me and my views. The book articulated small-c conservative arguments for fixing Canada's troubles, which at that time were far worse than they are now, at least on the economic side of things. I still flip through the book once in a while for a refresher.
I have been fortunate to get to know Bill in the last few years, and he has just informed me that he's started a blog. Do check it out. Not everyone will agree with what he has to say, especially on moral and social issues, but I strongly encourage people to read his stuff. The man is not lacking in reasoning skills, so at worst, it will make you think!
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 9:07 AM
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Ignatieff speaks out
Now that he is no longer under Paul Martin's thumb, Liberal leadership heavyweight Michael Ignatieff is letting it fly. And frankly, I like what I'm seeing:
Over cold nachos, the world-renowned academic offered a sharp critique of his party and its recent tactics. "We've got to stop this trite and shallow anti-Americanism" and avoid negative campaigning, he said. "Our campaign ads were a disgrace, an insult to the intelligence of the Canadian voter. We went negative and we had no business doing that. We can't do that again. "We should appeal to the best in Canadians and not the worst."
He's only been an MP for a couple of weeks and he already understands the need to play the "hope" card. He's a big threat ...
Whatever you think of his views (I admired his stance on Iraq) I think Ignatieff is going to make a valuable contribution to Canadian public life. I look forward to his candidacy if this is the kind of refreshing frankness he is going to bring to the table. It is something the Liberal Party -- actually, the country -- badly needs.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 8:43 AM
Monday, February 13, 2006
"I don't follow Muslim law, I follow Queen Elizabeth's law."
Line of the week goes to my friend Ezra Levant for his passionate defence of Western values and freedom of expression (read: his Western Standard's decision to reprint the controversial Mohammed cartoons.) Do check out CTV Newsnet's Ravi Baichwal's interview with Ezra here; Baichwal's performance can only be described as an embarassment to cable news. (See his closing question in particular for why.)
Is Ezra doing this to get a big media hit for his magazine? Ya, he probably is. But who cares? That's what upstart magazines do to get known. And Ezra would not be getting media today if any of the rest of the Canadian media had the guts to actually stand up for free speech and show the cartoons too. I say good for Ezra, whatever his motives.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 7:18 PM
First French post
(One of my New Year's resolutions was to start writing some blog posts in French. I think I've worked up enough confidence to give it a try now. I'm definitely going to make mistakes, so anyone who feels like it is welcome to point them out -- I want to improve! Readers are welcome -- actually, encouraged -- to write in comments in either French or English anytime.)
Une de mes résolutions pour l'année 2006 était d'écrire un billet occasionnellement en français. Je sais qu'il y a un certain nombre de lecteurs québécois qui visitent ce site, et je pense que ça sera le fun d'entretenir le débat dans les deux langues officielles. Étant donné que le français n'est pas ma langue maternelle, je vais certainement faire des fautes. En fait, il y a probablement plusieurs dans ce paragraphe. Je vous prie d'être patient. Alors, on y va:
Laurent de Blog de Polyscopique a un billet fort intéressant concernant le nouveau parti politique, Québec Solidaire. Laurent avance que le nouveau parti pourrait nuire au Parti Québécois, si pas de façon directe, de façon indirecte. Je suis en accord avec lui, puisque le nouveau parti va attirer les voteurs gauchistes au Québec, ce qui résultera en une division du vote. Ceci constitue évidemment une bonne nouvelle pour le gouvernement Charest.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 12:34 AM
Sunday, February 12, 2006
The $50,000 woman
Emma and I are proud to have partaken in the spending of the first $1,000 (joking!) of Deirdra McCracken's $50,000 jackpot from the Next Great Prime Minister contest at Québec City's finest eatery. The foie gras-stuffed caribou was amazing....mmmmmm. Thanks to Deirdra, and congratulations.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 9:33 AM
Saturday, February 11, 2006
Truth and fiction on David Emerson
Look, I'm just as tired of this story as most of you are. So I'm hoping to make this the last post on the subject ... at least for a while. Some of the stuff being said, both here in comments and on other blogs, must be addressed. And this is easiest way to do it:
-FALSE: Emerson did what he did for unselfish reasons; it was for the good of BC and the country.
I'm sure David Emerson is a great guy and a good minister. But do not be fooled. Too many people have fallen hook, line and sinker for this ridiculous idea that Emerson defected out of selflessness so he can solve the softwood lumber crisis. If Emerson only cared about that issue, he could have assisted the Tory government minister responsible for it (might have been the bright young James Moore, who is not in cabinet because of him) and solved it that way. He didn't need to be the lead guy.
-FALSE: Emerson is the only guy who can solve softwood lumber because of his work on the file in the Martin government and his expertise in the forestry industry.
Likely anyone who establishes good working relations with our American counterparts can bring this issue to a close. I'd be surprised if this issue takes longer than a few more months to solve, it not because of the legwork already done by Emerson.
FALSE: People criticizing the Emerson/Fortier appointments are being disloyal Conservatives.
At the end of the day you have to be able to look at yourself in the mirror. Silence is consent. Conservatives should speak out when the party strays from conservative values. Most Conservatives I know and like are not like liberals. They care about ideas deeply, and ideas trump all. In my case, as someone who not a member of the Conservative Party but is supportive of the conservative philosophy, I consider it a duty to speak out in these situations.
-TRUE: Fortier is a good guy who will bring a lot to Cabinet.
He's an accomplished lawyer and I-banker, perfectly bilingual, and actually quite conservative. I expect good things from him.
-FALSE: David Emerson's defection is different than Belinda Stronach's. The two cannot be compared.
Sure, sure, sure. We've all heard this one peddled. He brings something to the table, she did not. She did it to stop the government from falling, he is is doing it to help a government. It doesn't fly.
-FALSE: The Liberals did this sort of stuff, so the Tories should too. It's just politics.
It's precisely why the Conservatives should not have done it. (UPDATE: I forgot to add the most important point here: You especially do not do this after running on an "ethics in government" platform.)
TRUE: The Conservatives need representation in Montreal and Vancouver.
So why not, as Paul Wells noted, appoint Sen. Pierre-Claude Nolin -- already a senator -- to cabinet instead?
As Chris Chapman so rightly noted here in comments, "To foolishly try to rationalize these appointments with one ad hominem tu quoque after another is not conservatism as I know it. It's weak-kneed liberalism." Thank you Chappy.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 12:33 AM
Friday, February 10, 2006
Emerson / Fortier, the Energizer bunny story
It won't die, folks.
In reading comments on this blog and the thoughts of others, including several high-profile Tories, it is obvious that there is a lot of anger out there. Also a fair number of people defending the indefensible, some of whom would admit privately that they are actually appalled by this. As for the comment that the media is over-emphasizing the story -- no. They are not. They would be doing the same thing if it were the Liberals.
I fail to see how anyone can make excuses for what happened. I was particularly surprised to see two rock-ribbed conservatives whom I respect greatly, Ted Morton and Ezra Levant, engaging in excuse-making for these incidents on TV yesterday and today. They appear to have bought into the "it's for the greater long-term good" argument, the line the Harper people are trying to sell. The thinking goes that Emerson will solve the softwood lumber dispute, the Tories will get credit, and they'll pick up a bunch of new seats out West next time and form a majority. Sure, that could happen. But does it make what happened right?
Re-read Tony Quirk's comment: "I am concerned that we are beginning to use examples of previous Liberal behaviour to justify our current Conservative behaviour."
One more time now: "I am concerned that we are beginning to use examples of previous Liberal behaviour to justify our current Conservative behaviour."
That's all that matters here. The fact that the Liberals engaged in this behaviour is not an excuse for the Tories to do it, it is precisely why they should NOT do it! Conservatives are supposed to conservative, ie. have principles, ie. do what's right, not what's expedient, ie. not do what the Liberals would do in same situation. Seems like a no-brainer to me.
My mind keeps going back to the same point: this whole thing was totally unnecessary. What a shame.
(By the way, via Coyne, apparently even Fortier thinks Emerson should have to run in a by-election. How's that for caucus unity?)
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 12:10 PM
Thursday, February 09, 2006
Tony Quirk on Emerson/Fortier
Of all the comments I've seen so far on the Emerson/Fortier Affair, none makes more sense than the one made by Tony Quirk. Tony is an old Conservative hand. I know him casually. He worked at Queen's Park for a while in the Harris years. He's a committed conservative and a loyal party volunteer and supporter. Here's what he had to say in comments at Brent Colbert's blog:
I am concerned that we are beginning to use examples of previous Liberal behaviour to justify our current Conservative behaviour. I have a great deal of time for Minister Fortier. I think he is man of integrity and honesty and if there is anyone who can clean up Public Works, it is he. I am willing (as a proud partisan) to give him the benefit of the doubt. However, it is impossible to justify the actions of our new PM to those who are not normally interested in politics. The nastiness and vehemence with which friends and family are treating these cabinet appointments makes me embarrassed to have worked so hard in the campaign calling Mr. Harper an agent of change. It will be difficult for me to get too involved in the future. My only hope is that the public (and myself) will forget these feelings of betrayal by the next election. In the meantime, bring on my $200 per month child care benefit and cut the GST. (Go Jim F, Go)
$Q.02
And there you have it. This is what happens when you take your base for granted! The media is not letting this story go. Who knows how much longer it will drag on. This was a major unforced error. Not to mention wrong. The saddest part is that it was totally unnecessary.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 12:02 AM
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Congratulations Michel!
The conservative infrastructure world has lost one of its brightest stars today -- but for bigger and better things. Michel Kelly-Gagnon, in my mind one of the most important public figures in Quebec, is leaving the Montreal Economic Institute to become head of le Conseil du patronat, Quebec's powerful business lobby. This is a huge honour for Michel and a testament to his work over the last few years. Way to go!
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 12:39 PM
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Deirdra McCracken
Belated congratulations to our friend Deirdra McCracken, who, as some of you know, won the $50,000 first prize in Magna's Next Great Prime Minister contest which aired Saturday night on CTV.
Deirda has been quite busy since the big day with all the media attention, as you can see on her brand new bilingual blog. Check in there regularly. I have to be nice to Deirdra this week because she is taking us out for dinner Friday to Quebec City's finest restaurant -- and you can guess who's paying!
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 5:29 PM
Cabinet fallout
The reactions to yesterday's cabinet unveiling have been interesting: both the punditocracy and Conservatives appear be split on the Two Big Stories, ie. Fortier and Emerson. I sense real uneasiness in the Tory ranks with this -- even some of the people who are publicly blogging or speaking in favour of what happened are privately none too pleased.
All sorts of excuses have been offered up: from the obvious (Emerson wanted to defect, the Tories were happy to have him, and they needed representation in Vancouver and Montreal, so come on over!) to the plausible but likely incorrect (the Tories did it so that Emerson/Fortier would overshadow the fact that Harper actually named quite a right-wing cabinet.)
I think its probably a combo of a bunch of factors, but I still chalk it up as a miscalculation. I don't think the Conservatives anticipated this much disapproval from their base. (Overestimating base loyalty is a mistake made by the Republicans in the U.S. as well. Anyone remember Harriet Miers?) I think the Harper braintrust figured it was better to get the Emerson defection out on the same day as the swearing in rather than later, so that it would be only one of many stories. But it is nonetheless dominating today's news.
I have no doubt that Harper did this, which is unquestionably a breach of his own principles, for his greater goal of making the Conservatives a long-term winning party. Harper is a strategic thinker. He is a long-term thinker. He doesn't care about day-to-day policies or piecemeal change, he is interested in the Big Picture.
For a glimpse into what's driving him, a good place to start is here -- Terry O'Neill's Western Standard interview with the Tory leader from early January. This piece may be the most important article written during the campaign. (BTW, I think it's good idea for anyone, conservative or not, to read media that is perceived as "friendly" to particular political personalities. Interview subjects sometimes open up more when they know they won't be pilloried by the writer later. So what I'm saying is that the Western Standard should be mandatory reading while the Tories are in government.)
Anyway, here's what Harper told O'Neill:
"Let me mention one thing to you," the Conservative leader stated. "I don't know whether we'll reap the rewards of it in this election, but one thing I've done in this party, which really hasn't been reported or appreciated by the media, is moving the party into the cultural communities in the country." The way the party is achieving this, he continues, is by appealing to their conservative values. "These groups are, for the most part, economically and socially conservative people."
"It's a longer-term project," he continued. "But my goal has always been to do more than win an election, to form a majority government. My goal is to create a new natural governing party. One of the ways we are going to do that, we are going to displace the Liberals as the party of new Canadians. Because those new Canadians are not liberal in thinking. They are conservative."
Tada! New Candians. They're in the cities. Like Toronto and Montreal. Harper wants them. He needs them to create a majority governing coalition. Fortier/Emerson is a small step in this direction.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 2:01 PM
Monday, February 06, 2006
In the Globe
Oops, forgot to mention I had a piece published in today's Globe and Mail. Click here to get around the subscriber wall. It's all about the Conservatives and the need to address environemnt issues. It's co-written with Rick Smith, the executive director of the excellent environmental organization Environmental Defence. I feel strongly about this (see chapter 15 of the book) and I think Harper could win a slew of voters over to his side by championing this cause. There are many ways to improve the environment perfectly consistent with small-c conservative principles.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 7:50 PM
Thoughts on cabinet
The optics of the first Harper cabinet are very good. It is a hard-working and talented group of people. There were surprises: the two biggest of which, obviously, being David Emerson's defection and the appointment of Michael Fortier to public works. I don't like the optics on these two moves. It gives a "business as usual" lustre to the new government on its first day, and these guys are supposed to be doing things differently.
I also surprised about Ablonczy not getting a post, as well as James Moore, Jason Kenney and Peter Van Loan. Nice to see some solid small-c conservatives like Jim Flaherty, John Baird, Maxime Bernier, Monte Solberg and Tony Clement get high-profile jobs.
It was great to see the person who gave me my first job in politics, Marjory LeBreton, being sworn in as government leader in the Senate. Sen. LeBreton is a good soul and has travelled a long road in the last couple of years. I wasn't even expecting her to support the new merged party. But she did, and with vigor. She was an integral part of the election campaign team dealing with the media and became a trusted Harper adviser. This is someone who started out as a secretary at party headquarters under Diefenbaker! What an amazing story. Just goes to show anything's possible.
I also found the whole swearing in ceremony sort of funny. Here are all these Tories surrounded by people opposed to everything they are going to do in office. Can you imagine what was going through the vice regals' minds as they shook hands with Stockwell Day or Jim Flaherty? And Barbara Uteck, the GGs secretary who led the ceremony, is a charter member of the Ottawa Liberal cocktail circuit. I have one wish: that the Tories remain in power long enough to appoint a GG. Which, I think, is about four years away.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 11:47 AM
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Parizeau
Jacques Parizeau was on campus to speak today. I went and saw him. It was pretty boring. I was surprised more people didn't show up. Total attendence was probably 150-200. (To compare, during the PQ leadership André Boisclair filled a room with 500 or more students.) Parizeau seems to keep coming up with new reasons as to why Quebec should be a separate country. Now its because Canada will not stand up at WTO meetings and other venues to protect "cultural sovereignty." He spoke about that for about 10 minutes -- about how Quebec needs to "discriminate" against foreign movies and music, and that the only way to achieve that is with sovereignty. Yup. That's what it's come to.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 6:11 PM
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Macleans on the campaign
Many people have already commented positively on Macleans' Special Election Issue and its 24,000-word behind-the-scenes look at the campaigns by Paul Wells et al. (The first few morsels of the story are free online, but to read the whole thing you have to get the print edition.) Having just read it now (our Macleans seems to come in a couple of days after everyone else's!) I'm happy to join in the praise. This is some great reporting. There is so much neat material to chew on, but a few interesting points I picked out which you might find interesting:
- Perry Miele, the advertising guru brought in to do the Conservatives' ads, deliberately put in the "beep beep" car horn noise at the end of the ads specifically so that if you were making a dinner with the TV on you would look up and see the Tory logo;
- No Conservative candidate was allowed to give an interview to the media withouth first calling the central campaign HQ and going through a conference call with party media people to be sure they were on message;
- The Tories spotted Susan Murray's wild-eyed flailing around on Don Newman's show early (noted and discussed on this blog) and deliberately exploited it. Tory spokeswoman Sandra Buckler would not look Murray in the eye, forcing her to lean further and further forward, thus making her look more and more unhinged.
Anyway, I shouldn't give away more -- and I don't want to anger Paul! But if this kind of insider stuff interests you, it's worth picking this issue up on newsstands.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 9:42 PM
Tobin's decision
As to why Brian Tobin is not joining the Liberal leadership race, see "Post McKenna." It is just not tempting enough for a successful provincial premier making tons of money in the private to come back and do this. These guys have been briefed on the state of Liberal finances and are probably figuring Harper will have a good shot at a majority next time. They also know they would stand little to no chance at rebuilding the party in Quebec, where the party must regain strength if it hopes to win again.
So who does this leave? You guessed it: Turncoat v. Turncoat. As I wrote on May 18, 2005 after Jeffrey Simpson claimed Belinda's Stronach's defection had nothing to do with her leadership ambitions:
Simpson appears to have no clue how Stronach operates and how good she is at bringing people to her side. She will run for Liberal leader and I'd give her a better chance than not of winning it. Indeed, the next Liberal leadership could be a Brison v. Stronach race.
It was clear to anyone who knew Belinda or had had any sort of interaction with her that her only goal was 24 Sussex; Stephen Harper himself said just as much in his post-defection press conference. Scott v. Belinda. That'll be fun for Tories to watch.
PS -- In case you are wondering, Simpson actually wrote last May: "If Ms. Stronach hungered for the party leadership, she should have waited for Mr. Harper to fail as Conservative leader, then sought to replace him. A jump to the Liberals made no sense if leadership ambition consumed her, since she isn't going to lead that party any time soon, if ever."
Sorry, couldn't resist.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 10:37 AM
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