Building a conservative Canada -- from the ground up

Adam Daifallah

National Post

Thursday, July 15, 2004

Advice is coming in from all directions about what the Conservative Party of Canada's next steps ought to be.

Some are lauding reported plans for the party to shift to the centre. This paper's editorial board on Monday counselled Stephen Harper to jettison the party's perceived social conservatism to improve its chances of winning. A few pundits are pushing the idea of proportional representation and other democratic reforms. Some are advocating a Western retrenchment for the Conservative party; others full-blown separatism for Alberta.

Conservatives, especially those of the small-c variety, are definitely soul-searching. How could Canadians -- especially those in Ontario -- reject them again, especially given the long-awaited merger and the anger over Adscam?

Various explanations have been offered up, with observers blaming tactical blunders by the Conservatives' campaign team, Harper's allegedly hubristic musing about a majority government, outlandish comments by MPs Randy White and Cheryl Gallant, and the Conservatives' paucity of real attack ads.

Certainly, these problems can be overcome next time. But running a better campaign is unlikely to be enough to generate a Conservative majority government. And that's not just because voters will have forgotten about the sponsorship scandal. The real issue is much more serious, and will take much longer to fix.

Conservative ideas do not get a fair hearing in this country. And how can they? The deck is stacked against them in an almost insurmountable way. Canada's information and knowledge institutions, from the educational establishment to the mainstream media, are nearly all dominated by individuals ideologically opposed to conservative ideas and values.

Conservatives must recognize that winning power on a truly conservative platform -- and not a Liberal-lite knock-off -- is impossible in the current political climate. The left has a stranglehold on print and televised media, the courts, professional associations, academia and popular culture. Institutional support, promoting the Conservative party and its ideals, is severely lacking.

Until this reality changes, conservatism will keep on losing.

The only way to affect such a change is through an overt campaign to shift the Canadian political goalposts to the right. Redefining a country's national attitude of mind is not easy. But the American experience has shown it can be done.

U.S. conservatives have, over the last four decades, built a powerful institutional infrastructure. Well-endowed foundations, funded by various titans of industry, were established to erect think-tanks, underwrite conservative publications and promote a greater appreciation of conservatism in the national discourse.

The success of this experiment has been astounding. Conservative ideas, once thought to be on the extreme fringe, were popularized, beginning with the 1964 presidential candidacy of Republican senator Barry Goldwater. The result has been a tangible shift in the American Zeitgeist that made possible the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980.

For the sake of comparison, Canada resembles pre-Goldwater America: Conservative ideas have little currency with the public. Close to no appetite exists here for ending socialized medicine, rehabilitating our decrepit Armed Forces, introducing school vouchers or aggressively prosecuting the war on militant Islam, including support for the U.S.'s foreign military endeavours.

It's almost as if Canada is fearful of conservative ideas. Even the provincial governments of Ralph Klein and Mike Harris, generally considered to be the most right-wing in recent times, increased public spending and expanded the size of government to unprecedented levels.

If conservatism is ever to take hold here, the U.S. model must be replicated. Wealthy, conservative-minded benefactors must come forward with the dedication and resources necessary to fund alternative media. New foundations and think-tanks must be endowed. Political campaign schools must be started to find and train Canada's Reagan. Without a stable of intelligent, articulate and ideological writers, thinkers and political activists, conservative ideas are bound to continue to fall on deaf ears.

The seeds of this movement exist -- in organizations such as the National Citizens' Coalition and the Fraser Institute, and in media like these comment pages and the feisty new Western Standard magazine. But these efforts have their hands full competing with a billion-dollar-a-year behemoth like the CBC or the litany of government-funded groups and organizations promoting leftist causes with our own tax dollars.

Executing such a program will take years, possibly even decades. Some may think it is a flight of fancy. But if conservatism is ever to gain a foothold in this country, anything less ambitious will result in failure. Years ago, America's conservatives stood up to the plate. Will Canada's do the same?