Canadian Pol Parties Unite

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2003-12-07 11:35am

I Love long links

Unite-the-right dream becomes reality as Tories vote to merge with Alliance

Sun Dec 7,12:52 AM ET

ALEXANDER PANETTA

OTTAWA (CP) - Conservatives have turned the page on a decade of electoral disharmony, with the Tories and the Canadian Alliance agreeing to an historic merger to end the vote-splitting that has crippled both parties.

Canadian Press Photo

Progressive Conservative delegates voted 90
per cent Saturday to drop the 'Progressive' tag and create a new Conservative Party of Canada with their more staunchly right-wing rivals.

That came a day after Alliance members voted 96 per cent in favour of the merger.

The parties will unite for the federal election expected this spring and give the governing Liberals their first real challenge in a decade, Tory Leader Peter MacKay predicted.

"With this overwhelming vote, we have just become Paul Martin's worst nightmare," a jubilant MacKay said.

"Finally, after 10 years, the Liberal Party of Canada will be facing a united, strong conservative family in the next federal general election."

He pumped his fists, exchanged high-fives and jumped on to his chair to wave at the crowd as the results were announced in a hotel ballroom.

But the new conservative marriage could have a very short honeymoon. There were already rumblings of fresh dissent Saturday, with one high- profile Tory hinting at a possible court challenge and another refusing to enter the new conservative tent.

MP Joe Clark, a former prime minister, announced he will not sit as a member of the new party in the House of Commons. Similar announcements were expected from other Tories.

Former Tory cabinet minister Sinclair Stevens said he will announce details Monday of a plan to block the merger - but would not say whether that includes a legal challenge.

Clark called the union an act of "political suicide" in an emotional appeal before votes were cast. He urged Tories not to turn their backs on the poor, on gays and lesbians, on visible minorities and social moderates who have largely shunned the Alliance.

"This proposal (to merge) is to turn away from those very Canadians who elect governments in Canada," Clark said at a meeting in Calgary.

"To retreat to a very narrow base, to stop being a progressive force in Canada - that step backward would guarantee the election of Liberal governments for a decade to come.

"I pray we will not approve this political suicide."

Alliance Leader Stephen Harper sought to allay fears that the party will be intolerant.

"The new Conservative Party of Canada will be a principled, moderate, national movement for change," he said in a news release.

"It will be a strong and united political home for all conservatives and provide Canadians with a real alternative to the tired old Chretien-Martin government."

Some Tories complained the vote was fixed to exaggerate support for the pro-merger side and help it reach the required two-thirds majority.

In each riding, a vote of 50 per cent plus one at last week's delegate- selection meetings automatically guaranteed a full slate of pro-merger delegates for Saturday's convention.

The so-called virtual convention was held simultaneously in 26 cities, with 2,234 delegates approving the merger and just 247 voting against.

Opponents of the merger denounced it as opportunism and an abdication of the progressive ideals of a Tory party that gave Canadians the Bill of Rights under Diefenbaker and open immigration policies.

But supporters of the union defended it as an act of political pragmatism faithful to the party's long history of coalition-building since the days of John A. Macdonald.

They noted that since the days of Canada's first prime minister there have been Conservatives, Liberal-Conservatives, Independent- Conservatives, and since the latest merger in 1942, Progressive Conservatives.

This latest incarnation gives them a chance of taking power for the first time since 1993, proponents of the union said.

"We're going to put the last 10 years in the wilderness behind us today," said former finance minister Michael Wilson at a meeting in Toronto.

"We can now put together a great coalition - a great coalition like our past leaders Macdonald, Borden, Diefenbaker and Mulroney. . . . Vote 'Yes' and we're going to win again!"

Still, many delegates were concerned that Conservatives will shift too far to the right and make the party unattractive to the vast majority of Canadian voters.

MacKay addressed those concerns by pleading with moderates to stick with the new party and help shape its policy over the next several months.

The merger process will move full-steam ahead starting Monday, with a mountain of work remaining as the parties prepare for the election.

A 12-member joint council will begin planning for a leadership convention, for combining riding associations, and mapping out details for how the parties will work together when Parliament resumes sitting in January.

An interim leader will be selected and the new party already has a leadership convention scheduled for March 19-21.

The Alliance holds 63 seats in the Commons, while the Tories have 15.

MacKay will meet Monday with his MPs - some of whom are skeptical or downright hostile to the merger. He is also expected to meet with Harper.

Harper is currently considered the front-runner for the leadership even if he has not yet officially declared he will run.

Many Tories desperately want one of their own to win the leadership, fearing that the selection of an ex-Alliance member would hurt the new party in eastern Canada.

MacKay hinted strongly Saturday about wanting to seek the leadership.

"This (merger result) is certainly one in the plus column and one in the win column for my decision in whether to seek the leadership or not," he said, adding that he would announce a decision this month.

"I'm feeling some wind in the sails."

Many Conservatives had been hoping New Brunswick Premier Bernard Lord or former Ontario Premier Mike Harris would run, but both have ruled out a leadership bid.

Harris has long backed merger and Lord came out Saturday in full support. But he also urged the party to remain socially moderate.

"I'm saying 'Yes' to a modern, open and dynamic party that will offer Canadians a new choice from coast to coast," he said before voting in favour.

"And I say 'Yes' to putting an end to Liberal majority governments."

That string began in 1993, when the Liberals swept to their first of three successive electoral triumphs.

Vote-splitting began in Conservative ranks after former prime minister Brian Mulroney's coast-to-coast coalition began crumbling during the bitter constitutional debates of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Western-based staunch conservatives abandoned the Tories to throw their support behind the upstart Reform party, while Quebec nationalists flocked to the Bloc Quebecois.

Several subsequent attempts at reuniting the parties have met with spectacular failure, including the process that led to the creation of the Alliance.

Members had attempted to merge the Reform party and the Tories for the 2000 election but the vast majority of Conservatives never came onside.

The ideological gulf between the Alliance and the more socially progressive Tories was always a major sticking point.

Another impediment to the merger was the fear the Tories would be gobbled up by the more powerful Alliance machine. Many Tory skeptics feel that's exactly what has happened.

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Facts about the Progressive Conservatives, the Canadian Alliance and their plan to merge as the Conservative Party of Canada:

Conservatives: Progressive Conservative Party of Canada founded in 1864 as the Conservative party and renamed in 1942 after merger with the Progressives. The party, also known as the Tories, supports free enterprise (news - web sites) and a balance between fiscal accountability, progressive social policy and individual rights and responsibilities.

Alliance: Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance founded in 2000 to replace the Reform party. The Alliance is a western-based, populist, right-wing party that is more socially conservative than the Tories.

Merger: Alliance Leader Stephen Harper and Tory Leader Peter MacKay agreed June 26 to begin an exploratory merger process. Talks ended with the announcement Oct. 16 of a merger proposal.

Purpose: To unite the fractured right-wing vote in an effort to upset the Liberals in a widely expected spring election.

What's new? Tory delegates voted 90 per cent Saturday for merger; Alliance members voted 96 per cent in favour Friday.

What's next?: A leadership convention is to be held March 19-21.

Quote: "With this overwhelming vote, we have just become Paul Martin's worst nightmare." - MacKay after the Tory merger vote.

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Milestones along the way to the Tory-Alliance merger:

Oct. 31, 1987: Reform Party of Canada is born, with a platform that includes an elected Senate, fair economic treatment for the West and a more representative and responsive House of Commons. Preston Manning, acclaimed as leader, says one key is to defeat the Meech Lake constitutional accord championed by Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.

Feb. 24, 1993: Mulroney, battered over his unpopular economic policies and failed attempts to reform the Constitution, announces he will resign.

Oct. 25, 1993: Prime Minister Kim Campbell, the new Tory leader, leads the party to its worst ever electoral defeat, leaving it with only two seats in the Commons. Reform makes its electoral breakthrough, winning 52 seats and snatching many votes from the Progressive Conservatives.

June 1997: Jean Charest leads the Tories to a partial recovery in the next election; they win 20 seats in the Commons. But Reform sweeps the western provinces, winning 60 seats, and becomes the Official Opposition.

September 1998: Manning proposes the United Alternative, a national conservative coalition to oppose the Liberals. He appeals to people of all political stripes who sympathize with Reform policies of low taxes and small, decentralized government.

Nov. 14, 1998: Former prime minister Joe Clark is elected leader of the Tories once again. He dismisses the United Alternative but doesn't forbid his MPs from participating.

December 1998: Clark announces a sort of counter-alternative - the Canadian Alternative. He sets up a task force to talk to people across the country about what they want as an alternative to the Liberals.

February 18-21, 1999: About 1,500 people attend the first United Alternative convention, which aims to bring Reform and Conservative supporters together and lay the groundwork for a new political entity. Alberta's popular Tory Premier Ralph Klein, renowned for his government's economic conservatism, is the keynote speaker.

June 10, 1999: Reform party members vote 92 per cent in favour of continuing the United Alternative process.

Jan. 27, 2000: At a second United Alternative convention, delegates agree to form the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance, later to be known as the Canadian Alliance.

March 25, 2000: Reform party members vote 92 per cent in favour of adopting the constitution of Canadian Alliance. There is no similar vote among Progressive Conservatives.

July 8, 2000: Stockwell Day, a former provincial treasurer under Klein, defeats Manning to win the leadership of the Canadian Alliance.

Nov. 27, 2000: In a snap election called by Prime Minister Jean Chretien, the Alliance takes 66 setas and the Tories sink to 12, becoming the smallest party in the Commons. The Liberals become even stronger by taking Quebec seats away from the Bloc Quebecois.

June 2001: Day's leadership begins to crumble as members of the Alliance caucus begin openly challenging his abilities. Eight are suspended for calling for his resignation. Eventually there are 13 renegades, including party matriarch Deb Grey. British Columbia MP Chuck Strahl emerges as leader of the rebels, who call themselves the rebel Democratic Representative Caucus.

June 4, 2001: A Conservative party survey suggests members are evenly split between those who want to merge with the Canadian Alliance and those opposed. Clark continues to discount any talk of merger.

June 14, 2001: Day proposes a nationwide referendum of Alliance members on entering into formal discussions with the Tories to create a single, viable alternative to the Liberals in the next election, in the form of either a new party or an electoral coalition. Day offers to put his leadership on the line and challenges Clark to do the same. Clark rejects the idea as a "flight of fancy" aimed at distracting attention from the Alliance's internal troubles.

July 19, 2001: Under pressure to quell internal Alliance strife, Day agrees to resign so the party can hold a new leadership election.

Aug. 18, 2001: Federal Tories and eight dissident Alliance MPs agree to form a loose coalition in the House of Commons.

Sept. 10, 2001: Three rebel MPs return to the Alliance caucus.

Sept. 24, 2001: The Progressive Conservative-Democratic Representative Coalition, co-led by Clark and Strahl, gets recognition from Speaker Peter Milliken but fails to win party status.

March 20, 2002: Stephen Harper, a one-time Reform MP who began his political career as a Tory parliamentary assistant, defeats Day to win the leadership of the Canadian Alliance.

April 2002: Most of the remaining dissident Alliance MPs return to the Alliance caucus.

April 9, 2002: Harper and Clark talk but fail to agree on parliamentary co- operation, with each blaming the other for the impasse.

Aug. 6, 2002: Clark announces he will resign after a party poll suggests he is popular and trusted but can't translate that into votes.

June 1: Nova Scotia MP Peter MacKay wins the leadership of the Progressive Conservatives after signing a controversial deal with anti-free- trade candidate David Orchard to ensure a fourth-ballot victory. One part of the deal specifies no merger or joint candidates with the Canadian Alliance and a commitment to run Tory candidates in every federal riding.

Aug. 21: High-powered emissaries from the two parties begin meetings to talk about unity. Tory MP Loyola Hearn, former Ontario premier Bill Davis and former federal cabinet minister Don Mazankowski negotiate with Ray Speaker, a former Reform party MP, current Alliance MP Scott Reid and Senator Gerry St. Germain.

Oct. 16: Harper and MacKay announce an agreement in principle, with the aim to merge parties in time for the anticipated spring election. Clark says he cannot support the proposal.

Dec. 5: Canadian Alliance members vote (by mail-in ballot) 96 per cent in favour of merger.

Dec. 6: Tory delegates vote 90 per cent for merger.

March 19-21, 2004: Leadership convention for new Conservative Party of Canada.

Graeme Dice · Post by **Graeme Dice** » 2003-12-07 12:38pm

Damn it. I was hoping that the reform party would eventually just dissolve, and leave only the conservatives around. I suspect that they've just managed to lose a good chunk of voters who would vote conservative but not reform.

Montcalm · Post by **Montcalm** » 2003-12-07 02:21pm

Graeme Dice wrote:Damn it. I was hoping that the reform party would eventually just dissolve, and leave only the conservatives around. I suspect that they've just managed to lose a good chunk of voters who would vote conservative but not reform.

You know they changed their name from Reform to Alliance.

Graeme Dice · Post by **Graeme Dice** » 2003-12-07 02:25pm

Montcalm wrote:You know they changed their name from Reform to Alliance.

And before that it was called the Social Credit party. The name change doesn't mean much.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-12-07 06:51pm

It's the Canadian Republican Party now in all but name. A Faustian bargain made between economic conservatives and hard-right religious fundie assholes.

Thank you, Canadian Conservative Party, for ensuring that I will never vote Conservative again. Fuck you and fuck the horse you rode in on.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2003-12-07 07:03pm

Was this out of the blue? Or has it been considered for a while?

Wicked Pilot · Post by **Wicked Pilot** » 2003-12-07 07:07pm

So is there an alternative liberal party that can contend with the Canapublicans?

Graeme Dice · Post by **Graeme Dice** » 2003-12-07 07:10pm

Durran Korr wrote:Was this out of the blue? Or has it been considered for a while?

The reform party has been trying to get the conservatives to join with them for years. At one point they changed their name to the Canadian Reform Alliance Party (CRAP).

Graeme Dice · Post by **Graeme Dice** » 2003-12-07 07:12pm

Darth Wong wrote:Thank you, Canadian Conservative Party, for ensuring that I will never vote Conservative again. Fuck you and fuck the horse you rode in on.

Exactly, they've just handed the liberals the victory for the next decade or so once again.

At least the alliance kicked out Jim Pankiw. I can't believe that the people in my old riding voted for him. Of course, he can't even manage to get elected as mayor now.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-12-07 07:21pm

Durran Korr wrote:Was this out of the blue? Or has it been considered for a while?

It's been considered ever since it became obvious that the Reform Party and Conservative Party were splitting the conservative vote. The Reform Party is made up of hard-right religious fundie idiots along with a nice sprinkling of racists who have the usual "blame immigrants for everything" mentality; the last time they ran for federal office, their leader (a guy named Stockwell Day) was well-known to be friends with James Keegstra, a well-known Neo-Nazi and Holocaust denier from Day's hometown. They were convincingly thumped in Ontario, of course, but out west they did quite well despite putting a long list of questionable associations among its senior leaders (such as the aforementioned friendship with a fucking holocaust denier) and a half-dozen different members who made overtly racist statements about Asians and blacks and who had to be turfed from the party one at a time (each time, they said these people were exceptions to the rule, not indicative of the true face of the party, etc). Even to this day, it is no secret that the Reform Party's ranks are filled with racists and fundie idiots, but there are certain political constituents in the west (let's call them "redneck idiots") who don't have a big problem with that.

But the Conservative Party is dying, and its death throes have to do with the hard-left NDP. You see, the NDP totally torpedoed its political chances after nearly destroying the province of Ontario, and this meant that they lost nearly all credibility for a very long time. The Liberal Party was, therefore, able to move to the right (indeed, the current Liberal Party leader is a successful businessman and an economic conservative with a history of cost-cutting and balanced budgets). By taking advantage of the vacuum to their left, they were able to move to the centre, thus undercutting the Conservative Party's platform.

So we have a hard-right fundie idiot/racist party which has strength in the redneck oil-baron province (what is it about oil?), and a dying economic conservative party with credibility in eastern provinces which won't give the fundie/racist party the time of day. The leaders of both lame-duck parties decide that one big fat lame duck is better than two, so they merge. They feel that this will give them the best of both worlds: support in the liberal provinces as well as the redneck oil-baron province. However, I suspect that it will simply cause the Conservative party to die its final death. They used to call themselves the "Progressive Conservatives" (socially progressive, fiscally conservative). Now, as Wicked Pilot said, they'll just be the Canapublican Party. Fuck 'em.

The people who will run this party are all basically Reform party people, and they've already made it clear that one of their first acts in power would be to amend the constitution to make gay marriage illegal. I think that, quite frankly, says it all.

Montcalm · Post by **Montcalm** » 2003-12-07 07:43pm

The way all this is going its gonna make the Bloc Quebecois the official opposition in the next election.

muse · Post by **muse** » 2003-12-07 09:09pm

Wicked Pilot wrote:So is there an alternative liberal party that can contend with the Canapublicans?

Other than the Liberal Party which is currently in power, no. The New Democrats are way off in left field and their main source of support is from the auto union, at least that's the way it goes in Ontario. We've been effectively reduced to a 2 party system now, with the Liberals on one side and this new conservative alliance on the other, the BQ only matters in Quebec and the New Democrats are out of the running for the foreseeable future. Well, here's to another another decade of Liberal rule, unless the damn voters decide they want change for the sake of change and vote in the alliance. If that happens I'll have to consider moving out of here.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2003-12-07 09:21pm

muse wrote:We've been effectively reduced to a 2 party system now

Excellent, the conversion of Canada into the 51st state continues unabated,
soon, we will merge your parties with our Democrats and Republicans and
then follows annexation!

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2003-12-07 09:33pm

Are Canadian political parties like American ones (i.e. an amalgamation of vaguely similar political views under one roof) or...not?

Psycho Smiley · Post by **Psycho Smiley** » 2003-12-07 09:39pm

Darth Wong wrote:You see, the NDP totally torpedoed its political chances after nearly destroying the province of Ontario

Ok, I'm afraid I don't recall that bit. Perhaps it was before I cared about the news. Could someone please fill me in? I don't even know what to Google for.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-12-07 09:43pm

HemlockGrey wrote:Are Canadian political parties like American ones (i.e. an amalgamation of vaguely similar political views under one roof) or...not?

Generally speaking, yes. You can have dissenters, and we've had cases of politicians switching sides and "crossing the floor" to the other party.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-12-07 09:45pm

Psycho Smiley wrote:
Darth Wong wrote:You see, the NDP totally torpedoed its political chances after nearly destroying the province of Ontario
Ok, I'm afraid I don't recall that bit. Perhaps it was before I cared about the news. Could someone please fill me in? I don't even know what to Google for.

When Bob Rae came to power, he attempted to fulfill every socialist wet dream in the book. Massive spending increases, bold promises to every Tom, Dick and Harry with a whiny agenda, and his infamous proclamation of idiocy: "We will spend our way out of this recession". What he ended up doing instead was lowering Ontario's credit rating, virtually destroying our economy, and causing hundreds of businesses to relocate out of Ontario. As one pundit put it, Bob Rae was the best thing that ever happened to Buffalo, NY.

Psycho Smiley · Post by **Psycho Smiley** » 2003-12-07 09:52pm

Ouch. So we really are down to the two party system. The only viable alternative to Martin's liberals is the new fundie-conservative party. Yay. Thanks for the info, though.

aerius · Post by **aerius** » 2003-12-07 10:08pm

For some reason my mom thinks the NDP is the best thing since sliced bread, I was too young back then to really understand what the hell was going on. All I know is my dad made a small fortune working for Ontario Hydro during that time and they got their contract changed so he was able to retire early with no penalties.

As for this new conservative party, fuck them, they ain't getting my vote and I hope they fall apart and croak. Fiscal conservatives I can live with, but backwards racist fuckers are a whole other story. They can go to hell.

muse · Post by **muse** » 2003-12-11 09:29am

Oh yes, the defections from this new party begin. I just heard from my relatives in Nova Scotia that PC party MP Scott Brison has defected to the Liberal party. Mr. Brison is openly gay and he did not agree with the policies being set forth by this new conservative alliance which were too right wing, so he jumped ship. Good for him, and I hope more MPs follow his lead until this new conservative party becomes as lame as the NDP. I hear the Liberals are recruiting discontented members.