I have always tried to keep an open mind when it comes to politics. After all, partisanship taken to a fanatic and frenetic level is not what a pundit - or any voter - should pursue. Last year, I was in the fortunate position to get an inside look into both the Conservative Party of Canada and Liberal Party of Canada (as part of a “blogging experiment”). In the process, I got to mingle with Tories and Liberals at various events, making friends in both parties and also getting a feel for what goes on inside these two federal parties.
What struck me the most was that Liberals actually have a lot in common with Tories, even though the official policies of the Liberal Party would tell you otherwise. For example, at Liberal events I attended, Liberals were as outraged at Canada’s dysfunctional immigration policy as some of the “worst” Conservatives. Liberals, too, feel that the immigrants we take in should be able to speak the language, integrate and contribute to our society - even Anne McLellan, former (Liberal) Deputy Prime Minister, said so in so many words. But official party policy remains silent on the issue, at least under the current Liberal Party brand.
Also, when you mingle with Liberals in Alberta, you’ll also find that a lot of their members are provincial Tories. Maybe it’s true and Ralph Klein, Alberta's long-serving premier, is also a federal Liberal.
One woman in our constituency, who is a devout Conservative, provincially and federally, told me today that she really did not care whether the Tories or the Liberals were in power, but that she had not voted Liberal because of the Liberals’ corruption and lack of honesty. If the Liberals were more honest, she said, there would be little to no difference between them and the Tories, and I have to agree with her. Given Prime Minister Harper’s record so far, one cannot help but label him “Liberal Lite”.
Then again, that these two parties are separated by a fine line only should not be surprising: after all, both parties adhere, or claim to adhere, to the principles of liberalism, which Random House Dictionary defines as “a political or social philosophy advocating the freedom of the individual, parliamentary systems of government, nonviolent modification of political, social, or economic institutions to assure unrestricted development in all spheres of human endeavor, and governmental guarantees of individual rights and civil liberties.” The only problem with the current Liberal brand, apart from its inherent corruption, is that the party has moved too far left in recent years, toward statism (i.e., excessively Big Government) and, thus, away from true liberalism.
Article comments
1 - Kold
Easy. Read and follow my novel.
2 - Coward
You're right. We're all people. The problem is that Consevatives deny the existance of something called fact. The racist/discriminant undertones really don't have a place in Canada, either. Trudeau = best. Chretien = preserver. Martin = crap.
The reason people that vote for Klein in Alberta would vote Liberal is because they've seen the fiscal mismanagement that plagued key members of Harper's cabinet when they were under Mike Harris (or just Brian Mulroney, who runs the job now, again, grr). Bush is the same thing. The notion of a "fiscal convervative" is essentially taken up by the Liberals, while Conservatives fill the roll of tax-cutting military spending nut job.
Thank goodness for Cancon and anything else that preserves Canadian industry. Certainly Free Trade and Softwood lumber aren't going to be it ...
3 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
This made an interesting read. While my knowledge of Canadian politics is limited, made even more so by the radical partisan restructuring over the last decade and a half, like you I've had the opportunity to get close to both Democrats and Republicans in Minnesota. Maybe it has changed, but in Minnesota at least, you could really tell the difference between Democatic politics and Republican politics. In Minnesota, at least in the very late '90s' and 2000, conservatism was at the heart of politics for Republicans. This was not so for the Democrats at all.
4 - Mark Edward Manning
One - Alberta tends to be the most conservative province in Canada, so my guess is that they'll remain so and go Conservative.
Two - If you're asking which way should Canada go, I thought that was already settled? Stephen Harper, of the Conservative party, won the Canadian election.