Go to article index for other editions of Bob Orrick's IN RE (In the Matter of).
Pseudo Conservatism and Genuine Socialism Not a Good Mix for Canadians
By
Bob Orrick
Five days on and the fog of the 'will he, won't he' circus that surrounded newly crowned Progressive Conservative leader, Peter MacKay, seems to have cleared sufficiently that Canadians can see the charade for what it truly is and will become. More importantly, Canadians - both those who favour the Tories and those who do not - will be better able to assess how MacKay's lack of principle will play out in the nation.
MacKay went into the PC leadership convention as the frontrunner; some had predicted that he would win the leadership on the first ballot. Such predictions proved to be incorrect and it took four ballots to get the deal done. While that is not surprising, after all politics is not a business for the weak of mind or heart, what is a bit on the strange side is the 'deal with the devil' that MacKay made with socialist David Orchard who had to drop off the ballot after the third go around.
Outgoing PC leader Joe Clark labelled Orchard a 'tourist' in the PC party. Orchard with his anti-free trade rant clearly does not fit the idea of a conservative. Not only does Orchard not wear the Tory mantle well, but also he demanded and received a promise to revisit the Conservative's main legacy, the Free Trade Agreement with the United States. For many Tories, the FTA is the corner stone of their party's being.
Another Orchard demand that 'desperate for power' Peter MacKay agreed to was not to seek any agreement with the Canadian Alliance, currently the Official Opposition. Alliance leader Stephen Harper has, according to some media reports, given a modest green light to talks with the Tories with a view to not running candidates against each other in ridings where without vote splitting one or the other stands a reasonable chance of winning over a Liberal. [Read hated Liberal.] Additionally, there have been comments that the Alliance and the Tories might merge to form a Canada-wide opposition to the Liberals. From what occurred last weekend and from MacKay's lack of principle and from his fervent desire to be all-powerful, it would seem that neither suggestion will see the light of day, soon.
One thing that looms on the horizon after MacKay's lack of Tory Blue principles is that many Blue Tories will give serious thought to joining the Alliance. The Red Tories, on the other hand, dream of siphoning off right-leaning Liberals who have grown weary of being ignored or chastised by Jean Chretien. From where I sit, I doubt that many Liberals will accept the siren call for the simple reason that they know that despite all the crap they take from their dictator leader, they at least will be the governing party for the next few years. They weigh that thought against becoming a Red Tory with little hope of ever forming government or, at best, the Loyal Opposition. It is a case of the devil one knows over the devil one does not know.
The idea that Blue Tories might consider shucking the PCs for the Alliance should not come as a surprise to many; after all, it was from the PCs that the Alliance - then the Reform Party - was born. Disgruntled Tories who saw the party being taken farther and farther to the left and fed up with the inability of the Party's machinery to get the job done, became disgruntled and formed the Reform Party. That the Reform was located in Alberta initially and the West generally did not sit well with the Eastern folk who look with disdain at anything that comes from the West. It is one of those silly Canadiana things that pit the West against the East in just about all things. That West vs. East is okay in the Grey Cup game in late November but it becomes a bit of a drag on the country when political parties try to unite the nation. The Liberals hold sway in Parliament because their strength is mainly from the East with populous Ontario and Quebec its power base.
The Reform - now Alliance - was born out of frustration at the lack of understanding and political management of the Ontario-based Tories as protest against the Eastern Establishment. Now, with MacKay's sell out of Tory ideals, it might just come to be that the Alliance will siphon off Tory members to the extent that MacKay, with his socialist anti-conservative sidekick, David Orchard, will be the leader of a ghost party based mainly in Atlantic Canada.
MacKay is from Nova Scotia and is the son of former Progressive Conservative cabinet member, Elmer MacKay.
Prime Minister Jean Chretien probably cheered the loudest when Orchard crossed the convention floor and was welcomed by Peter MacKay. Now it seems certain that the Liberals will rule the roost in Ottawa for a long time to come. Moreover, MacKay will be no match for Liberal leadership hopeful and front runner Paul Martin, himself the son of former Liberal cabinet minister Paul Martin, Sr. The headline writers will have a field day come the next federal general election when MacKay, neophyte and untested in the demanding role of federal election campaigning goes up against Paul Martin, a wily seasoned veteran with backers coast to coast. Stephen Harper and the Alliance, with or without fleeing Tories, will try hard to hold on to the title of Official Opposition.
What is clear is that Peter MacKay will wear the Orchard deal around his neck like the well-know Albatross from the 'Ancient Mariner.' What is also clear is that Jean Chretien will leave politics in February 2004 and smile all the way to the golf course. He will have completed his forty years in office and will have demonstrated that 'the little guy from Shawinigan' kept the opposition parties so off balance that they turned to infighting and dirty-deal making in sad attempts to oust the little dictator.
Ah, yes, the political scene in Canada is anything but clear, stable, sensible, or even understandable.
If only I could find that deserted island that I seek; but, unlike the couple from a BC community who wanted so much to leave Canada and its continual bickering and silliness for a place of peace and quiet - they chose the Falkland Islands only to wake one morning with a war going on in their front yard - I do not want to go to a place where the possibility of war looms large. Sadly, that eliminates much of the globe currently.
Bob Orrick is a private tutor of English grammar, literature, poetry and Canadian history to off-shore youngsters. His pupils hail from such places as Taiwan, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea and Venezuela. He was previously in international marketing, was a ministerial assistant to a provincial cabinet minister, spent a few years as a reporter then editor of a community newspaper and enjoyed a career in the Royal Canadian Navy.
Advertising Information 
