Do Conservatives want to Win?

 

Recent events in the political world have shown that Conservatives have a long way to start winning elections and form governments. In The United Kingdom we saw the demise of a Prime Minister within weeks of being chosen, in the United States the Republicans have been unable to rest power from the Democrats despite a collapsing economy and many other scandals. Closer to home, Canada has a new opposition conservative leader at the federal level, in Alberta we saw the exit of a conservative leader to be replaced by another, who seems to be having difficulties in expressing and implementing her agenda. The question is why are conservatives so unsuccessful?

When I wrote my book Conservatives: Dead or Alive? I thought that perhaps I had concluded that conservatives would have learned a lesson in the art of political failure. Over the years conservatives have been unable to rest power from the left for very long and they have seen their place in the political arena dwindle. They continue to oppose with no alternative ideas when they are not in power, but when they win, they compromise their principles believing that it will gain them more votes in future to stay in power.

The media has been the left’s greatest ally. It is becoming apparent as events unfold in the United States, that collusion between the media and the left is rampant. Furthermore, as Elon Musk, the new owner of Twitter. releases some damaging information about election interference, the public is becoming aware that even the judiciary and security forces are in cahoots with the left. The influence of social media and mainstream media in shaping elections for the left has taken a new life. The bias in the media is so apparent that the public has lost faith in what was supposed to be the last bastion  of oversight, as it has become an arm of a political party supported by government funding in some cases.

Most of all Conservatives never learn from their enemies. Sun Tzu in the Art of War said: “Know thy enemy. Know thyself”. The left has been very adept hat manipulating election rules. They have increased the use of mail in ballots, mobilize their base with the help of many NGOs and Unions. The left has spent massive amounts of taxpayers’ money to fund motherhood and apple pie programs that cannot be easily reversed. They have been able to muzzle dissension using divisive ‘hate laws. Today it is more difficult  for conservatives to express an opinion without being accused of racism, homophobia, Islamophobia, Nazism and other harmful epithets. In effect the left has redefined the definition of freedom of speech. In addition, when in power the left has been able to appoint the judiciary which is favourable to their ideology.

Since it seems that it is an uphill battle for conservatives, what can they do to regain power? The first thing is that they must have good policies based on common sense conservative principles. Conservatives must recognize that their basic role is to protect its citizens, ensure economic growth and defend the freedom of speech. They must stop conservative cannibalism, as they continuously fight each other. The Republicans who just won a majority in the House are still arguing who should be the Speaker. In Alberta conservatives are still fighting who should the leader be, despite the fact that a new one was recently elected.  Leaders come and go; supporters must accept that it is the nature of things to change. When conservatives regain power, they must ensure that elections rules are revised to bring back the integrity of the ballot box. The use of mail in ballots must be reduced to the bare minimum for only special circumstances. Voting hours must be strictly adhered to, with some advance voting in person. We must ensure that the use of technology is for the greater good and not subject to possible fraud.

I just hope that conservatives hire better strategists than their predecessors. In order to gain power, Conservative must most of all take a page from the left, first stick together like glue and next “Do on to others before they do it to you”

The Rise and Fall of elitist Politicians

 

The recent events in Alberta politics and the election of a new leader for the United Conservative Party (UCP) has shown that politician who stay too long and more importantly over promise and under deliver cannot last past their due date. To claim that conservatism is dead is a cope out and a false narrative.

Jason Kenney is a twenty-five-year career politician, who served this country as one of the best Immigration Ministers of all time. So much so that I devoted a whole Chapter about his work in my book Conservatives: Dead or Alive? He took an enormous gamble to leave federal politics to save Alberta from the claws of a socialist Notley government. He achieved to bring the UCP back into government, but along the way, in my opinion he made some mistakes that cost him his position as leader of the party.

To me, some of these decisions were due to circumstances which were out of his control, but some were. He spent a lot of money on trying to get the oil and gas industry back from the death knell of federal regulations. However, he put too much faith in another opportunistic politician Senator Manchin of Virginia and bought a pipeline which was going nowhere for billions of dollars. He also allowed bracket creep into Alberta taxes, while investing a failed project to investigate the involvement of foreign money in the destruction of our energy industry. Then came the Covid pandemic which was outside of his control he allowed too many outside influences to dictate his policies, while presiding on travel, and health scandals within his caucus. While turning a blind eye on some of his caucus behavior, he closed down the province, and arrested pastors and other people who protested against the intransigent Covid laws. In fact he ignore one of the fundamental tenets of conservatism : Freedom. During the pandemic he seemed to have sided more with Ottawa than protected Albertan’s rights to make choices of their own. The Covid decisions, in my view, were the last straws that broke the camel’s back, and an internal revolt saw him calling for a leadership review that handed him a 51% approval and he decided to step down, but not leaving until a new leader was elected. In my opinion, this latest decision was another mistake, which turn many voters to support Danielle Smith.

While the leadership campaign was under way, Kenney proceeded to govern as Premier and spend a lot of money, which came as a complete lucky economic boom caused by the war in Ukraine. The price of oil went up and a surprised surplus came to the rescue of the Alberta economy. The surplus was not the result of fiscal or monetary polices but rather the economic luck of higher oil prices. In his last days he used this windfall to spend on certain programs that should have been part of his government in the first place, albeit with fiscal restraints. Kenney produced some of his best achievements when he had already been voted out as leader, but upon his departure he made some comments that showed how much of a poor loser he had turned into.

Once deposed, he went on TV and gave interviews concerning his departure. The most revealing aspect of his demise according to him was the death of Conservativism which is being replaced by “Populism with a snarl”. His attack on Smith’s plans to use the Alberta a Sovereignty Act (ASA) is based on old style Progressive Conservative principles.  To be clear the ASA states: ““Alberta Sovereignty Act, granting the Alberta legislature absolute discretion to refuse any provincial enforcement of federal legislation or judicial decisions that, in its view, interfere with provincial areas of jurisdiction or constitute an attack on the interests of Albertans.” It does not mean that Supreme Court decisions will be ignored. Many of Smith’s opponents and pundits maintain the ASA may well be unconstitutional, but it resonates with many Albertans that have seen the provincial powers usurped by Ottawa. But if it is defined as populism, it may well be the correct strategy to deal with a Federal government which has for many years disregarded the rights of Alberta to manage its industry that provides so much to Canada’s GDP. The federal government’s clear bias is at the root of Alberta’s stance to have the right to run its affairs. Quebec’s Bill 96 for instance had no blow back from Ottawa, yet many decisions affecting Alberta are deemed subject to the law form Ottawa. Those who claim that the Constitution is being challenged by the ASA, should take a deep breath, and remember that for political reason Ottawa continuously favors Eastern Provinces, and Quebec to the detriment of others. Is Canada still a confederation with equal Provincial rights? Some will say not, hence the proposed use of the Alberta Sovereignty Act.

Where Kenney’s gripes against both Smith and newly elected Canada’s Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre fail, is that he seems to ignore what populism means and why it came to the fore of politics in Canada and other countries. By definition: “Populism is a political approach that strives to appeal to ordinary people who feel that their concerns are disregarded by established elite groups.” It is exactly the desire for people to be heard instead of being led by career politicians like Kenney that resulted in populism. True conservatism had long disappeared in Canadian politics when the party became Progressive Conservative which in my view meant more closely related to Liberalism. As Canadian Liberals under Trudeau moved towards socialism, it is clear many voters who felt that they were no longer heard turned to populism and are shifting to Poilievre. In Alberta, Kenney’s failure to govern as a true conservative, which I really believe he is, resulted in Smith’s resurrection as a leader in Alberta. If there is a fear that conservatism is dying in Canada and being replaced by populism, politicians should look in the mirror. The reason for the shift results from the inability of career politicians to listen to their constituents. Career politicians with 25 years in office tend to become set in their ways and too often become arrogant and claim to have all the answers. One more reason for my insistence that we should have term limits. Career politician who are rejected by their constituents should not blame a shift in ideology, they should blame themselves, I just hope that the election of both Poilievre and Smith bring a wakeup call to real conservatives and that they should compromise on process but never compromise their conservative principles. They should both listen to their constituents or face the wrath of the people and shown the door like some of their failed predecessors.

 

Marcel Latouche
former President & CEO of IPSA

Alberta Forward

 

The results of the leadership review of the United Conservative Party of Alberta came out. While receiving 51%+ Premier Jason Kenney decided that he would step down and allow for a new leader to take the party forward.

First let us consider that everybody makes mistakes, but some mistakes are more consequential than others. Second, we must understand that to be a leader one needs to have followers. In my opinion Kenney failed under both these criteria. Kenny came back from Ottawa to rescue a dying party and unite the conservatives under a new banner, however there were many sore losers who were still members of the party and never accepted his leadership. Then came Covid which was never his fault, but in my view is where he went wrong ; he accepted the advice of bureaucrats as the basis for too many of his policies. As a Christian, he allowed the arrests of pastors, and worshipers, and never had the opening and closing of the economy and citizens lives under control. He further never really protected Alberta from a dictatorial Federal government and for political purposes never used the ‘separation’ strategy, so adeptly used by Quebec over the years, as a tool to get what Alberta deserves. On the plus side, he revived the economy, but allowed bracket creep in our taxation system, he was lucky because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that resulted in higher oil prices and allowed for a balanced budget. In my view he served Alberta   as best he could and for that we should thank him. But now is the time to really look at ourselves in the mirror and demand that the UCP gets its act together and choose a real leader and prevent the coming back of a Notley government. So how de we do that is the real question.

I have never espoused the Harvard moto that Leaders are not born, they are made. This is a marketing tool to sell university applications and promote their degrees. Given some of the graduates who entered politics we can see that they are wrong ( Nenshi, Buttigieg among others) come to mind. As mentioned before to be a great leader one needs followers. Therefore, any candidate for the UCP leadership must first decided who will follow him/her and how to recruit them. Followers and supporters must decide what they want in a leader and what are the future plans for Alberta. Do we want a government that will get back to small ‘c’ conservative roots or one that still want to add the ‘progressive’ moniker to its future strategy? Forget the social policies that divide us, the Federal laws are settled on these issues. Focus on economic growth, a role for parents in the lives and education of their children, a strong strategy to get what Alberta deserves from the Federal Government. We must have a leader who will compromise on process but never compromise on principles. Those principles that they must defend are those that are espoused and demanded by Albertans. Not those that will allow the leader to play a personal role at a higher political level. We must have a leader who will not sacrifice the tax payers’ money on frivolous law suits that gets us nowhere, given that the current Supreme Court will side with the Liberal government who appointed the judges. We need a leader who will take a page from Quebec leaders who have been very successful at extracting whatever they wanted from the Federal government. To do so we must be able and willing to re-examine our status in the federation and not cower to the whims and desires of federalists Liberal and Laurentians vastly supported by the mainstream media.

 Having given my personal opinion. It is left to Albertans, and this case conservative ones to choose a new leader. I implore the faithful to make sure who they choose because there are some candidates, in my opinion, who will be entering the race for personal reasons and not for Albertans future in mind. We must put our differences aside and ensure that who we choose can take us to form the next government. We have a great opportunity to choose and elect a leader who could we be a partner with a new conservative federal government, and also a Republican Congress, even a new Republican President within the next three years. There is a strong tide of conservatism coming. The world is changing fast, there will be many challenges at home and abroad that will affect us. The next leader of the UCP must be one able to protect Albertans by listening to them and more importantly as Premier must be able to ensure that He or She does appoint the right followers in the caucus and on any committees formed to help advise the government. There must be competence as the basis for choosing these people not cronyism. I may sound negative at times but I am optimistic that Albertans will make the ‘Right’ choice this time.

Marcel Latouche

Former President and CEO

The Institute for Public Sector Accountability.