Election night in Toronto was fun. Conservatives consolidated their hold on government – and the left lost. If Tory leader, Stephen Harper, is disappointed not to win an outright majority, he can take heart that as an incumbent centre-right leader, he’s bucked the trend elsewhere.
It’s worth reflecting just how successful Harper’s Conservatives have been. Not unlike their British counter-parts, Conservatives over here suffered electoral wipe out in the 1990s (literally, as it happens). Since then, they’ve staged a remarkable recovery.
Yet watching yesterday’s results, I couldn’t help thinking that the centre right over here could be doing so much better.
Conservative gains yesterday were partly down to Liberal errors. Pledges to introduce new “green” taxes - please note carefully - cost the Liberals dear. Indeed, Liberal leader, Stephane Dion, isn’t much of a leader.
Yet for all that, Canada’s Conservatives have only ever managed to govern for 30 of the past 100 years. As the brilliant Tasha Kheiriddin and Adam Daifallah spell out in their blueprint for a conservative revolution, I can’t help thinking that Canada’s Conservatives have simply never been bold enough. They’re status quo conservatives - despite the fact that the Canadian status quo is deeply hostile to conservatism.
So much of Canada is governed by leftist, multi-culti-promoting, Mark-Steyn-persecuting, politically correct officialdom. In the frozen dominion, “I’m a Lumber Jack … ” is now “I’m a Quangocrat …. “
Sure, the Tories now hold office again in Ottawa. Yet a couple of days listening to state officials over here convinces me Conservatives don’t hold power. Gramsci-like, the left’s long march through Canada’s institutions is triumphant. And unless Canada’s Tories recognise that the status quo is an anti-conservative ratchet, their victory last night means they’re treading water, at best. They'll lose, even if they win the occasional election.
As in Britain, conservatism here needs to be bold and radical. The centre right needs a blueprint and a plan for radical change - not enter office limply reconciled to a leftist state and the status quo.
