The Conservative Party met in Montreal over the weekend for their "first" policy convention. I say "first" because the old Reform Party used to have these every two years and then the Canadian Alliance had one which brought forth some of the old Reform ideas, only not as well thought out. The old Progressive Conservative Party was a bit too top down for my liking and the Reform/CA party was too bottom up. With the mix of these parties now, we have a bit of both and I think it's actually where most Canadians sit as well. While I'm not big on linear political spectrums, this party sits closer to the centre on social issues, but has maintained its economic policy on the centre-right, while also not going too far on the democratic end.
I watched a bit of the convention on TV. I must admit, this new Conservative Party is basically EXACTLY where I like it to be on policy. Here's why...
1. No youth wing. As a former campus Reform Club president we fought hard to maintain the status quo. One youthful MP, Rob Anders, who actually helped me build the club to the largest one in the country, said, "Don't segregate the youth to a sandbox." I couldn't agree more. The youth wing of the old PC party was a party but they weren't treated as regular members. Equality doesn't mean creating all these wings of a party. Once you have a youth wing, you'll have all these other wings, which at this time in the party's growth, it doesn't need factions - it needs unity. This was maintained. Youth have and always will stay involved with the party. In fact, the Conservative caucus is the youngest in Canadian history. Yay on no youth wing.
2. No recall. I've never really agreed with this. If the MP is that bad, the party, media, and constituency association have means to remove an MP is so terrible. Why a party who wants to form government wants to allow recall isn't a smart move. By-elections are expensive.
3. Equal ridings. I'm siding with Peter Mackay and the old PC idea on this one. Each riding, no matter how many members, is allowed to send 10 delegates to a convention. Each riding has one MP, so this makes sense to me. One member - one vote (OMOV) is dangerous in signing up truck loads of people from one region to dominate. It's a national party that needs to act like one. It did.
4. Traditional marriage. I'm a firm believer that a stable male-female marriage for a family is the building block of society. The Conservatives proved they were actually conservatives this weekend. A gay marriage is certainly not a traditional one, but if homosexuals want to get married, go ahead - doesn't affect me none.
5. Abortion. The Party voted down a resolution to prevent late term abortions. While I agree with that idea, for a party to delve into these sticky issues circumvents the democratic principles of free votes - which if a bill like this came forward, likely a private member's bill, would simply be a free vote amongst all MPs - which is the way most votes should be anyway.
Overall, I'm pleased with the direction of the party. Paul Martin's Liberals voted a couple weeks ago to legalize prostitution, but when asked by the media, Martin said he wouldn't legalize it. What was the point of the Liberal convention then? Dither dither dither.
I think Canadians can now find palatable policies in the Conservative Party and Stephen Harper who has stymied the pundits by keeping this conservative movement together. Centre-right Canadians can now stop voting for a directionless gov't such as the Liberals, who have a leader that disagrees with his own party's policies and have no guts to cut taxes and waste.
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