PUBLICATION:
GLOBE
AND MAIL
DATE:
TUE OCT.21,2003
PAGE: A27
BYLINE:
STEPHEN HARPER
CLASS:
Comment
EDITION:
Metro DATELINE:
WORDS:
776
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United
we stand
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Last
week, federal Tory leader Peter MacKay and I signed an agreement in principle to
create a new political party, the Conservative Party of Canada. The agreement
fulfills a dream that has animated many conservatives for more than 35 years. In
1967, Alberta Social Credit premier Ernest Manning wrote a book called Political
Realignment , the first thoughtful attempt to deal with an ineffective
five-party system in federal politics. Premier Manning's proposal to merge the
Progressive Conservatives and the federal Social Credit Party was largely
forgotten after the latter party disappeared. Yet the failure to reconcile
conservative divisions ensured their eventual resurgence in 1987 with the
formation of the Reform Party of Canada.
In
the late 1990s, Reform leader Preston Manning, son of the former Alberta
premier, tried to bring together conservatives from across the country. Although
the process was not as successful as he had hoped, its accomplishments were far
from trivial. A great many Ontario Tories, both federal and provincial, as well
as disaffected Quebec federalists joined the ranks of the Canadian Alliance.
This new agreement in principle reached between the Alliance and the Progressive
Conservatives marks the final step.
What
are those divisions among conservatives that have taken so long to overcome? One
is the well-known distinction between "fiscal conservatives,"
stressing market economics and individual freedom, and "social
conservatives," emphasizing traditional values and personal responsibility.
Such differences, however, exist in conservative parties all over the world
without creating permanent rifts.
Canada's
constitutional disputes have been more divisive for conservatives but tend to
arise only in certain eras, as they did during the Meech Lake and Charlottetown
debates that raged from 1987 to 1992. That those debates are now in the past
makes it easier for conservatives to get together in the present.
In
today's climate, the most persistent and relevant division pits the
institutional loyalty and elitism of the Tory tradition against the grassroots
populism of parties such as Social Credit and Reform.
Being
aware of these divisions, we were prepared to make significant compromises with
the PCs, and we did. We made those compromises from a position of strength
because we have rebuilt the Canadian Alliance in membership, organization,
finances and caucus unity.
What
we have not compromised is our belief that the new party must be structured to
ensure democratic accountability and grassroots control over the party's
personnel and policies. Conservative values will always include the marketplace
and business, family and faith, criminal justice and national defence. When
these principles need to be tempered, it should be through the concerns of
grassroots Canadians expressed in the democratic process, not through adoption
of Liberal or New Democratic Party policies.
Ultimately,
more policies will unite than divide the new Conservative Party. Most Canadian
conservatives, regardless of which party they have traditionally supported, are
committed to free enterprise and free trade; fiscal responsibility, with lower
taxes and aggressive debt repayment; social responsibility, with strong families
and sustainable social programs and personal responsibility under the rule of
law, with reform of the justice system. As well, most conservatives support
international engagement with an emphasis on strong national defence, supporting
our friends and allies, promoting democracy and human rights, and practical
democratic reforms to give Canadians greater control of their government.
Observers
who would not support a conservative party in any case will undoubtedly argue
that such ideas represent a "hard right" agenda. It has become the
liberal norm to dismiss all conservatism as divisive and extreme. In spite of
such nay-saying, Canadian politics have nevertheless undergone a remarkable
shift in the past 15 years, when balanced budgets and tax cuts were seen as part
of a "far right" agenda, to now, when they are generally accepted as
common sense.
In
the short term, this agreement alters the political landscape for the next
general election. It immediately puts an end to Liberal sweeps in Ontario -- the
only basis on which they have won three consecutive majority governments. In the
longer term, this agreement means that Canadian conservatives will finally have
a single, principled national party to call home.
I
am genuinely excited by what Peter MacKay and I have set in motion. In this
agreement, both parties win. But more importantly, so do the Canadian people. To
my own party's membership, I say this: The Reform Party and the Canadian
Alliance changed Canadian politics in a positive and remarkable fashion over the
last decade and a half. Now, as a strong partner in the new Conservative Party
of Canada, we are set to reform Canadian politics for the better once again.
Stephen
Harper is Leader of the Canadian Alliance Party.
Agreement-in-principle
on the establishment of
the
Conservative Party of Canada
Stephen
Harper, Leader of the Canadian Alliance
Peter
MacKay, Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party
Wednesday,
October 15, 2003
http://www.canadianalliance.ca/pdf/agreement.pdf