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Winnipeg Free Press
14 hours ago
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
The path to new purpose for conservatives
Opinion The lazy days of an August summer are upon us. Unless you're a conservative. If so, you are uncharacteristically unnerved. Having lost a provincial byelection in Quebec last week in a seat they hold federally, they are eying two more. A federal byelection on Monday in Battle River-Crowfoot, Alta. and a provincial one two weeks later in Spruce Woods, Man. Two reliable, deep blue seats are being watched as harbingers of those parties' future political fortunes. Federal Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre will not lose his bid to regain a seat in the House of Commons in the safest CPC seat in the country. His predecessor racked up 83 per cent of the vote in the April election. It's why he chose this seat – as sure a thing as you can get in politics – to smooth his way back into Parliament after his stunning loss in his long-held Carleton, Ont. seat. Spencer Colby /THE CANADIAN PRESS Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre speaks to reporters outside West Block on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday, May 15, 2025. It is unlikely, but not impossible, that the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba will lose its own safe seat in rural Manitoba. Even in the depths of the electoral meltdown wrought by former premier Heather Stefanson two years ago, their candidate won 62 per cent of the vote. Margins matter in politics. Which is why the margin of victory – or loss – will be watched first in both these byelections. In usual times, neither byelection would matter a whit. But these are unusual times for both parties. They are running against themselves as much as against their governing opponents who are proving durably popular and resilient to electoral challenge. Prime Minister Mark Carney and Premier Wab Kinew would win re-election in a cakewalk right now. Which raises a big question for each conservative party – who are you? Votes measure a party's appeal. But relevance to voters is what drives that appeal. These two conservative parties are relevant to a declining minority of voters. Federal Conservatives showed up late to the most important issue on voters' minds – Trump – in the last election, and they paid the price. They've since seen their policies snatched and repackaged by a newly centrist federal Liberal government. And the vituperative temper and tone they are used to is out-of-step for today's times. Manitoba Progressive Conservatives, meanwhile, are reeling from a deeper election loss than they understand. The NDP government didn't need to resort to stealing PC policies to boost their appeal. Offering a moderate, pragmatic government with a positive face to voters has done the trick. The PCs have since chosen a friendly-face leader too. But this will not paper over profound fissures in the party's brand and appeal, as the fractured leadership results showed with the losing candidate winning more votes but losing on constituency points. Plus, the party continues to fight a rearguard battle against their egregious leadership behaviour both during the campaign and after, during transition. Squaring their debit account with voters will not occur until they square their own account with themselves. In truth, both parties are warring inside. They may decry identity politics, but each is struggling with identifying what kind of conservative they really are. Poilievre is moving to the left, embracing nationalist and union doctrines once solely propagated by the NDP. In the past two weeks, he came out in favour of the Air Canada flight attendant union's demands and called for the rescinding of a contract given to a Chinese firm by B.C. Ferries to build four new ferries even though that would cost more and take longer. While this may be chalked up as fishing for loose left-wing votes from a flatlining federal NDP, the conservative response to Maritime provincial governments banning access to forests and woods to try to prevent more wildfires, shows the real conservative schism. A divide between libertarian populism versus conservative communitarianism. Weekday Mornings A quick glance at the news for the upcoming day. Community has long been a part of conservative thought and ideals. Former federal PC leader and prime minister Joe Clark once called Canada 'a community of communities.' The famously influential American conservative, Russell Kirk, set out 10 conservative principles including this one: 'conservatives uphold voluntary community, quite as they oppose involuntary collectivism.' He described this as flowing from local community decision-making. So long as these decisions are '… kept local and are marked by the general agreement of those affected, they constitute healthy community.' And are conservative. In Canada, that sounds a lot like federalism. But libertarian populists, hyperventilated by COVID pandemic rules and mandates, argue local decisions taken by local authorities are really an unabashed overreach by governments to trample individual rights. It is more than a little ironic when libertarian populism takes on the guise of centralizing authoritarianism in the name of protecting individual liberties. Classic conservatives seek balance in society. They are prudent, recognizing the value of permanence in key institutions and values, while recognizing and reconciling needed societal change. Conservatives understand there exists a public good. There is a greater purpose that transcends the individual even while promoting freedom for the individual to live and achieve as they see fit. Community, based on family, fits into this notion nicely. If conservative parties wish to regain purpose and trust with voters, they need to confront and expel the demon of libertarian populism, ravaging their parties from the inside out. David McLaughlin is a former clerk of the executive council and cabinet secretary in the Manitoba government.
News18
5 days ago
- Politics
- News18
Federal Conservatives Call For Terror Label On Lawrence Bishnoi Gang
| Federal Conservatives call for terror label on Lawrence gang. The gang is suspected to be behind the surge of extortion threats in B.C., Alberta and Ontario that have terrified the South Asian has also claimed responsibility on social media for shooting at buildings, including the recent attack on Bollywood star Kapil Sharma's cafe in Surrey, B.C. n18oc_worldNews18 Mobile App -
Calgary Herald
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Calgary Herald
Bell: Doug Ford tells Conservatives — avoid the 'hardcore right', that's not Canada
Couldn't resist the question when the guy is sitting next to you and Ontario Premier Doug Ford didn't shy away from answering it. Article content What does Ford, leader of his province's Progressive Conservatives, think the federal Conservatives could do to win over more Canadians, a few more Canadians? Article content Article content After all, many Conservatives are down in the dumps or just plain angry over losing the last election. Article content Article content Ford and federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre are far from being political soulmates. Article content Article content Federal Conservatives were unhappy with Ford during the election campaign. Article content Ford's former campaign manager publicly raked the federal Conservative campaign over the coals and Ford said: 'Sometimes the truth hurts.' Article content 'First of all, our family has always been staunch conservatives. We joke around. When we were all born, my four siblings, we had a 'C' stamped on our forehead. We've never voted anything but Conservative,' says the Ontario premier. Article content Then the advice. Conservative party members will vote in January on whether Poilievre stays on as leader. Article content 'It can't be one extreme or the other extreme. You can't be far left or hardcore right,' says Ford. Article content 'I would always promote being a fiscal conservative but you've got to have a social heart too. You can't be hardcore right. That's not Canada, hardcore right. Article content Article content 'And you can't just govern based on your personal beliefs. You have to govern based on what the people want. That's how you get elected. You can't be radical left or radical right.' Article content In Ford's view, what do the people want? Article content 'Everyone agrees we've got to be prudent fiscal managers because, if we're prudent fiscal managers, all of that money we're saving or creating we invest it into health care, into education, into infrastructure. People want to make sure we have enough money to take care of health care, social services and other areas.' Article content Of course, Ford is mentioning some areas where the provincial governments play a big part but you get the picture. Article content
Toronto Star
25-05-2025
- Business
- Toronto Star
Let's drop the phoney Alberta versus Canada nonsense. The province has met the enemy — and it is them
(Trigger warning: The author was born, bred, and educated in Alberta. Reader discretion is advised.) Because the Liberal party won the most seats in a national election (the fourth time in a row), but most Alberta ridings went Conservative (for the umpteenth time in a row), Canada is now said to be facing a national unity crisis. Premier Danielle Smith facilitates separatism (while claiming she doesn't support it). ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Alberta business leaders play the national unity card in demanding fast approval of more pipelines: unless the oil industry (assumed to proxy Alberta's general interests) gets what it wants, national unity is in jeopardy. Federal Conservatives, while disavowing explicit separatism, reinforce the claim Alberta has been mistreated by the country. Interim leader Andrew Scheer, on X, complains Ottawa has 'attacked Canada's oil and gas industry for 10 years.' An aspiring Alberta MP-in-waiting, Pierre Poilievre, echoes that view. While saying he personally opposes separation, Poilievre complains ' Albertans have a lot of legitimate grievances,' the result he says of a decade of attacks on oil. This rhetoric will excite the voters of Battle River-Crowfoot. Whether it helps Mr. Poilievre contest a future federal election, however, is a different question. Business Opinion Jim Stanford: Here's why we will survive Donald Trump's tariffs — the answer is right in front of us Export industries are critical, writes Jim Stanford, but almost 80 per cent of what we produce Many Albertans are indeed frustrated and angry — and with reason. There is no province where real incomes and living standards have deteriorated more in the past decade than Alberta. According to StatsCan, Alberta has experienced the second-biggest increase in incidence of low income of any province since 2015. Workers have endured a 10 per cent decline in real wages (adjusted for inflation) over the last decade, worse than any other province. Minimum wages haven't budged in seven years. Despite falling real wages, living costs remain among the highest in Canada, and Alberta suffered the highest inflation of any province last year. Electricity prices, auto insurance, and tuition fees — all governed by provincial rules — have soared faster than anywhere else in Canada. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW But can any of these problems be blamed on the rest of Canada, or the federal government? In particular, does Alberta's hardship stem from suppression of Alberta's oil industry, as Mr. Poilievre claims? This is an obvious attempt at diversion that Albertans should dismiss. During this decade of relentless federal 'attacks,' Alberta's oil production grew by 52 per cent. Production records are being broken again in 2025, tracking more than 4.4 million barrels a day so far. The expanded TMX pipeline — bought and completed at federal expense — has boosted both output and prices, modestly reducing the long-standing discount on Canadian oil sales in the U.S Midwest. Oil industry profits have also never been higher, thanks to record volumes, cost-cutting, and the 2022 oil price spike. Petroleum producers and refiners pocketed after-tax profit of $192 billion over the last four years alone — four times more than in the entire 2010s. Corporate profits gobble up a huge slice of Alberta's GDP: about 40 per cent of total output over the last five years, twice as much as the rest of Canada. Business Opinion Jim Stanford: In the face of Trump's tariff threats, Canada can emerge stronger than ever. Here's the plan The threat from the U.S. is existential, writes economist Jim Stanford, but if we stand up with In short, there's never been more oil wealth generated in Alberta, despite (or perhaps because of) the Liberals holed up in Ottawa. Yet average Albertans aren't getting their share of it. The boom in oil production and profits certainly isn't translating into jobs. Oil extraction and service firms shed more than 30,000 jobs in the province over the last ten years, even as production boomed. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW In 2014 the industry hired 128 workers for every million barrels of oil produced. Last year, thanks to self-driving trucks, automated facilities, and downsizing, that number halved to just 61. So it's no surprise residents of my home province are cranky. Their economy produces more GDP per worker than any other. The economic pie they bake is bigger than ever. But the average Albertan's standard of living is lower than a decade ago. It wasn't Ottawa that laid them off, cut their pay, froze the minimum wage, drove up electricity and insurance costs, and put their health care at risk. It was the enemy within. Alberta's oligarchs aren't speaking for the province, they are speaking for themselves. And the sooner the rest of the population can get past the phoney Alberta versus Canada narrative, the sooner they'll start toward a genuine solution to their woes: namely, winning a fairer share of the abundant wealth they already produce.
