Article on Canadian Alliance Party

[Ken Hanly]

There is a new federal party in Canada called the Canadian Alliance
Party. It was supposed to unite the right and the Reform (now
Alliance) and Conservative Party. However, the Conservative Party did
not join the alliance although two Conservative Premiers, Klein in
Alberta and Harris in Ontario support the Alliance. This article is by
a
critical if not red Tory, Dalton Camp. Camp's view that the new party
is a bust should be taken with a big grain of salt. It is more a
national menace, since the party is the official opposition.  It is
the PC (Progressive Conservative) party that is a bust!
   Cheers, Ken Hanly




> >
> >Friday, June 30, 2000
> >
> >Unhealthy media alliances
> >
> >The Alliance party is a product of the national newspapers
> >
> >By Dalton Camp
> >
> >We must not be carried away by the rhapsodies of the English
language
> >national press. The attempted fusion of the Canadian right into a
> >single, coherent national party has been a bust. Technology cannot
> >invent a political party, and it didn't.
> >
> >Five of the 10 provinces, plus the territories, were scarcely
> >represented in the process and more votes were cast in Alberta
alone
> >than in eight of the other provinces combined. Of the alleged
75,000
> >members who were to vote by phone, more than 20,000 didn't bother;
of
> >the alleged 200,000 bona fide memberships sold, 75,000 of them
became
> >non-voters; as for those no-shows, some were non-existent.
> >
> >On the eve of the convention, writing from the banks of the Potomac

> >River in Washington, D.C., National Post columnist David Frum
described
> >the new party as "a political match made in heaven.'' The marriage
was
> >to be "between the Harris Tories of Ontario and the populist
Reformers
> >of the West.'' The radiant bride would be the new party. There was
to be
> >a choice of grooms, but the preacher got the bride.
> >
> >The Alliance is a product of the press, a papier mache party - made
from
> >newsprint. To lead this western right-wing union with Toronto
greed, the
> >two national dailies proposed Tom Long, the inventor of Mike
Harris. In
> >the balloting, however, Long finished second in Ontario and a
distant
> >third everywhere else, save in Newfoundland which he carried by
wining
> >99 of the total 188 votes cast. Long might have done better had he
not
> >fallen on his own sword on the Plains of Gaspe, a victim of excess.

> >
> >Barry Goldwater in making
> >
> >The leader-apparent is now Stockwell Day, billed as young,
energetic and
> >charismatic. He is hand-tooled for the leadership of an all-right
party.
> >He is, as Barry Goldwater Republicans described their man, "a
choice,
> >not an echo.''
> >
> >In his premature celebration of this heavenly match, columnist Frum

> >complains, "Since Bob Stanfield's day, the Conservatives have
fought
> >most elections by minimizing their differences with the Liberals
...
> >they shared the Liberals' values and goals and disagreed only with
their
> >methods.'' Stanfield deplored ideology. He believed it divided
people, a
> >view anathema to the Canadian right whose warlocks, such as Frum,
have
> >identified the witches as moderates, Liberals or, worse, Red
Tories.
> >That their adversary must be their enemy is their gospel. Stanfield

> >thought this absurd.
> >
> >The professional think-tank scholar forgets. It was the Reform (now

> >Alliance) caucus that railed against the parliamentary pensions
from
> >their election pulpits; public service and frugality was their
message.
> >
> >Now they are all on the pension rolls.
> >
> >In a little difficulty in the Gaspe and elsewhere, with rigged
> >memberships, impersonation and simple fraud, the leaders of this
new
> >party of splendid virtue and Old Testament scruple either endorsed
the
> >practice or bit their tongues. Winning, after all, was the only
> >criterion. In the old days, before Frum had read his first Ayn Rand

> >novel, we called that liberalism.
> >
> >But let us admit that, indeed, Day presents a real choice, that he
is no
> >echo. No one in Ontario will be reminded of John Robarts or Bill
Davis;
> >no one in Canada will be reminded of anyone they ever knew or read
of
> >and who sat in the House of Commons as Leader of the Opposition. It
is a
> >somber thought. Let us consider Day's "new vision'' as advertised
by
> >himself and his supporting cast of national newspapers: the return
of
> >capital punishment  (Canada as Texas North); the disenfranchisement
of
> >the Canadian people by selling the CBC; the politicization of the
courts
> >through American-style litmus testing for judges; the
criminalization of
> >abortions; the demonizing of minorities; the destruction of
publicly
> >funded, universal Canadian health care; a regressive tax system
that
> >discriminates against the middle class (as in Alberta); a social
> >services system that discriminates against the poor (as in
Ontario); the
> >further intrusion of corporate money, corporate political
advertising,
> >and corporate lobbying in the election process.
> >
> >Americanization
> >
> >Add to this Day's loosely defined intent to limit the role of the
> >central government and to increase the powers of the provinces.
This is
> >a vision of a Canada that has been globalized, Americanized,
privatized
> >and minimalized. It is a "choice'' many Canadians would like to
vote
> >upon, the sooner the better.
> >
> >It may be the best chance the average Canadian will have to rescue
the
> >country from the folly of an extremism fuelled by greed and by
> >profiteers who now, at long last, have their own leader and their
own
> >party to serve their own agenda.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >© 2000 The Daily News. All rights reserved.
> >
> >
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