I wonder if extremism is taking over the conservative movement in Canada as it has in the United States. I also wonder if we should worry about that. My own view is that we should.
Now, those who are expecting a tirade here against Pierre Poilievre, the new leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, will be disappointed. Some of his antics during the leadership race were disturbing, to say the least. But he is barely into his tenure and has not yet clearly signalled where he will end up on the Conservative spectrum.
Pierre Poilievre wants to win the next federal election and simply cannot achieve that if he pivots solely to the far right. Former prime minister Brian Mulroney pointed that out to him just last week.
And those who think I have gone soft on Poilievre would also be wrong. I have not. He has a great deal to prove but he also has an opportunity to hold the Conservative Party together by leading from the centre. There have been some brief signals in that direction but only time will tell if he has what it takes to accomplish that in real terms.
My more immediate concern about conservative extremism lies outside of Ottawa, particularly in Alberta and Quebec and to a degree, in Saskatchewan.
Last week, Danielle Smith became Premier of Alberta. She has not yet been tested at the polls, but she brings with her a record of right-wing extremism that is alarming.
I should say here that I was born in Edmonton and over the years have spent a good deal of time in Alberta as much of our extended family remained there. Most of them were Conservative and all were strong Albertans and proud Canadians. Three generations of my Western family have received the Order of Canada.
However, I can’t imagine any of them being the least bit comfortable with a premier whose first priority is to introduce a Sovereignty Act to limit the constitutional powers of the federal government in that province. Nor do I believe they would have tolerated the incomprehensible statement made by Premier Smith at her first press conference that unvaccinated people during the COVID-19 pandemic were, “the most discriminated against group that I’ve ever witnessed in my lifetime.”
In relation to the proposed Sovereignty Act, Premier Jason Kenny, while still in office, called it “cockamamie” and believed it to be illegal and a recipe for business and investment to leave the province. He also strongly defended the right of Alberta’s Lt. Governor to withhold Royal assent for any such legislation until its constitutionality is confirmed. Danielle Smith lambasted both of them for taking that position which is, at its base, following the rule of law.
As for the Premier’s statement related to discrimination of the unvaccinated during the COVID-19 pandemic, perhaps she should have a chat with the physicians, nurses, and other healthcare workers across Canada, who treated sick and unvaccinated COVID patients with kindness, dignity, and respect and at danger to themselves while doing so. Perhaps as well, she should have talked to people who, during her lifetime, were discriminated against for being gay, fired because they had a disability, not allowed to get credit or a bank loan without their husband’s consent, or indigenous communities who still don’t have access to clean water.
In Quebec, the Legault Government is the first government in 48 years that is not either Liberal or Parti Quebecois. It is essentially conservative, Duplessis- like in character. That in itself is not a huge problem for me, but the extremism sometimes disguised as populism is.
Bill 21, which clearly discriminates against people whose religion requires them to wear head coverings, is a clear violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights, and Bill 96, legislation that undermines English language education in Quebec, is also discriminatory.
What is particularly upsetting about this is that the Government of Canada, which has a primary responsibility to protect and defend the Constitution has done squat when it comes to staring down Quebec’s nationalistic tendencies, especially those that are contrary to Canadian law and custom. To be fair, there is a paucity of comment on these important issues to our Canadian identity from most politicians of all stripes in Ottawa, with Muskoka-Parry Sound MP Scott Aitchison being a rare and, to me, welcome exception.
I think it is time to define what conservatism in Canada is, or at least what it should be.
In a recent interview with journalist Mercedes Stephenson, outgoing Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said this: “ Conservatism, therefore, means protecting what is best about what we have inherited. Not being opposed to thoughtful reform but opposing radical overnight change and the destruction of institutions. And some of what I see now, populism with a snarl, is not conservatism. It is about tearing things down and blowing things up. And that concerns me.”
I believe that to be an accurate analogy of what we are seeing in recent times and how conservatism, in a Canadian context, is going off the rails. And THAT concerns me.
Extremism and “snarly” populism are, in my view, becoming rampant in Canada. They are challenging our values as Canadians and dividing our country. We need to pull back both on the far left and on the far right.
Is our current NDP-supported Liberal Government capable of doing that? Of rejecting divisiveness and territorial acrimony, standing firmly for Canadian values, and finding common ground for all Canadians? Would a Conservative Government do any better?
On both counts, I wonder.
Hugh Mackenzie
Hugh Mackenzie has held elected office as a trustee on the Muskoka Board of Education, a Huntsville councillor, a District councillor, and mayor of Huntsville. He has also served as chairman of the District of Muskoka and as chief of staff to former premier of Ontario, Frank Miller.
Hugh has also served on a number of provincial, federal and local boards, including chair of the Ontario Health Disciplines Board, vice-chair of the Ontario Family Health Network, vice-chair of the Ontario Election Finance Commission, and board member of Roy Thomson Hall, the National Theatre School of Canada, and the Anglican Church of Canada. Locally, he has served as president of the Huntsville Rotary Club, chair of Huntsville District Memorial Hospital, chair of the Huntsville Hospital Foundation, president of Huntsville Festival of the Arts, and board member of Community Living Huntsville.
In business, Hugh Mackenzie has a background in radio and newspaper publishing. He was also a founding partner and CEO of Enterprise Canada, a national public affairs and strategic communications firm established in 1986.
Currently, Hugh is president of C3 Digital Media Inc., the parent company of Doppler Online, and he enjoys writing commentary for Huntsville Doppler.
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Rob Adams says
I don’t disagree with Mr. Mackenzie’s observation that Canadian politics, like many other countries, has become polarized between left and right. This current situation has been created and fueled by the deliberate policies and actions of current and previous governments. That’s what’s led us to this point. To fully understand that, we need to examine which parties have done what to whom, and there is likely blame to be attributed to both sides. A good leader should work to minimize division, not aggravate it and promote it through insensitive and self-serving policies. Unfortunately, good leaders are a rare breed these days and the current one is no exception to that.
In the case of the new Alberta Premier, Danielle Smith, I believe her statements regarding the discrimination of the unvaccinated appeals to a lot of people. Without getting into who has suffered the most discrimination in our lifetime – gays, indigenous, disabled, females or unvaccinated – because that will depend on our own experiences, we should recognize that there is a big difference with the unvaccinated. For the other groups mentioned, Trudeau has been a vocal supporter of them all, at least he pays lip-service to their plight. With the unvaccinated, he has been the biggest proponent and instigator of discrimination against them, and he still is. That’s sown division in this country. That is not what a good leader should do. The last 2-3 years have seen a roller-coaster of emotion as everyone struggled to make sense of what was going on. Now we know a lot more than we did at the beginning of the pandemic. We know that the vaccine does not confer immunity – Pfizer has told us that. We know that the vaccine does not stop the spread – the CDC has told us that. We know that if the vaccine helps at all, it doesn’t help for long, as boosters are being suggested frequently. We know that the vaccine is not totally safe as the vaccine injuries are far worse than with any other vaccine. There is also no proof that the vaccine lessens symptoms despite the rhetoric. It has been shown that there was no medical or scientific justification for the mandates or the passports, it was all done for political purposes.
This PM’s policies and actions have deliberately made the unvaccinated the lepers of Canadian society and there was no scientific support for that. They have lost jobs, been denied EI, been unable to travel to see loved ones, attend funerals for friends and family, denied access to universities, take their kids to indoor events, go on vacation, participate in organized sports, join the military, go to church or get a medical exemption even if their doctor recommended one. This is not a complete list. How does this compare to the treatment of gays, indigenous, women or the disabled? It’s irrelevant to the argument. The unvaccinated have been deliberately targeted by this PM and he had no scientific justification. And he knows that.
So why are we getting this polarization in our politics, and why is Alberta trying to distance itself from Trudeau’s Liberals? It should be obvious that while Trudeau may not have started the problem, he’s done absolutely nothing to stop the rot. People want out of the toxic environment he’s created.
And Alberta’s new premier is telling the truth and her truth is resonating with millions of Canadians that have suffered the injustices of this PM. If Mr. Mackenzie doesn’t see this, he’s part of the problem. We need to bring an end to the injustice in this country before any healing can take place and before the country implodes. The jury is still out on Poilievre. He can try and heal the wounds, or he could be another Trudeau. Only time will tell. But we all need to understand that the division in this country and the polarization of our politics has been created by the politicians, not the people.