A Marriage of Convenience

 

... 'Til disappointment in our leader do us part.

I have to wonder what’s really happening in the Conservative Party of Canada other than the Unite the Right movement reverting to its Progressive Conservative/Reform Party roots. Erin O’Toole, caught in the dilemma of campaigning to both “progressive” and “reactionary” factions of Conservative voters didn’t have a chance. The odds of his successor doing any better are, well, figure it out.

            Rather than Unite the Right, the CPC should have learned from the NDP/Liberal book that more moderate and more progressive ideals are better off remaining separate, but close enough to work together, if necessary, on the passage of legislation. NDP and Liberal voters don’t have to hold their noses much when they vote. The NDP does well in elections despite having virtually no aspirations to forming government, but Liberal and Conservative parties’ aims are to rule, first and foremost. It’s like the medieval monarchies in Denmark, where most kings gained power by killing the incumbent.

            Marriages of convenience, like Unite the Right, end up being loveless marriages. Blame it on our antiquated party system of democracy if you like. The emergence of Maxime Bernier’s “Reactionary” Party of Canada and the evisceration of O’Toole must have many moderate and hard-line conservative voters scratching their heads in disbelief, not knowing whether to fish, cut bait or abandon the fishing expedition entirely.