Defining "Canadian" Conservatism Today...

...is like trying to describe the odor of a fart.

Kelly McParland: Canadian conservatism 101

Posted: December 22, 2009, 12:40 PM by NP Editor

Gerry Nicholls, political consultant and president of Libertas Post has a link to this Canadian Press article on Canadian conservatism, which makes the case that while the Conservative government is relatively strong and continuing to lead popularity polls, Canadians aren't actually becoming more conservative.

It's a long piece, and to be honest I zoned out about halfway through, largely because the argument strikes me as redundant. (No offence to the reporter: It's December, editors demand stuff for year-end, and you have to come up with something... )

Canada is a middle-of-the-road country. Pretty much always has been. The party that does best is the one that succeeds in occupying the centre. Depending on circumstances, voters may temporarily favour policies that are slightly left or right of dead centre, but nothing too radical, and only for a while. The Liberals dominated federal politics for decades by shamelessly stealing from left or right as required. But they lost the thread, and recently the Tories have been doing a better job of appealing to the middle ground, largely by jettisoning conservative ideology and acting like shameless Liberals.

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