the Ontario NDP in the 1994 provincial election in a landslide victory, perhaps
bringing on a second wave of the Big Blue Machine in years to come. Even
though the Conservatives were given a serious setback in the 1993 federal
election, their commitment to policy-making has not been affected. They have
drafted a Tory Top Ten list of policies that they will campaign with during the
next federal election. Their number one policy standpoint on the Top Ten is tax
cuts for jobs: “Canadians today are overtaxed. The high tax burden is killing
jobs and reducing Canada’s competitiveness. We need to create lasting jobs and
rekindle the entrepreneurial spirit. Tax cuts will inject life back into the
Canadian economy by promoting investment, consumer consumption and job
creation.” (library4.html, 1997) On the income tax front, the PCs are also
committed to giving Canadians a 10-20 per cent personal income tax cut, which
would be phased in over their first term in office. They have also given the
situation regarding the federal debt and deficit a fair amount of thought. They
intend to balance the federal budget within their first mandate in office, and
that by the time the deficit is eliminated through spending cuts, “specific
targets for reduction of the federal debt must be set with measurable
milestones.” (Designing a Blueprint for Canadians, pp.6-7, 1996) Finally,
their overall economic policy states that “Canada should constitute an economic
union within which goods, services, persons and capital may move freely. Any
measures which unduly discriminate between individuals, goods, services and
capital on the basis of their origin or their destination should be
unconstitutional. The strengthening of the Canadian economic union is crucial to
fostering economic growth, the flourishing of a common citizenhood, and helping
Canadians reach their full potential.” (Designing a Blueprint for Canadians,
pgs.40-41, 1996) On the whole, it would appear to the unbiased reader that the
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada knows exactly what it stands for.
Even further to the right side of the political scale, the relatively
new Reform Party of Canada can be found. On the last weekend of October in 1987,
306 delegates from Western Canada converged on Alberta, in order to found the
party. These people were fed up with the traditional Liberal/Conservative rule
in Ottawa, and wanted a party that could effectively represent the concerns of
Western Canadians. (Harrison, pgs.110, 112,114, 1995) “The delegates faced
three tasks as they met that weekend: to decide upon a name for the party, to
devise a constitution, and to pick a leader. The delegates chose the party’s
name – the Reform Party of Canada – the first day.” (Harrison, pg.114, 1995)
On the second day of the convention, the party started the process of selecting
a leader. There were three potential candidates: Preston Manning (the current
leader), Ted Byfield, and Stan Roberts. Byfield was not entirely comfortable
with the idea of being the Reform Party’s leader, however, and wanted to
continue to run his own personal business. A theory that came out of the
convention was that this leadership race was a battle between “Roberts’ old
political style and money against Manning’s grass-roots populism.” (Harrison,
pg.117, 1995) There was also some controversy over the amount of money Roberts
spent on his hospitality suite at the convention, which was an estimated $25000.
Manning was regarded as being quite frugal, spending around $2000. Even though
the difference in the amount of money spent between the two main candidates was
rather large, Manning was regarded as being the stronger of the two candidates,
having the unquestionable allegiance of many of the delegates. (Harrison,
pg.117, 1995) Roberts knew of the immense support Manning had, and it was
rumoured that he was going to bring in a significant amount of “instant
delegates” (Harrison, pg.117, 1995) to push him over the top. The Manning
camp got word of this idea, and subsequently closed delegate registration on the
Friday night of the convention (it was supposed to run until Saturday morning).
This action sent a Roberts supporter by the name of Francis Winspear into a rage,
severely criticising the decision to suspend registration and accusing the
Manning camp that some membership money had been unaccounted for. “With
animosities rising, Jo Anne Hillier called a meeting between the two sides on
Saturday night to attempt to resolve the disputes. The attempt at
reconciliation failed.” (Harrison, pg.117, 1995) The next morning, during an
emotional speech, Roberts decided to drop out of the race, all the while
questioning whether or not the party stood true to its founding principles of
integrity and honesty. He referred to Manning’s supporters as “fanatical
Albertans” and “small-minded evangelical cranks.” (Harrison, pg.118, 1995)
This left Preston Manning as the first (and current) leader of one of Canada’s
newest political parties, the Reform Party of Canada.
In its short history to date, the Reform Party of Canada has had some
success federally, and has weathered its share of criticism. In the last
federal election, they won a total of 52 seats, almost beating out the Bloc
Quebecois for the title of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition, who won 54 seats.
The Reform took one seat in Ontario, one seat in Manitoba, four seats in
Saskatchewan, 22 seats in Alberta, and 24 seats in British Columbia. (Guy,
pg.434, 1995) There was some debate at the beginning of the Liberals’ mandate
from the Reform Party whether or not a separatist party (Bloc Quebecois) should
be allowed to be the opposition in Parliament, but the Bloc remained as official
opposition. Lately, however, a Bloc MP resigned his seat, leaving the Bloc with
a one seat lead over the Reform Party in the race for official opposition. The
next federal election should be very interesting, as these two parties might
battle it out for the right to be opposition again. One moniker that the Reform
Party wears that could damage their hopes of ever being the opposition or the
government is the fact that many Canadians have the stereotype that Reform MPs
and supporters are red-necked hillbillies from out west. A little while back, a
Reform MP by the name of Robert Wringma made comments of a racial nature towards
black and aboriginal people. Wringma suggested that if he were a shopkeeper,
and if his patrons were offended by blacks or aboriginals working up in the
front of his shop, he would make sure that the black or aboriginal person(s)
working for him would be in the back of the shop while his racist customers were
on the premises. This prompted outrage from minority groups and the general
Canadian population, and Preston Manning was eventually pressured into kicking
Wringma out of caucus. That particular incident summed up the Reform stereotype
of extreme right-wing views, and it should also be interesting whether or not
this subject surfaces again during the next federal election campaign.
On the Reform Party’s web page, the policy section is entitled “a 6
point plan to build a brighter future together.” (summary.html, 1997) Their
number one priority is to “create growth, opportunity, and lasting jobs through
smaller government, an end to overspending, and lower taxes, to make government
smaller by eliminating waste, duplication, and red tape to save $15 billion a
year, and to balance the budget by March 31, 1999.” (summary.html, 1997) The
Reform Party also intends to give the public tax relief, by having “lower taxes
for all Canadians: $2,000 by the year 2000 for the average family, an increase
in the Basic Personal Amount and Spousal Amount, cut capital gains taxes in half,
cut employers’ U.I. premiums by 28%, and eliminate federal surtaxes and last but
not least, flatten and simplify the income tax system.” (Summary.html, 1997)
Their plans for the Unemployment Insurance system are not all that extravagant,
but on the home page, they are quoted as saying that they are going to: “return
Unemployment Insurance to its original purpose: protection against temporary job
loss.” (summary.html, 1997) These economic reform policies seem to be related
somewhat to the Progressive Conservatives’ economic reform policies, but they do
not go into nearly as much detail as the Conservatives do.
Politics in Canada is an extremely volatile business. One day a party
can be on top of the world, and the next day they can be the scourge of the
planet. Politics in Canada has a long and interesting history, so much so that
this paper has barely even scratched the surface. While the New Democrats and
Reform are gathering support in different areas of the country, it must be
remembered that the only two parties to ever hold federal office in this country
have been the Conservative and Liberal parties. From examining the various
party’s web pages, it seems that the Liberals and Conservatives have the most
detailed policy platforms, the Reform Party is simply lacking the detail of the
Conservatives and Liberals, and the New Democrats have little information to
research at all. History tends to repeat itself, especially in elections in
this country, and it would not be surprising if the Liberals won another federal
mandate this year. The Conservatives look like they are making the long trek
back to prominence, but the Reform Party and New Democrats seem to be treading
water. The real test that will determine which paths these parties will take
during the trek into the 21st century, however, will be made in the soon-to-be-
called Canadian federal election. Democracy will speak out once again.
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(1996) A Fresh Start for Canadians [Online]. Available:
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Harrison, Trevor. Of Passionate Intensity. Toronto: University of Toronto
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(1996) Liberal Party of Canada [Online]. Available:
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Macquarrie, Heath. The Conservative Party. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart
Limited, 1965.
McMenemy, John, Winn, Conrad. Political Parties in Canada. Montreal: McGraw-
Hill Ryerson, 1976.
Morton, Desmond. The New Democrats, 1961-1986. Toronto: Copp Clark Pitman Ltd.,
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(1996) Progressive Conservative Youth [Online]. Available:
http://www.openface.ca/PCU/library4.html [1997, Feb.25].
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