The whole idea of joining the Conservative Party, and thereby gaining a vote in the leadership-selection process to prevent an unpalatable leader from being elected, is just deluded.
It is a new variation on the old idea of “negative voting,” which got nobody’s interests anywhere. The future of the Conservative Party (I worked for Brian Mulroney for four years, as a mercenary writer, not as a partisan) is very much in the wind. The rhetorical temper of the times is disturbing.
President 45 has validated a quality of dialogue that has unleashed unsavoury undercurrents of unresolved American thought: racism and isolationism most prominently. In Canada, the conservative movement (which is positively liberal by any international comparison) is relevant.
The Liberals and NDP are fighting for the traditional left-wing side of things. The Conservatives have the opportunity to take the traditional moderate central space and soften the ill-tempered language that I read all-too frequently in Canadian news. Let them sort out the leadership issue.
I have faith that the bigger thinkers and movers in the party, many of whom I know and respectfully disagree with, will bring a moderate leader forward.
