For So-Cons, It's 1986 all over again

Social Conservatives, or the term I prefer, traditionalists have been take for a ride once again by the Conservative Party as they were back in the early eighties. The Tories seem to have forgotten what happened the last time they too the traditionalist voters for granted. To refresh memories, two parties were born in western Canada in protest. One was the Reform Party, and the other was the Christian Heritage Party.

The Reform Party has now come and gone, but the CHP remains. In its first election less than two years after its founding the CHP ran 88 candidates, and beat out Reform in several ridings. Reform got a big break in 1989 when some big money backed Deborah Grey in a by election, and the rest is history. Reform went on to elect 52 MP s in 1993 while the once might Progressive Conservatives were reduced to a smouldering pile of embers, with 2 seats. Many traditionalists joined Reform in the belief that they would eventually come to power as a generally pro-life party that supported traditional values. There was also a regionalist element to the movement, to wit a focus on meeting the needs of the west.

There had been some discussions between Reform and the CHP about joining forced, but those came to nought because Reform would not accept the Supremacy of God in a propsoed constutution. Later on when Reform sought to unite the conservtive minded people of Canada (the United Alternative) another attempt was made to bring the CHP aboard, but failed for the same reason.

Nevertheless the Progressive Conservatives and the Reform Party did end up merging, and chose a new leader in Stephen Harper, somewhat of a a libertarian who almost immediately started backing away from the social conservative roots of Reform, first by promising not to touch the abortion laws, and forbid his MPs from presenting bills against abortion.
He nevertheless did hold out the promise to revisit the so- called Same Sex "Marriage" issue if eelected, and thus was able to keep the socially conservative element of the coalition firmly on board.

Where I, and many tradtionalists feel a sense of betrayal was his insistence on re-opening the issue when he did. If he really did want to revisit the issue, it would have been much wiser to have waited for a new election from which he might have received a majority based on some of the positive things his government has done, however he chose to act at a time when many people were tuning out from politics just prior to Christmas, and when the result, the crushing defeat of any attempt to reopen the bill, was a forgone conclusion. The message I received was that this was an attempt to get the issue off the table for the next election (and in perpetuity) , and that traditionalists would remain on board by virtue of the fact that he kept his promise to revisit the issue.

It would appear that he takes us for fools, and is counting on fear of a return to Liberal government to keep the base intact.

Another parallel wth the mid eighties, was his government's recognition of Quebec as a "nation within Canada". It has echoes of Meech Lake and Charlottetown, both attempts by the Tory government of the day to appease Quebec Nationalists, which also contributed to the malaise that gave birth to Reform and the CHP

So the conditions exist once more for another full-court press by the Christian Heritage Party . The Party is now calling on traditionalists who feel betrayed by the Conservative Party to rally behind it, and vote for a party who will fight for their principles and vision of Canada. Even a handful of seats in a minority government situation, would force the Conservatives to listen.
Here is a new video from CHP leader Ron Gray re-introduing the party to Canadians.