Individualist Individualist:
Jared, once again let me say that I appreciate your efforts to bridge the divide between Red Tories and Western Canadian populist conservatives, but what I keep coming back to is this question of what is and isn't "legitimate" Canadian conservatism. If you were to ask Ron Dart directly "Do you consider Red Toryism the only legitimately Canadian form of conservatism?", what would his answer be? Since you actually interact with him, you'd be in more of a position than I to query him thus. I can certainly tell you though where my money would be on his response.
Sadly, I'm afraid you might be right. I feel the same way about Professor Dart as I do the likes of Linda McQuaig, Mel Hurtig and David Orchard-they all have some very worthwhile and often insightful points to make, but they really hurt themselves with the way they demonize people from other political camps and when they take some of their own political solutions too far . So do some of the populist conservatives out there, but that's another story (see below)...
Individualist Individualist:
So let's say for a minute that I'm correct and his response would be in the affirmative. How then do you reach out to such a person and search for a middle ground? You've attempted something like that in arguing that Preston Manning isn't so different from Dalton Camp, but that's really just sidestepping the legitimacy question by arguing that Western Canadian populist conservatism is just a variant of Upper Canada Red Toryism, and is therefore legitimate by extension.
What I would propose instead is that there are two distinct and legitimate schools of conservative political thought in Canada, each shaped largely by regional forces and traditions and which lived (often uncomfortably) in the same vessel in the form of the oxymoronically named Progressive Conservative Party of Canada.
A major point of contention is the equivalence (or non-equivalence) of the descriptors "right-wing" and "conservative" in a Canadian context. And it is true that the two terms are less synonymous in the Canadian tradition than the American one, though there is still overlap. There is, admittedly, much less overlap between "right-wing" and "tory".
Even if there are two different schools of political thought in Canada, I still believe that they have considerable overlap with one another and share many common views, as I've noted here and elsewhere. I've also noted that one could extend that to all of Canada as a whole-Western Canadian conservatives are just as apt to provide government subsidies to the oil & gas or agricultural industries, for instance, while the NDP has often made an effort to muzzle its far-left contingents, as you note below.
I think you hit it with your noting that regional differences have played a critical role in shaping the different conservative currents in this country. Many Westerners were frustrated by policies tailored to Central Canada which led to western alienation, even as the Westerners themselves often enacted policies in their provinces which in practice weren't all that different from what the Central Canadian practitioners of the Laurentian Consensus were doing.
Individualist Individualist:
How does a right-wing Reform/Alliance conservative though break bread though with someone like Ron Dart when the latter doesn't recognize the former's right to sit at the table? The differences in market/state balance aside, perhaps the fundamental difference between the two traditions is how they view the United States. This undoubtedly has something to do with the fact that the West wasn't as dense with UEL refugees or their descendants as Southern Ontario.
Reform/Alliance conservatives are considered at best excessively pro-American and at worst fifth columnists for American Republicans, but the truth is that it is the Red Tories that are more defined by their traditional (negative) attitude towards the US, as exemplified by Macdonald, Diefenbaker and, more recently, David Orchard. It is their anti-Americanism in fact that has often resulted in Red Tories making common cause with individuals and parties more ideologically to the left, more so than purely economic issues.
As I note above, this is one component of Red Toryism I wouldn't mind seeing put out to pasture once and for all. While I will criticize our southern neighbours when I feel it's warranted, I've also applauded them on the many occasions when I feel they deserve it, too.
And even if I'm decidedly leery of getting too integrated with the U.S., that doesn't prevent me from enjoying many types of American media and having many close American friends.
Your point about Red Tories like David Orchard and Professor Dart attacking Western populist conservatives is well-taken. However, I would add that such chauvinism is a two-way street. Certainly there are conservative commentators like Terrence Corcoran who take pleasure in the seeming demise of Red Toryism and otherwise condemn it. Certainly they don't consider Red Tories to be true conservatives...
Posted: Tue Nov 05, 2013 4:22 pm 
