Since the election of Pierre Poilievre as leader of the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC), we have witnessed a hardening of political discourse on both sides of the House of Commons in Ottawa. Mr. Poilievre never misses an opportunity to label his Liberal opponents woke. Liberals accuse Mr. Poilievre’s CCP of borrowing political rhetoric from followers of the MAGA (Make America Great Again) by Donald Trump. The political divide is reaching a level never seen before in the country. Canadian politics is becoming Americanized at an alarming rate.
That’s why a group of disillusioned conservatives are thinking about creating a new federal party that would sit at the center of the political spectrum with the aim of courting these ” red tories ” and these ” blue grits who have become political orphans for several years. This group, called Center Ice Canadians (Force at the center in French), has given itself until September 20 to decide whether it will turn into a political party.
“Polls show that Canadians are tired of extremist rhetoric and are looking for respectful dialogue,” reads the website of the group created during the last Conservative leadership race in 2022. We want to engage our fellow citizens to restore trust of the public in our institutions, our country, and each other. »
The group counts former Progressive Conservative New Brunswick cabinet minister Dominic Cardy and political commentator and strategist Tasha Kheiriddin among its headliners. Mme Kheiriddin had co-chaired Jean Charest’s CCP leadership campaign; Mr. Cardy slammed the door of Premier Blaine Higgs’ Cabinet last year when the latter announced the abolition of the French immersion program in English schools in his province; Mr. Higgs backtracked on the matter in February, however.
Experts are not very optimistic about the prospects of a new centrist party succeeding on the federal stage. Money is the sinews of war in politics, and the CCP continues to dominate in this regard. He raised $8.3 million in donations during the first quarter of the year, compared to $3.6 million for the Liberals. Nevertheless, the very existence of Center Ice Canadians testifies to the dissatisfaction of many conservatives and moderate liberals with the slide towards the extremes of their respective parties.
Anyone who expected Mr. Poilievre to move closer to the political center after winning the CCP leadership race has been royally mistaken. His interventions in the House and on social networks are as brittle as before, if not more. This week, he introduced a motion in the House calling on the Liberal government to end all safe drug supply programs, as well as withdraw the authorizations allowing British Columbia to decriminalize certain drugs. “Crime, chaos, drugs and disorder are raging in our streets,” he said. We are told that distributing and decriminalizing hard drugs will reduce the number of overdoses. These so-called experts are utopian theorists. »
An issue as delicate and heartbreaking as the opioid crisis deserves a little more nuanced treatment from an aspiring prime minister. Mr. Poilievre still plays the braggart in order to mobilize his populist base and collect donations.
Meanwhile, the Liberal Party of Canada (LPC) has drifted away from the center under Justin Trudeau, to such an extent that it is almost indistinguishable from the New Democratic Party (NDP) on most federal political issues. Fiscal responsibility, which was the hallmark of the party under Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin, was pushed aside, with the result that moderate liberals and business people shunned the party. The PLC has only collected around 30% of support in the polls for several years now.
The more “efficient” distribution of the Liberal vote had allowed the party to win the last two federal elections, albeit in minority status, while the concentration of the Conservative vote in Western Canada and in rural ridings had worked against the CPC. Some political observers suggest that a majority victory for Mr. Trudeau in the next election would require a formal alliance with the NDP.
According to a recent Léger poll, 41% of Canadian voters would support a Liberal-NDP alliance, compared to 39% who would vote for the CPC. However, such an alliance is unlikely to occur. If Mr. Trudeau remains at the head of the party in the next federal election, the PLC will probably rely on the strategic vote of enough NDP activists to block the path of Pierre Poilievre too far to the right. And our political divisions will continue to grow.
Based in Montreal, Konrad Yakabuski is a columnist at Globe and Mail.