“Neither left nor right, but forward.” That’s the slogan of the newly formed Canadian Future Party (CFP), which promises a solution for voters hungry for “pragmatic policies based on factual information that reflect Canadian values.”
The commitment may seem appealing to any voter tired of the ideological turns taken in recent years by the main federal political parties.
Under Justin Trudeau, the Liberal Party of Canada has abandoned the centre of the political spectrum and has now fallen into identitarian leftism. It is very good at virtuous tweets, but it has little concern for the sound management of public finances. Under Pierre Poilievre, the Conservative Party of Canada has become a northern version of the American Republican Party, very adept at creating videos that provoke anger and indignation, but displaying a total contempt for experts, the media and science.
“Canadians are seeing a growing polarization in our country’s politics, a landscape where manipulating algorithms to get more clicks on social media is more important than developing good policies to address serious problems,” the CAP said at its launch this week in Ottawa. “If you can divide the country’s electorate to gain a narrow advantage, why bother having difficult conversations about meaningful change to make our country work better?”
The PAC will run candidates for the first time in the September 16 by-elections in the ridings of LaSalle-Émard-Verdun in Montreal and Elmwood-Transcona in Winnipeg. But with just over a year to go until the next federal election, the future of the Canadian Future Party already seems compromised. As a political movement, it is not very convincing.
The idea for a new centrist party took root shortly after Poilievre was elected Conservative leader in 2022. A group of former Progressive Conservatives and centrist Liberals came together under the banner of ” Center Ice Conservatives ” to study the project. But the group’s headliners quickly rejected it, advocating instead the nomination of more moderate candidates within the two main federal parties.
While the idea of offering voters a centrist option has merit, it is far from certain that the PAC can keep its word. After all, it was not so long ago that the Coalition avenir Québec entered the Quebec scene promising to do politics differently. But the CAQ quickly became a party like any other.
And unlike the CAQ, which had attracted big names since its founding, the launch of the PAC was the work of just a few people. The interim leader of the PAC, New Brunswick independent MP Dominic Cardy, is virtually unknown outside his province. And he does not have the profile of a unifying leader that the PAC would need to become a mass movement capable of competing with the well-established political parties.
Mr. Cardy was leader of the New Brunswick New Democratic Party from 2011 to 2017. But during his reign, the New Brunswick NDP failed to win any seats in the provincial legislature and Mr. Cardy stepped down as leader, saying he could no longer fight the “destructive forces” within the party. He then joined the Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick.
Elected in 2018, he became Minister of Education under Premier Blaine Higgs. But he stormed out of the government and the Progressive Conservative caucus, denouncing Mr. Higgs’ “bad behaviour” and “poor decision-making.” He accused Higgs of pressuring him to eliminate the French immersion program in the province’s schools. He will not run again in the provincial election, scheduled for next October, as he has little chance of keeping his seat as an independent candidate.
While the PAC may advocate moderation in politics, Mr. Cardy is best known for his outbursts. In early August, he railed against pro-Palestinian activists at a Toronto rally, shouting, “Free Palestine from Hamas!” He was arrested for breach of the peace and failing to comply with a police directive. Mr. Cardy himself announced his arrest on the X Network, making it a free speech issue. He has received support from a few Toronto columnists. But on a subject as divisive as the war in Gaza, average Canadians would expect more circumspection from a so-called “moderate” political leader.