In terms of public policy, practically everything separates the conservative from the supportive. One is on the right, the other on the left; one wants less state, the other more. But there are several common objectives: reducing poverty, encouraging autonomy and mutual aid, facilitating access to housing, ensuring that all citizens have good health and education services.
However, we advocate different policies to achieve these objectives.
I was stunned, when I arrived at the leadership of the Conservative Party of Quebec, to see that around 15% of our supporters came from Québec solidaire (QS). It was Luce Daneau, the current mayor of Wickham, who made me understand the logic of this path.
Luce herself went from orange to dark blue. Concerned about the fate of the most deprived and workers, Luce has been involved as a solidarity candidate twice. During the health crisis, she did not understand that QS stood behind a government insensitive to the most vulnerable, who suffered more from abusive measures. Even less why the former solidarity candidate Patrick Provost was repudiated by the party, while the scientist asked legitimate questions to the government.
Then, gradually, his questioning turned to the health system, where the sacrosanct public monopoly ultimately offers only mediocre results to everyone – rich or poor – despite the presence of competent staff. Then, she understood that public debt and the loss of control over government spending hit hard those who are struggling the most, while impoverishing the middle class. Even in terms of the environment, she has clearly seen that we can exploit our hydrocarbons rather than importing them 100%, while allowing European countries to reduce their greenhouse gases by replacing the coal in their power stations with Quebec natural gas.
Slowly but surely, Luce lost his illusions of a big state, while retaining his ideals of improving the lot of individuals — through competition, freedom and reducing the size of the state.
Luce did not betray her values. On the contrary, she only changed vehicles to achieve her ideals in a more pragmatic way. Market forces, well supervised, are the best allies to resolve the critical problems facing the Quebec state. Luce therefore ran as a conservative candidate in the last election.
The same phenomenon is currently being observed on the federal scene. Many young people who sympathized with the New Democratic Party are now ready to vote for Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives. These disillusioned young people find that they will never achieve property ownership if the state continues to control the construction of new housing and over-regulate property owners. They come to the logical conclusion that only the free market can improve their quality of life and restore hope for the future.
Barack Obama once said that “a crisis is an opportunity to change what’s not working.” Word to the wise, hello!