Stephen Harper had kept a low profile on the Canadian stage since his political defeat in 2015. The former prime minister emerged from the shadows on Wednesday and drew conservative crowds with a speech highlighting the legacy of his former party. reformist and at the same time revalorize the populist legacy of the formation.
The exit did not seem fortuitous. Stephen Harper has spoken on a few occasions since he left politics, but on the international scene or at events closed to the general public and the media. The former leader has since endorsed one of his successors for the first time — Pierre Poilievre last year — and the Conservative Party now appears to be warming Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals in the polls.
Former members of Mr. Harper’s entourage saw this rare speech by their former boss as a sign that the former prime minister and the Conservative family believe that the fruit seems ripe and that the next election could offer them a first lucky since 2015 to be elected. Mr. Harper has taken the liberty of suggesting on more than one occasion that “Pierre [Poilievre] will be the next prime minister.
The revenge of populism
Officially, however, Wednesday night’s speech was meant to celebrate the Reform Party’s 30th anniversary of an election that saw it elect 52 MPs — including Stephen Harper in Calgary — and rise to second place in opposition. in the Commons. For the occasion, the annual conference of the Canadian conservative movement brought together Mr. Harper and its former leader Preston Manning.
Populism is to Western Canada what nationalism is to Quebec.
However, this Reform Party had been launched in the West of the country in 1987 on the basis of another American populist party, wishing to defend “the simple farmers and workers with modest incomes”, recalled Mr. Harper.
“The word populist has often taken on a bad connotation,” observed the man who was Canada’s 22nd prime minister for nine years. But the Reform Party was in fact seeking, by making itself “populist”, “to respond to the real concerns of its members and its supporters, who were ordinary working-class people. And this kind of populism is a very good thing,” defended the ex-conservative leader, in a speech in English.
Moreover, “populism is to Western Canada what nationalism is to Quebec,” said Preston Manning, who joined his former MP to continue the discussion in front of a packed house filled with a few hundred Conservatives, a few current MPs, and several former Harper government employees.
This populism is at the heart of the conservative movement, argued the two former leaders of the conservative movement.
The new leader, Pierre Poilievre, will however face “a lot of anger in the world” and the challenge for the party “will be to channel that into something positive”, observed Stephen Harper.
Settle some accounts
The former Prime Minister also took advantage of his platform to let go of some taunts. Towards the “liberal media”, which he advises against reading. About the prime minister who replaced him, Justin Trudeau, and the size of his deficits or his handling of foreign interference. And against NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, whom he presented as a lackey or “mere branch” of the Liberal Party. “Only Jagmeet Singh can walk into a room with Trudeau and come out with an agreement under which he gets nothing,” criticized Stephen Harper. “It’s jealousy,” he continued. “I just wish I had had an opposition leader like him. »
Conservatives meet annually in Ottawa for the Canada Strong and Free Network Conference — formerly the Manning Center after the former Reform leader. Pierre Poilievre will in turn deliver a speech there this Thursday.