FFWD Weekly
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Viewpoint by Hamish MacAulay The Reform party is 12 years old and has known only one leader. Like it or hate it, the party has defined federal politics in the ’90s. Its successes and miscues have saved columnists and political junkies from the suicidal boredom produced by the Chretien Liberals and their innocuous version of peace, order and good government. In May, the 70,000 registered Reformers in Canada will decide whether to support their leader's efforts to launch a new, unified, conservative (or is that simply non-Liberal?) party. For some the decision will be an easy one. For others, voting for a unified party will kill a dream that put ideology before pragmatism and created a strong western voice in Canadian politics. There are no assurances, but a unified party will have a better chance at forming a government in the next decade than the current Reform party. Yet, many Reformers must believe that forming a government, while the explicit goal of a political party, is a false idol that is drawing them away from the true path to the land of milk and honey. This time it is not Moses's followers who are being tempted by false idols, but Moses himself. Preston Manning is the man who led western conservatives out from the slavery and oppression of an eastern-dominated conservative party. The Egypt of Canadian conservatism left westerners at the whim of their numerous and wealthy political masters in Ontario. Manning led a party that was going to defy the natural laws of politics and Canada. Reform MPs would be responsible to their constituents, not the party. Party policy would come from the grassroots and be based on conservative ideals, not the practicalities of appealing to the largest number of voters. The 12-year journey has been tough on the Reform party's original values. The natural laws have not completely overwhelmed the party's values, but the values no longer define the Reform party's policy, politics or leadership. Reform MPs are expected to toe the party line, or absent themselves from the House if they cannot bear to vote in accordance with the party's wishes. Reformers spend more time reading polls and harping on Liberal screw-ups that voters – Reform or other – do not care about, than brushing up on their small-c conservative values. Preston Manning has transformed himself from a western ideologue to just another political leader grasping for power and a vote-getting haircut. Manning appears to have succumbed completely to the temptations of Ottawa and is now ready to do anything in pursuit of the golden calf – defeating the Liberals and forming a government. Despite Manning's claims that Reformers will not have to give up their unique political identity to join the United Alternative, this false idol of power will make the UA everything Reform used to stand against. For many westerners, Reform was not about forming a government, it was about gaining a voice. A clear representation of western conservatism, separate from the blue-suit-and-red-suspender conservatism of Bay Street. To form a party with the Bay Street conservatives, at least the ones that are not lifelong members of the Liberal party, will mean an end to that voice. The UA is an effort to mend the split that the Reform party itself created 12 years ago. At that time, Reformers must have known that dividing the political right would help the federal Liberals. They felt a western voice and a grassroots conservative party was more important than power and more important than strategic voting. Now their leader, and most of the MPs in Calgary, have changed their minds about that. In May, we will find out how many of the party faithful have also changed their minds.

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