EDITORIAL: After folding to the Bloc, Conservatives need to stiffen their spines

Much as we want a Conservative government after the next election, we do want a Conservative government that does conservative things, not one that simply rides the same horse down the same road.And so it suggests to us that when the Conservatives last week joined with the Bloc and NDP to embarrass the Liberals in something by demanding an increase in the OAS pension, it revealed an old familiar weakness for cunning politics over conservative principle..Liberals suffer defeat in key vote as MPs support OAS increase .Not that there isn’t a time to be cunning in the doing of politics. As Lincoln remarks in the eponymous movie starring Daniel Day Lewis as the president, his compass may always point true north but of the mountains and swamps ahead of him, it has nothing to say. There may be detours in the most principled long march, as one does what one must to survive.Granted also, the prime minister might have accused the Conservatives later of being ‘against Canada’s senior citizens, who he would rather see them poor and struggling while he gets support from American billionaires like Elon Musk.’ Of course, the Liberals themselves voted against the motion, as well they might, it being hostile from the start and intended to lead to a confidence vote. However that's well within their tolerance for hypocrisy: easy for them to palm it off during an election campaign.And had the Conservatives done the opposite, and voted with the Liberals against the Bloc, that too invites criticism; as in, ‘Aren’t you trying to bring down Trudeau? How come you’re voting with him?’So, perhaps it looked like the easiest thing to do. No doubt BQ strategists were chuckling to themselves at the dilemma they had created for the Conservative leadership. None of the above however, excuses Canada’s Conservatives for voting with the socialists of both official languages. We're not looking for the conservatives to relentlessly pursue the easiest options and there can be no cooperation with people who want to break up the country you're trying to salvage.Here's what's wrong.First, Canada spent about $57 billion on OAS last year and is projected to spend $61 billion in the current fiscal year.So, the Conservatives just voted to add a massive extra $6.1 billion to the bill, on the basis of a Bloc Quebecois whim aimed at the Liberal government? We think we can be confident that leader Pierre Poilievre doesn’t believe what the prime minister believes, that budgets balance themselves. But, if that’s really where their heads are at anyway, they have nothing to learn from Mr. Trudeau about reckless and ill-considered spending.Second, given the Canadian tradition of Alberta paying the freight for the rest of the country, did it not occur to the Conservatives that this was not going to play well among their strongest supporters?Alberta wants the equalization formula revisited.Things like this are why.Conservative supporters understand that by its nature, politics is hard on principle and generally involves compromise. It may also require taking one step back in order to take two steps forward.Neither excuse seems to be available here, however.There is no compromise here. Unless Canada’s Conservatives mean to make a 10% increase in OAS payments part of their platform at the next election, voting with the Bloc and NDP was just cheap grandstanding. (If they are, by all means tell us now. And what you’re going to do for young people; there’s an issue of generational equity here.)The Bloc is, let’s remember, Quebec's federal independence party. It is cynically using public disdain for the most unpopular government Canada has had for 30 years, to gouge all Canadians as the price of their continued support. Think they actually care about pensioners anywhere but in Quebec? Of course not. And a principled Conservative wouldn’t be their enabler.Neither does this step back leave Canada’s Conservatives better positioned to take two steps forward.We expect more.The Conservatives have been judicious since Mr. Poilievre’s election as leader. In particular, message discipline has been immaculate. The party has avoided bad stories, or ‘bozo eruptions’ as they are known when conservative politicians say what their constituents actually think. We notice also that virtually all party communications emanate from the leader himself, or from one of a very few people authorized to speak for the party.Confronted as Conservatives are by a hostile mainstream media, perhaps this is a good thing; wasting oxygen on peripheral but divisive issues doesn’t help you get elected.However the loyal base, the 5.7 million people who voted Conservative in 2021, still need reassurance that if they vote Conservative next time, it will be a conservative party they elect. A party that will be uncompromising about tax and spending cuts, balanced budgets and above all a disciplined, thoughtful approach to public finance.This stupidity didn’t send the right message.We are appalled.

EDITORIAL: After folding to the Bloc, Conservatives need to stiffen their spines

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