For What It’s Worth: Conservative values pushed to the sidelines

By Cash Moore on September 16, 2021.

This year’s federal election campaign has been tough to watch for those who identify as conservative. In a country faced with record high public debt, erosion of civil liberties and a bloated bureaucracy, one might expect that conservative values of small government and fiscal responsibility would be major themes of this campaign.

People with these expectations have been left largely disappointed. When Erin O’Toole won the Conservative leadership race, he promised to lead in a “true blue” style that was in contrast to main challenger Peter MacKay’s red toryism.

Over a year later, it is clear that “true blue” was simply a facade. The Tories don’t plan to balance the budget until 2029, and even then, they provide no evidence on how they will get there. Looking over the Conservative platform, one will find a large increase in new spending, $52.5 billion over the next five years.

Among this new spending includes various forms of business and corporate subsidies, increased online surveillance, new social welfare spending and new environmental programs. Also in this platform is a carbon tax, something O’Toole strongly argued against in the leadership race.

Aside from a few minor program cuts and the phasing out of COVID supports, the Conservatives have no plans to reduce the size of government. Canada’s federal government has become incredibly large and inefficient; with some sort of regulation and/or subsidy in almost every imaginable aspect of society. Both our debt to GDP ratio and spending per capita have grown rapidly under the Trudeau Liberals.

With this in mind and from a fiscally conservative perspective, a radical shift in approach is needed. It is clear the federal Conservatives have no interest in this and instead are offering a slightly toned down version of the Trudeau philosophy of high spending and government intervention.

Perhaps fiscal conservatism is no longer a palatable idea for the general Canadian public. Left-leaning parties (Liberal, NDP, Green, Bloc Quebecois) usually make up just over 60% of votes cast in recent federal elections.

O’Toole and the Conservative Party evidently hope to chew into some of this percentage by abandoning conservative principles.

The path forward for proponents of conservative values seems uncertain, the Maverick and People’s Party both offer truly conservative platforms but their chances of picking up any seats this election is unlikely.

Small ‘c’ conservatives have a difficult choice this election of either voting strategically for a “Conservative” Party that doesn’t really represent their values; or voting for a smaller, more principled party that could indirectly lead to Liberal plurality.

For better or for worse, conservative values of small government and fiscal responsibility are being pushed to the sidelines of the political realm. The pandemic has brought fear and uncertainty to families and businesses all across the country. People want to know that the state will be there to support them should they fall on hard times. For now, it appears that big government is something we have to learn to live with.

Cash Moore is a political science student at the University of Alberta from Medicine Hat. Feedback for his columns can be sent to letters@medicinehatnews.com

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