This week's Calgary Herald column from yours truly draws a parallel between the libertarian-social conservative strain within the US Tea Party movement, and the potential of a similar strain within Alberta's Wildrose Alliance:
...The Tea Party was originally meant as a pushback against big government, but there’s an underlying strain between libertarians and social and religious conservatives. The challenge for any such movement is to try and hold those factions together, but still remain focused on a message of limited government.
There is political risk in allowing social and religious conservatives to become the face of any such movement – especially in Canada.
If one wishes to look at how a Tea Party movement might fare here, and whether such strains might arise, perhaps Alberta’s Wildrose Alliance can provide the answer.
The party has capitalized on a growing disenchantment with the ruling Progressive Conservatives– a belief that the government has lost its way, become disconnected from the people, and lost its conservatives principles –both fiscally and socially.
Until now, there has been little strain between these two factions. That is likely due to the potent combination of dissatisfaction with the current government and the strength of Danielle Smith, herself a professed libertarian, as leader.
Smith has managed to keep the focus on the fiscal issues which appeal to all factions: the government’s deficit and reckless spending, the government’s energy policies, and the government’s lack of appetite for real health reform.
Any threat of social issues threatening a fissure has been deftly handled by Smith’s commitment to free votes and direct democracy.
However, at some point, populism must give way to principle.
One example: the recent announcement that Alberta would join other jurisdictions in demanding that Craigslist remove their “erotic services” ads.
Now, a libertarian-inclined voter might wonder why the government is harassing a private company and potentially censoring legal content. For many social conservatives, however, it was one of those cases that the government was to be applauded.
So where does the Wildrose Alliance stand?
There’s an answer of sorts on the party’s website – a news release from Heather Forsyth calling on the government to do precisely what it ended up doing.
One might then conclude that this was the party’s stance on the matter. Not necessarily. Smith said of Ms. Forsyth, “She has good arguments for the issues she cares about. Sometimes we just agree to disagree as a caucus.”
So this is a case of an MLA freely speaking out? That’s a refreshing change in Alberta politics, but it doesn’t answer the question of how Premier Danielle Smith would have responded to the Craigslist matter.
Nor does it explain the joint news release from Heather Forsyth and Rob Anderson on the recent Ontario court ruling which struck down some of Canada’s prostitution laws. Under the headline of “Wildrose Statement on Ontario Court Prostitution Ruling”, the release urged Ottawa to promptly appeal the ruling.
Religious and social conservatives undoubtedly concur. However, a libertarian might see the issue as a matter between consenting adults, not to mention the many problems prohibition has wrought.
As for this news release, Smith said that “in (the) future, such statements will be made by individual MLAs”. Again, one is left wondering how a Wildrose government would respond.
Other social issues loom. Just recently, Forsyth was speaking out against online gambling. As for Anderson, while still a Tory, he was a staunch defender of Bill 44. These matters do arise in Alberta politics.
In lieu of official Wildrose policy, it seems as though social conservatives in the party are filling the void.
In my view, Smith’s libertarian instincts are the correct ones, and hopefully that’s where Wildrose policy eventually lands.
A message of freedom, liberty, and smaller government is also a stronger basis for electoral success, and a libertarian approach to social issues is more in keeping with that message.
Any Canadian “Tea Party” would be wise to keep that in mind, too.
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