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The Centre-Right Party We Don't Have

H

Hipster Duck

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So, I was thinking about how I would vote if a Federal election popped up and, for the first time in my electorate life, I feel that I would have to abstain or spoil the ballot. There simply is no party that is representative of my views and to pick from the list at this point - whether based on the leader or the platform - would be to select the best among the worst.

To that end, I was thinking about how compassionate conservatism is a dying (dead?) breed. I think my political stance lines up with that of a fairl noticeable portion of the Canadian populace but isn't at all represented by any political party. Namely, I would consider myself to be:

- pro free trade
- socially progressive, and against any attempts to curtail the rights of some groups over others (eg: pro-choice, pro gay marriage,
- I am all for a strengthened Canadian armed forces; recognizing that we have to assert ourselves as a "middle power", in the words of Louis St. Laurent - especially because our territory is increasingly important strategically.
- against subsidization, regardless of whether it is for a traditionally left-supported or right-supported project.
- I think tax cuts are a populist distraction (really a form of subsidy)
- I think that taxation should be directed at activities that compromise the government's ability to run a clean balance sheet. More directly, I think that punitive taxation on "the bad" is more effective at changing behaviour than subsidization of "the good".
- I think that the free market can, if properly regulated, provide services more effectively than state-run organizations.

Now, I recognize that there will never be a party that exactly matches my political spectrum and some of my views (I imagine my views on taxation) are not shared by many. But, for starters, can we have a party that doesn't lump social conservatism in with fiscal conservatism? Can we have a party that preaches the free markets and free trade without doling out massive quantities of corporate welfare? Am I asking for the impossible, here?


PS: Maybe this belongs in the "Politics and Diplomacy" section.
 
Well, I share many of those views except for the ones on taxation. It's not the cuts I mind so much as the high levels we already have that require governments to push for cuts. I mainly have a hard time with the middle class shouldering so much of the tax burden. Furthermore, I take advantage of fewer of the subsidized services that come out of my tax dollars and don't appear to enjoy many of the tax breaks of lower and higher income earners (or corporations, for that matter). So taxation is a sore point for me, especially when I spent a few years in a country where the taxation levels were far lower yet the level of services were comparable.

But overall I agree that social and fiscal conservatism don't need to go hand in hand--I am against corporate welfare as much as I'm against social welfare, yet I want the government to keep its hands off of it's citizens and quit legislating our behaviours. The nanny state bothers me to no end.
 
There is all too often a disconnect between the Green Party platform and Green Party candidates. In the three ridings I've lived in, the Green party people appear to use their otherwise right-of-centre (though they'd never say that) platform to gloss over potential incursions into the economy based on party ideology and introduction of wide-ranging environmental regulation. The trouble is that very little makes its way into the platform statement.


Hipster, I agree with many of your points. Although, subsidies would be one that I disagree with. What constitutes a subsidy can differ from one person to the next. I think that there must be a more clear policy for subsidies because there is no industrial/knowledge-based economy without such mechanisms.
 
Was Canada's Reform Party Center-Right?

HD and Everyone:
Was Canada's Reform Party in the Western Provinces a centre-right party on the Political Spectrum before it was absorbed by the Conservatives?

Were they anti-Quebec and anti-Separatist as I recall?

Will Canadians support a centre-right party as long as it is not too wrapped up in social issues like the US Republicans are?

As an Independent here in NYS I lean Democratic on many issues
but even now I feel that a strong loyal opposition would be good for NYS.
The Republicans are in a state of disarray and the NYS Conservative Party is
probably too right wing for many including me.

Thoughts from LI MIKE
 
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^The Reform Party was definitely not cente-right. They were firmly to the right on our spectrum.

I for one think Canadians would support a party that managed to separate fiscal and social conservatism. As evidence I offer the Liberal Party of Canada, they've been largely fiscally conservative in government for the last 2 decades and have been socially progressive and done quite well.
 
Hipster noted the quality of being socially progressive. The Reform Party was socially conservative.

Even fiscally conservative parties have a tough time being good fiscal managers. The present Conservatives and the former Mike Harris government are good recent examples of that
 
Hydrogen said:
Hipster noted the quality of being socially progressive. The Reform Party was socially conservative.
Click to expand...

Though there was also a little-guy libertarianness about it that proved, at least for the moment, attractive to a lot of erstwhile NDP voters as well--and it was politically astute for Preston Manning to nurture that aspect, which more properly echoed the Ross Perot phenomenon in the States (and which, in its turn, also labelled itself "Reform")
 
Hipster Duck said:
I think my political stance lines up with that of a fairl noticeable portion of the Canadian populace but isn't at all represented by any political party. Namely, I would consider myself to be:

- pro free trade
- socially progressive, and against any attempts to curtail the rights of some groups over others (eg: pro-choice, pro gay marriage,
- I am all for a strengthened Canadian armed forces; recognizing that we have to assert ourselves as a "middle power", in the words of Louis St. Laurent - especially because our territory is increasingly important strategically.
- against subsidization, regardless of whether it is for a traditionally left-supported or right-supported project.
- I think tax cuts are a populist distraction (really a form of subsidy)
- I think that taxation should be directed at activities that compromise the government's ability to run a clean balance sheet. More directly, I think that punitive taxation on "the bad" is more effective at changing behaviour than subsidization of "the good".
- I think that the free market can, if properly regulated, provide services more effectively than state-run organizations.
Click to expand...

Why not support the Liberals under Iggy?
 
Iggy is having to pander to constituencies (supply management for farmers, for one) because the Harper Conservatives have no principles left and govern solely on the basis of buying off constituencies. Maybe if he gets a majority some of that need to pander will fade. I think he has a chance of being a pretty good PM.
 
If Iggy turned the Liberals back into what the Jean Chreatien liberals were...

socially liberal, fiscally conservative...

I think the Liberals would easily go back to being in power.
 
lordmandeep said:
If Iggy turned the Liberals back into what the Jean Chreatien liberals were...

socially liberal, fiscally conservative...

I think the Liberals would easily go back to being in power.
Click to expand...

Of course, that was the formula that Martin supposedly represented to a tee and he was hailed as the Second Coming of the Christ around 2003. I guess he underperformed.

The Liberals haven't drifted away from "socially liberal/fiscally conservative." They were hurt by the Sponsorship Scandal and weak leadership under Martin and especially Dion.
 
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