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from saturday's books section


Other than Stephen Harper, no person is as qualified as Tom Flanagan to offer an insider's perspective on the Reform Party, its reincarnation as the Conservative Party and what has transpired since then. As a Reform activist and staffer (he worked closely with Preston Manning for two years) and as the occupant of several important roles in the Canadian Alliance and Conservatives (including election campaign manager in 2004), the University of Calgary professor's perch has been unique.

Waiting for the Wave was first released in 1995; this is an updated version, which includes a new preface and an update recounting the seismic changes that have occurred on the right since its original publication. The bulk of this book, about the coming of age of the Reform Party, now seems quite dated. Flanagan chronicles the party's rise to prominence and its internal struggles and provides an interesting examination of the persona and political beliefs of Preston Manning.



  • Waiting for the Wave: The Reform Party and the Conservative Movement, by Tom Flanagan, McGill-Queens University Press, 268 pages, $27.95

However, don't think the story of Reform is not pertinent. Indeed, quite the opposite is true. Flanagan's examination of Reform's intra-party battles are crucial to understanding the current political landscape, because much of that tension pitted Manning against Harper. Inside Reform, Harper was the de facto leader of a faction pushing to guide the party on a more ideologically conservative track, and was often at odds with Manning's need to push his populist agenda. Harper lost that war, quit politics and decamped to the National Citizens Coalition until triumphantly returning as leader of the Alliance in 2002.

The differences in Harper's outlook are reflected in the new Conservative Party. The new Tories still embody many of the traits of Reform, such as dependence on small, grassroots donors, a Western base, extreme reluctance to impose candidates on local ridings and a Canadian patriotism that isn't wedded to anti-Americanism. But because of Harper and the influence of members of the old Progressive Conservatives, much of Reform's populist agenda has been jettisoned.

While undoubtedly an ideological political creature, Harper has not been shy to change his stripes when tactically convenient, either. When he first ran to replace Stockwell Day as leader of the Canadian Alliance, his campaign was based on a promise to ignore the federal Tories, then led by Joe Clark.









Indeed, the theme of his campaign was to forget reconciliation on the right in the near term. But when a willing partner in Peter Mackay replaced Clark, Harper immediately embraced the idea of creating a single united party, showing a great deal of flexibility. Harper has in the past criticized equalization, spoken out against state subsidies and taken a hard line on Quebec, all positions he has since softened.

A key event offering insight into Harper's political thinking is a speech he gave at Winds of Change, a 1996 conference organized by David Frum and Ezra Levant to explore ways to end the split on the right. This was an early precursor to Manning's United Alternative movement, which got under way after the 1997 election.

Harper outlined his vision of Canadian conservatism, which was labelled the "Three Sisters" theory by Flanagan. (The speech was later turned into a magazine article co-written with Flanagan.) The theory made perfect sense, reflecting the electoral path to power used by the Conservatives when they had won in the past: Conservatives can win only when Tory support in the Maritimes and Ontario is combined with that of Western populists and francophone nationalists in Quebec.

Since the creation of the new Conservative Party, Harper has tirelessly pursued bringing together the Sisters, and with impressive success. He has not only managed to fuse the Western populists and Eastern Tories, he has even broken into nationalist Quebec, surprising most observers by winning 10 seats in la belle province in each of the past two elections.

The Harper transformation has been about more than that, though. Along with piecing together a winning electoral coalition, he has also (reluctantly, in some cases) allowed the modernization and professionalization of the party apparatus, found ways to "throw bones" to various components of his base without overtly offending other components or uncommitted voters, and surrounded himself with skilled veterans of the old PCs with the institutional memory required to avoid repeating past mistakes; Senator Marjory LeBreton is one.

What is most remarkable about this book is the realization to which one comes about how ideologically watered down the Tories have become since the days of Reform. Manning may not have been ideological, but much of his party membership and policies were, or at least appeared to be. Today, the Tories have abandoned most of what would be considered conservatism and embraced centrist pragmatism. Even Flanagan's notion of "incremental conservatism," a steady-as-she-goes approach to moving the country rightward, which he wrote about in another book, seems to have been deserted.

Last fall's global economic meltdown has led the Harper government to enact policies one would never have thought imaginable, including a government stake in General Motors. One could argue that Harper was left without a choice, given the Obama administration's decision to do the same south of the border, but there have been other instances in which the Tories seemed to throw up the white flag unnecessarily or without a fight. One has to wonder how Harper, who, according to those who know him, remains a believing libertarian-conservative, truly feels about having to compromise so often on so many of his bedrock principles. Given his penchant for privacy, we may never know.

Flanagan postulates that while Harper has succeeded where Manning failed - in creating a governing party and winning an election - Manning probably had a greater influence on public policy than Harper has had. It's probably too early to come to such a conclusion, but where Flanagan is correct is that future historians must consider Manning and Harper a team. Both deserve great credit for getting the Conservative Party to the position it finds itself in today.

Adam Daifallah is co-author, with Tasha Kheiriddin, of Rescuing Canada's Right: Blueprint for a Conservative Revolution.

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