One of the more popular games in Conservative circles of late is favourably comparing Prime Minister Stephen Harper to former prime minister Brian Mulroney on the yardstick of being a "real conservative."
But is the current incumbent really that much stronger in his record than Mulroney? Has Harper actually moved the consensus towards a conservative future more than Mulroney?
Below is a short analysis of the two Conservatives. The categories are drawn from two sources: Stephen Harper's page as Prime Minister and the Manning Institute's recent conference agenda.
Attempting to view their legacies through blue coloured glasses, the only area where Harper is clearly more successful in accomplishing a conservative agenda is in matters of security and justice.
Mulroney is the superior conservative on sovereignty, the federation, environment, foreign policy and democratic reform. The two tie on the economy and faith-based government for lack of information.
SOVEREIGNTY
Brian Mulroney responded forcefully to the intrusion of the American icebreaker Polar Sea with a significant campaign to strengthen Canada's sovereignty in the far North. His relationship with Reagan allowed Mulroney to help the U.S. president understand the need for Canada to govern its own territory. As Stephen Harper acknowledged in a 2006 speech, "In the 1980s, the Conservative government of Brian Mulroney won recognition of our Arctic possessions under International Law."
Harper's own accomplishments more or less simply build on this key legal and political accomplishment of his predecessor.
Point to the Quebecker.
ECONOMY
This is a more difficult category to measure because of its scope. Should the metric be average unemployment rate, or debt to GDP ratio, or new business creation?
Conservative academic Tom Velk of McGill used an interesting approach.
Velk's measurement is an advanced version of the misery index, taking what was traditionally a sum of the inflation and unemployment rates and expanding it greatly.
The analysis - undertaken during the Chrétien years - showed Mr. Mulroney with the highest economic performance of any post-war prime minister.
Stephen Harper's current standing compares to Mulroney's quite well, but is heading south fast.
Open-minded conservatives, like this guy, find it tough to say the recent budget will make things better. In fact, we are likely to see both unemployment and inflation at very high rates for the next few years.
I'm calling this one a tie, simply because the current economic situation makes it impossible to measure Mr. Harper on the past alone.
FEDERATION
Judging from Mr. Harper's website, the metric of "The Federation" is Senate reform.
Mulroney risked big on this file and lost. But the risks he took would have instituted core Conservative policy like the creation of a Triple-E Senate. In fact, Mulroney is responsible for the elevation of the first elected Senator, Stan Waters.
In contrast, Stephen Harper spent a lifetime working on Senate reform, but in office responded to the challenges of government by reverting to past practices of an appointed partisan Senate.
While Harper has the better conservative rhetoric, Mulroney gets the point for actually attempting a massive Senate reform package and getting it inches from passage.
SECURITY
The Harper government undoubtedly places more emphasis on conservative justice measures than Mulroney did.
But Mulroney does have a solid record on security, probably as "conservative" as a PM could achieve given both the temper of the times and the need to maintain seats in Quebec.
Mulroney allowed a full and frank open vote on the restoration of the death penalty in 1987, whereas the Harper government only moved to end clemency appeals by Canadians facing the death penalty outside Canada.
Mulroney's record on crime includes a rape shield law, "no means no" on sexual assault, and a significant toughening of gun laws. However, these would not fit easily into a strict interpretation of "conservative."
There are also challenges with the Mulroney government's anti-terrorism standing, particularly the Air India bombing.
