Quote:
Originally posted by TheCommodoreAfro@May 14 2005, 08:54 PM
I voted for Joe Clark when I was in Calgary, and would do so again because he was smart enough to understand that. Your classic social liberal, fiscal conservative. Someone along those lines running the CPC might have made the election a slam dunk. (In fact before the scandal, these were the things said of Paul Martin).
|
I could support a "Joe Clark" conservative right now too. Most of them are part of the right-leaning faction of the Liberal party now anyway though. Enough time has passed since the destruction of the old PC party that the Liberal party swallowed up the social liberals that would otherwise be part of the PC party. As far as liberalism goes, the new conservatism has none. The old PC party saving grace was that they were versatile as both they and the Liberals had areas where ideology overlapped with each other. Both had some liberals and some conservatives.
On another note, I think the Liberal party has engulfed too much of the political spectrum at this point. There is a growing fissure between the most left leaning liberals and the right leaning liberals (like Martin). I wouldn't be surpised at all to see the Liberal party implode like the PC party did after Mulroney, and in fact, I've been predicting it for about 5 years now. I think what is happening right now is the beginning of that process. In the end, I wouldn't be surprised to see the NDP swallow of the left leaning liberals and the NCP the right leaning liberals making both parties more powerful and more popular.
The Liberal party has just become to big for it's own good. While it is good for encompassing a larger portion of the population, it also serves to alienate more people that it represents.