Coherent Policy, NOT Coalition Politics

Stephen Harper

Coherent Policy, NOT Coalition Politics

Edmonton - Wednesday, April 10, 2002 - by: Ron Thornton

shacking
up
A solid marriage built on common interests can never be replaced through shacking up in a coalition based on short-term relief.

Joe needs
a new
mirror
Brian Mulroney formed a coalition of sorts in the 1980's, and before it was done a group of Quebec separatists cut a hole in the back of his big tent, while some western federalists moved into their own house. Next thing you know, the big tent had lots of room, just two MP's, a leadership nobody wanted for long, and eventually Joe Clark. The great saviour of the Progressive Conservatives could have rebuilt his party, rethought what it stood for, raised up a new generation of leadership, but instead his mirror on the wall said he was the saviour for us all. He needed a new mirror.

eight
months
When Reform derailed itself to become the Canadian Alliance, Clark sought a coalition with some dissident CA stalwarts. That grand plan lasted all of eight months before his new sweethearts left the love nest to return to their real political family.

simply
stagnant
With the Canadian Alliance appearing to have finally found the leader for whom they have long sought to give some real substance to their rhetoric, the Progressive Conservatives appear as contradictory as their name. Simply Stagnant might be a more appropriate moniker for a party reduced to celebrating past glories limited to just a dozen majority governments, half of which came under the leadership of Sir John A. Macdonald over a century ago.

relevance
It is what a party stands for, what it offers for our future, that gives it relevance. Some learn the lesson and rekindle our hopes; others do not, extinguishing their own.

Ron Thornton


	Stephen Harper
Coherent Policy, NOT Coalition Politics

Edmonton - Wednesday, April 10, 2002 - by: Ron Thornton

shacking up	A solid marriage built on common interests can never be replaced through shacking up in a coalition based on short-term relief.

Joe needs a new mirror	Brian Mulroney formed a coalition of sorts in the 1980's, and before it was done a group of Quebec separatists cut a hole in the back of his big tent, while some western federalists moved into their own house. Next thing you know, the big tent had lots of room, just two MP's, a leadership nobody wanted for long, and eventually Joe Clark. The great saviour of the Progressive Conservatives could have rebuilt his party, rethought what it stood for, raised up a new generation of leadership, but instead his mirror on the wall said he was the saviour for us all. He needed a new mirror.

eight months	When Reform derailed itself to become the Canadian Alliance, Clark sought a coalition with some dissident CA stalwarts. That grand plan lasted all of eight months before his new sweethearts left the love nest to return to their real political family.

simply stagnant	With the Canadian Alliance appearing to have finally found the leader for whom they have long sought to give some real substance to their rhetoric, the Progressive Conservatives appear as contradictory as their name. Simply Stagnant might be a more appropriate moniker for a party reduced to celebrating past glories limited to just a dozen majority governments, half of which came under the leadership of Sir John A. Macdonald over a century ago.

relevance	It is what a party stands for, what it offers for our future, that gives it relevance. Some learn the lesson and rekindle our hopes; others do not, extinguishing their own.

	Ron Thornton