Sloan should ditch his party idea

OAKVILLE, ONT.—It seems former Conservative MP Derek Sloan wants to form his own political party—tentatively called “True North”—as a vehicle to promote his ideological values. Essentially, he wants to create a party that’s unabashedly to the right of Canada’s Conservatives. Now, I get why Sloan wants to do this, and I also get why “true blue” conservative Canadians, dissatisfied with the wishy-washy brand of politics as currently practiced by the Conservative Party, might rejoice at what’s he’s doing, but, in my view, it’s a bad move. It’s a bad move for Sloan, it’s a bad move for conservatism. I say that for a couple of reasons. First off, even if Sloan was a brilliant politician, even if he was promoting popular ideas, his fledging party would still likely get totally crushed in any election. How could it not? It lacks any kind of national infrastructure, it lacks a regional base, it lacks brand recognition, and, given Canada’s strict campaign finance rules, it’ll likely lack that most important of all political resources: money. Consequently, if the True North Party is squashed, Sloan’s critics will write him off as a failure and claim his ideas are discredited. This is more or less what happened to Maxime Bernier, who like Sloan, was a disgruntled Conservative who decided to create his own party—the People’s Party—to promote libertarian/populist ideals. Fairly or not, we judge a political party’s success not by the ideas it champions, but by how many votes it garners during an election. Plus, even if Sloan were to somehow score a miraculous electoral breakthrough, his party might still ultimately suffer from debilitating growing pains. Indeed, ideologically driven political parties often find it difficult to maintain their integrity, due to all the pressures and stresses associated with partisan politics. Consider, for example, what’s currently going on with Canada’s Green Party. After enjoying a modicum of success in the last federal election, the Greens now find themselves embroiled in a bitter and very public civil war. Certainly, that’s not helping Green Party Leader Annamie Paul’s reputation nor is it helping to advance her party’s environmental causes. At any rate, my point is forming a political party isn’t the best way for Sloan to sell conservatism. A better way, would be for Sloan to follow the path set by former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper. Recall that Harper was once a Reform MP who was often at loggerheads with his leader Preston Manning. In fact, a disillusioned Harper ended up quitting the party. But he didn’t go out create his own “Harper Party." Instead, in the late 1990s, Harper took over the National Citizens Coalition, a leading conservative advocacy group. As head of the NCC, Harper didn’t have to worry about partisanship, he didn’t have to worry about his party’s standing in the polls, he didn’t have to worry about winning seats in Parliament. He was free to put his whole focus on proselytizing conservative ideology. In other words, Harper went outside the party structure to pursue his goals. In the process, he not only helped sell conservatism to the masses, but he also kept a high media profile and created his own base of political support. Essentially, his stature as a conservative champion only increased. At the end of the day, all this helped Harper eventually return to partisan politics on his own terms. Why can’t Sloan do something similar? He could join an already existing conservative advocacy group as Harper did, or alternatively, he could create his own. Such a move would be better for Sloan and better for his cause. Gerry Nicholls is a communications consultant. The Hill Times