Far right takes a beating, and can only blame itself

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/12/2022 (709 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

November wasn’t a great month for the far right in Canada.

A lawyer for the so-called freedom convoy was ejected Nov. 22 from hearings into the federal government’s use of the Emergencies Act, following the man’s unruly behaviour and peddling of conspiracy theories. The lawyer, Brendan Miller, was kicked out by commissioner Paul Rouleau, after he repeatedly talked over the judge. The episode underscored what many Canadians already knew about the convoy folks, who received overwhelming support from the Conservative Party of Canada during their occupation of downtown Ottawa last winter: they are, for the most part, attention seekers with nothing useful to contribute to society.

The same week, federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre posted a vile, five-minute video in which he exploited people who suffer from drug addiction. He claimed, falsely, that “woke” politicians are contributing to people’s addictions by supplying them with taxpayer-funded narcotics. The video was widely denounced, not only for its gross inaccuracies and harmful misrepresentations of supervised consumption sites, but also for its callous use of human misery for political gain.

Not to be outdone, the undisputed leader of Canada’s new far-right, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, introduced what could only be described as one of the most despotic bills to ever land on a legislative order paper in Canada. The Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act, would, among other things, give cabinet unprecedented power to amend legislation and bypass the normal legislative process. Abandoning democratic institutions in favour of governing by fiat is the natural progression of far-right governments.

The bill would also give cabinet the power to direct provincial agencies to ignore federal laws, further polarizing federal-provincial relations, for no other reason than to appeal to anti-Ottawa cynicism that’s simmering in some parts of the province. Needless to say, Smith’s bill has been widely criticized as an attack on the hard-fought principles of responsible government and for harming national unity. The Calgary Chamber of Commerce said the political instability created by the proposed legislation could scare away jobs and investment. The condemnation has been so fierce, Smith said Saturday she plans to amend the bill to address concerns about the proposed cabinet powers, although she didn’t specify what those changes would be.

What the far right in Canada, including the CPC, have trouble grasping is that the brand of U.S.-style republicanism they’re borrowing from doesn’t have broad appeal in most parts of this country. Most Canadians want thoughtful, compassionate governments that follow science and the rule of law, and embrace progressive policies that stand up for marginalized and disadvantaged people. When they are mocked by the far-right for embracing those social objectives, it pushes them further away from parties like the CPC. It means many moderate conservatives look elsewhere for a political home. That’s a pretty big market, especially in vote-rich southern Ontario and Quebec, not to mention centrist urban centres such as Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver. For the far right, the cost of alienating those voters is significant.

Moderate conservatives in Canada are not looking to shift to the political left.

They simply want to support a political party that reflects their long-held values: responsible stewardship of the public treasury, not hawkish slash-and-burn hysteria; limits on government intervention based on evidence, not ideology; social justice, not social conservatism; wisdom, not juvenile tactics; and pragmatism, not dogma. Some of those features exist within certain parties at various levels of government. However, they are absent from the far-right movement in Canada.

It doesn’t leave moderate conservatives in Canada with much choice.

For many, it’s virtually impossible to vote for a party whose MPs stood shoulder to shoulder with lawbreaking occupiers in Ottawa, who opposed public health orders during the COVID-19 pandemic, who promote conspiracy theories, attack public institutions such as the Bank of Canada, and exploit human suffering for political gain.

Instead, many will have to hold their noses and vote for an alternative, especially after the gong show witnessed in November.

tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca