Let’s VOTE On TICKETS in Canada

An Electoral Reform idea whose time has come.

Voting a crap shoot at the best of times. It’s like spinning a roulette wheel whenever we attempt to choose national leaders because we never actually know what to expect over the next four years.

In a few months, a new Leader for the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) will be elected by the Party. Leading up to the CPC Convention, citizens have many opportunities to observe how well candidates perform in person and online. On the floor of every Convention, delegates and registered Party members actively lobby each other to get their favourite candidates elected.

On Saturday, April 2, I attended a “meet and greet” event in the city of Peterborough for Roman Baber, the independent (initially elected as a Conservative) Ontario MPP who is running for CPC Leader. His speech to a quiet, respectful audience of about 80 attendees was well received.

 On Sunday, I went to the “meet and greet” event in the town of Lindsay for Pierre Poilievre, the senior Conservative MP who is also running for CPC Leader. About 400 people attended and the event was an over-the-top success. The large room was packed with supporters who were raucous in their show of enthusiasm. Inspired by this event, I became a CPC member when I got home so that I can participate in the CPC Leadership election later this year.

How they compare.

Both Baber and Poilievre outlined their policy ideas effectively, but Poilievre’s ability to play to the crowd was impressive. On the continuum of “Conservatism”, I consider them both to be Libertarian-Conservatives who reflect similar policy ideas to those of Maxime Bernier of the Peoples Party of Canada (PPC). In my assessment, Poilievre is a much better choice than Baber for CPC Leader, IMHO.

Surely Roman knows that he can’t win against Pierre. I suspect that Baber is running solely to boost his name recognition and national profile within Conservative communities. This, and the experience gained from his CPC Leadership campaign, is sure to make him more electable in the future.

Pierre is certainly ready for prime time now. While Roman is not, he will make a good CPC MP in Parliament. After a few terms as an elected MP, combined with the experience of handling a national portfolio and dealing with the massive federal bureaucracy, Roman could emerge as a CPC Leader in the future.

An Attractive TICKET

I hope to attend a “meet and greet” for Dr. Leslyn Lewis at some point.

Dr. Lewis has many significant advantages as a potential CPC Leader. Putting asides her lack of experience in federal politics, she could draw Canadian voters to the CPC like bees to honey. Leslyn is a woman and person of colour. Voters who want a Prime Minister that checks the increasingly-relevant intersectional and social justice boxes will be happy. As a lawyer with extensive experience in international trade, Leslyn is the best choice to represent Canada on the international stage. As a Ph.D. recipient, her profile will be respected in academic and ‘think tank’ circles. Finally, any attempt by Trudeau to ‘out-feminist’ and ‘out-social justice’ Ms. Lewis will come across as mean-spirited, crass and ludicrous. Character assassination, a favourite tactic used by federal Liberals, won’t work on Lewis.

About “tickets”.

American elections for POTUS are always presented as a “ticket” whereby the presidential candidate is flanked by a vice-president candidate much as Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were in 2019. What if we adopted a “ticket” election strategy in Canada?

Imagine the Liberal “ticket” of Justin Trudeau as PM and Chrystia Freeland as Deputy PM & Minister of Finance pitted against a Conservative “ticket” of Dr. Leslyn Lewis as PM and Pierre Poilievre as Deputy PM & Minister of Finance. In this format, the voting public would have a clear and unambiguous choice between the two key most significant actors who would determine and represent the values and policies of each competing party.

One big advantage to the CPC ticket is that Leslyn would benefit enormously from the extensive experience of Poilievre as her ‘wingman’. During her “honeymoon period” as a new PM, she will have at her side an excellent mentor to help her to navigate the corridors of power in Ottawa while Pierre, a notorious fiscal ‘hawk’, would surely manage the budget in a fiscally conservative  manner.

As a new CPC member.

I have a lot to learn about the Conservative Party of Canada, the makeup of its interval factions, and the reasons for its  obviously-divided community. In my view, the more “progressive” wing has had two failed ‘kicks at the can’ with Sheer and O’Toole following a successful ten-year PMO residency under Stephen Harper, another Libertarian-Conservative.

For me, one thing is certain.

If the CPC Convention should choose Jean Charest, a slimy “progressive” Conservative who has displayed allegiance to the privileges enjoyed by his home province of Quebec, I will tear up my CPC membership and rejoin the PPC to promote Maxime Bernier - the most Libertarian-Conservative of them all. If a party with the name ‘Conservative’ in it cannot openly commit to balancing budgets, reducing taxes, cutting red tape and treating every taxpayer across Canada equally under unbiased laws and with respect according to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, then there is nothing “conservative” about it.