If you want to see a conservative government after the next provincial election is Jason Kenney’s political strategy to unite the right the best move? It makes perfect sense under the Alberta’s current electoral system – first past the post, but there is a better option.
Under FPTP there is constant pressure to unite all left of centre parties and right of centre parties because otherwise conservatives and liberals split their votes allowing their opponent to walk in. The Reform Party and federal PCs united to stop vote splitting and helped them beat the Liberals. The Liberals and NDP were under pressure to unite under the years of the Harper Government. And now the Wildrose and the PCs are under pressure to unite lest they split the conservative vote again and hand the next election to the NDP.
But there is another solution that makes more sense. Six months ago I laid out an argument for moving to proportional representation. While the Trudeau Government seems ready to make the switch nationally we should first try it in one province (ours), work out the kinks then go national. That is one of the benefits of our federal system – the ability to experiment on a smaller scale.
If Alberta moved to proportional representation the pressure to unite the Wildrose Party and the Progressive Conservatives evaporates. Both parties would be able to form government together built on the conservative majority in this province through coalitions working on areas on commonality while slowly continuing to build their individual bases of support.
Proportional representation is a better system than FPTP because we need multiple parties on either side of the left and right. Having a single conservative party is problematic because there is too much to fit into the tent. You’ve got fiscal conservatives, social conservatives, libertarians, big business conservatives and small business conservatives. Many of these groups have different and often opposing policy objectives or priorities. That’s too much to cram into one tent, which is why there are constantly new parties (Reform, Wildrose) forming on the right. This pressure needs an outlet.
We need further right and further left parties and centre right and centre left parties. Though I believe that you must govern from close to the centre I recognize that most of the political energy and new ideas come from the edges. Those ideas get whittled down and refined and make their way into the mainstream. A single conservative and liberal party makes sense only under FPTP. But just look at our American friends to see the problems with a two party system. When American liberals or conservatives want to protest their party they have no other option.
Who doesn’t miss Preston Manning’s Reform Party? I think Canada was a better place when the Reform Party was making everyone else nervous. The same goes for Alberta. We need the Wildrose Party. Whether you agree with all their positions or not you must admit that Albertans owe the Wildrose Party a debt of gratitude. No other party has kept Edmonton accountable like they have. Why should the Wildrose and PCs have to unite solely to beat the NDP? The two parties are quite different and deserve their respective homes rather than a watered down version.
We need a government to spearhead the move to proportional representation where it’s not in their short-term interest. This would go a long way to mitigating cynicism around this issue and in Canada only Alberta’s NDP fits the bill. They are uniquely positioned to champion a cause that would move this country immeasurably forward.
Medicine Hat News. October 6, 2016