A rchive Date
[ 05-04-2002 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Canada ]
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[http://www.canoe.ca/Columnists/weston.html
The Alliance's Achilles heel
Steering the party through a policy minefield is Harper's first big challenge
By GREG WESTON - Sun Media
April 5, 2002
EDMONTON - Throw out the Charter of Rights. Sell the Americans all the Canadian water they want. Deport all immigrants who run afoul of the law. Hold a referendum on abortion. And for heaven's sake, get rid of those darn gun laws.
If you think these kinds of policies sound like a winning election platform for a national political party in this country, then the Canadian Alliance wants you.
The policies are among the 33 recommendations being debated by rank-and-file Alliance types at their national convention here over the next three days.
In many ways, managing the policy process will be the greatest and most enduring challenge for the party's new leader, Stephen Harper.
If Harper is serious about wanting to do what's necessary to win elections and form a government - this is not entirely clear as yet - he will have to lead the Alliance out of Canada's electoral tundra that is the far right.
It could be a very long march.
Here's a sample of the policy proposals being debated at the Edmonton convention centre this weekend, adoption of which would become official party thinking.
33 RESOLUTIONS
It should be noted the 33 resolutions up for discussion and voting are considered the best among all those submitted by riding associations, and have been vetted and edited by a special party committee.
* On the Charter: "Repeal the Charter of Rights to restore Parliament to its rightful place and return democratic, responsible government to our nation."
The gripe seems to be that the Charter doesn't protect private property (such as guns) "as it ought to do," nor does it ban affirmative action programs "as it should."
All of these issues would certainly make for some lively debate during a federal election.
* On water to the U.S.: "Canada's water is an especially precious resource over which we must maintain complete sovereignty. We will, however, work co-operatively with the USA and other countries to ensure they receive this valuable resource from Canada ... "
If the Alliance is trying to attract voters' attention, this one ought to do the trick.
* On immigration: "Non-citizens of Canada who are convicted of an indictable crime, or who are known to engage in serious criminal activity, will be deported."
The Alliance will have to get rid of the Charter before they tackle this little WASP vote-grabber. * On gun control: "An Alliance government will withdraw the ill-conceived Gun Registration Act."
In politics, guns don't kill. Voters do.
* On official bilingualism: The Alliance is proposing new federal hiring practices "that will open as many posts as possible to unilingual Canadians ... and will ensure that neither language group is subjected to unfair, preferential, or inequitable treatment ... "
IMAGINE THE REACTION
Read between the lines of that one, and imagine how popular it would be in Quebec, and other francophone communities elsewhere.
* On referenda: "We recognize there are issues so important to Canadians that direct public input is desirable. Therefore, we will introduce measures that allow citizens to initiate binding referenda."
While the party plans to debate how many signatures on a petition should be required to trigger a national referendum, an explanatory note suggests 5% of the voting population.
In other words, the equivalent of about 15 federal ridings could (and most assuredly would) plunge the country into national debates and referenda on abortion, capital punishment, gun control - you name it.
Hell, the Parti Quebecois could easily get enough signatures from Quebec separatists to keep the country in back-to-back constitutional votes for the rest of the millennium.
Harper told me Thursday that while he would now be playing a role in the policy process, it's the members who "set the ultimate direction. This is their opportunity to do so. I'm in the hands of the grassroots."
The Liberals must just love this stuff.
Greg Weston is Sun Media's national political columnist, his columns appear Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Letters to the editor should be sent to editor@sunpub.com
 World Fact Book (CIA)]]
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