Posted by Patrick Brown actually try to unite the right, says beleaguered PATRICK BROWN Tuesday, February 20, 2001 It is not unusual for politicians to say one thing This confusing paradox is currently under way In January, I joined with a fellow Tory and two I have no intention of resigning. Since the day I went public with the group, I have To observers of the PC Party, this division looks I will not resign as PC Youth Federation president And it's not just young people who have been Our provincial PC parties, five of which are in I believe that the Progressive Conservative Party The missing ingredient is the breadth of coalition What is unusual about this most recent act of The party leadership needs to follow Joe Clark's Now is the time for Tories to begin talking about Joe Clark should ask the party brass to create a The events of last week should not be seen as a 
on 1/31/2004, 7:27 pm, in reply to "Re:Scott Brison M.P. for Kings-Hants Nova Scotia P.C. Finance Critic defects to the PaulMartinLiberals"
All preach, no practise
PC brass are killing the party, attacking those who
Youth
president PATRICK BROWN. Let's do what Joe Clark
preaches
and do another.
However, it is less typical for a political
leadership to forcefully repress in
private that which it simultaneously promotes in
public.
within the inner leadership
circle of the federal Tory party. It is why Joe
Clark and the PC Party
must now demonstrate concrete deeds that match
their words about
seeking a single, united conservative party as a
home for PC and
Alliance supporters.
Canadian Alliance
youth to form an organization called Youth For A
conservative Future.
The group's purpose is to promote solutions to the
split on the right in
our country through dialogue on a Web site we
established,
http://www.conservativefuture.ca. However, because
of my vigorous
promotion of co-operation with the Canadian
Alliance, I (and others)
have been subject to tremendous intimidation from
status quo advocates.
It culminated last week with the PC governing
body's move
(unconstitutional, by any reading) to strip me of
my job as national youth
federation representative on the management
committee and ask for my
resignation as president.
received considerable
flak from a small but powerful elite group in my
party. This creates an
impression that, while our leader speaks publicly
about the need for
co-operation with the Alliance, no genuine steps
will be permitted
toward that objective. In fact, immediately after
the announcement of our
new organization, a party spokesman called for my
impeachment on
national television. I have been threatened by
caucus members and
attacked by PC Party headquarters just because I
have had meetings
encouraging co-operation around the country and
because I debated an
MP, Scott Brison, on why co-operation must happen
for the good of
our cause.
like déjà vu. In recent
years, well-intentioned Young Progressive
Conservatives, idealistically
trying to bring centre-right young political
activists together, have
repeatedly been chased out of the PC Party. In the
process, we have
lost promising new talent, and continued to narrow
-- rather than
broaden -- our base of appeal and support. It is
time to put an end to
this practice of consuming our young and looking
only to the past, rather
than to the future.
and I will continue to
fight for co-operation because, for the future of
young Canadians, we
need a real alternative to the Liberals.
hounded from our ranks.
Others in the Tory party who have expressed a
desire to work with
conservative-minded Canadians in other parties have
either been politely
asked to leave or forcefully removed. Brian
Pallister, a leadership
candidate in 1998, left the party after the PC
palace guard would not
even consider his local-option proposals for joint
candidates, and tens of
thousands left with Tom Long when he went to a
party that supported a
reunification of the right. Former PC Party
president Gerry St. Germain
now presents the unusual spectacle of sitting as an
Alliance Senator, a
position inconceivable to old Reform Party purists.
The PC Party of
Canada cannot continue to kick out those who want
to honestly pursue
dialogue. We cannot grow if we continue to make our
party smaller and
smaller.
government today, have
demonstrated that Progressive Conservative and
Alliance supporters can
work together in a common political home, for the
good of their
electorates, without jeopardizing success at the
ballot box. There is no
reason why the same people cannot continue the same
co-operative
relationships at the national level.
is the best vehicle
today to be a trusted alternative to the Liberals.
It has a proud tradition
of nation-building, grassroots institutional
strength, and a breadth of
appeal beyond that of any alternative -- including
the Alliance. But for
three elections in a row, superior policies,
leaders and candidates have
not been sufficient to convert that potential into
a government.
represented in the
conservative tradition -- a coalition that can be
best captured today by
the necessary step of some level of co-operation
among the PC and
Alliance parties. For the Conservative movement to
have success, we
must restore the proud traditions of John A.
Macdonald, Robert Borden
and Brian Mulroney. We must build a broader
conservative coalition.
John A. Macdonald did so with the Liberal
Conservatives, Robert
Borden did so with a Unionist government and Brian
Mulroney brought
fiscal and social conservatives together under a
broad and successful
Conservative majority government. This is the key
to defeating the
Liberals, who have won three elections in a row by
default because "the
Right" did not have its act together.
federal Tory intolerance of
"dissent" is that our efforts to work with Alliance
members are a sincere
effort to implement Joe Clark's publicly stated
objectives. Since the
election, the Tory leader has stated his
willingness to work with the
Alliance. However, the actions of the party brass
suggest that this is just
a game of smoke and mirrors. Their strategy is now
clear: In public,
proclaim support for engaging in discussion, but in
private, muzzle
anyone who genuinely attempts to do so.
lead. Mr. Clark has
shown courage and vision in coming to the difficult
conclusion that
co-operation must happen for the good of the
conservative movement
and the country. It is time for the palace guard of
the PC Party of
Canada to recognize that the party is not the
exclusive plaything of a few
in Ottawa. It is time for them to respect the
overwhelming desire of
ordinary conservatives (who are tired of being the
canon fodder in a
never-ending and pointless war of attrition) to see
a single united party
fighting the Liberals in the next election.
realistic solutions to
bring the conservative family together once again.
We need to enter into
real discussions.
committee of respected
Tories, like Michael Fortier and MP John Herron, to
explore this
problem with fellow Progressive Conservatives, and
to enter into formal
discussions with a similar group from the Alliance.
We cannot afford to
wait two years because, knowing the Liberals, we
will have an election
coming in 3½ years.
setback, but rather as a
call to arms. It is time for grassroots
Conservatives coast to coast to
stand up to the PC party brass and tell them:
"Let's follow Joe's lead,
and let's co-operate with our like-minded cousins
in the Canadian
Alliance." Now is the time to build an alternative
that can defeat the
Liberals.
Patrick Brown is currently serving his second term
as president of
the national Progressive Conservative Youth
Federation. He is an
alderman in Barrie, Ont., a student of political
science at the University of Toronto, and is national co-chair of
Youth For A conservative Future.