One of the political barbs aimed at the Stephen Harper Conservatives is that they are somehow the lapdogs of American political power brokers.
Only a fool would believe that. It is a mainstay of conservative thought that nations are expected to take care of their own business according to their own rules and their own constitutions, led by their own elected leaders. It is a liberal who believes in internationalism, who believes that policies and legal principles and even money for to be used to influence the political process ought to move freely across borders. Well, when those things support liberal programs, that is.
In addition to policies and principles and money, liberals have no qualms about getting savvy political operatives to promote the common internationalist agenda. Conservatives, on the other hand, respect borders. That doesn't mean isolationism, but it does mean that, in the end, it is they who must take responsibility for their actions and their words. For that to ring true, conservatives really prefer to craft and deliver the message to describe their policies and to influence those listening.
That truism is best shown by this example of how Canada's Liberal Party has freely used members of America's left-of-centre political elite to promote their agenda:
- Howard Dean, former U.S. Presidential candidate, was the keynote speaker at the Liberal convention
- In March 2006, the Liberals brought Democratic guru Joe Trippi to Toronto. Trippi, once called the man who "reinvented campaigning," held forth on cutting-edge political techniques in a private luncheon at Toronto's University Club, with several dozen MPs, would-be leadership candidates and party brass. Trippi is best known for work on behalf of Howard Dean, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in the United States in 2004. Among those on hand were Ken Dryden, Ruby Dhalla, Carolyn Bennett, Tony Ianno, Martha Hall Findlay and John McCallum, as well as Liberal Senators David Smith and Jerry Grafstein (Toronto Star, April 1, 2006)
- Last year, the Liberals have brought on board a John Kerry advisor, Jean-Michel Pichet. Mr. Pichet is advising on logistics, and was behind the child-care announcement Paul Martin made. Mr. Pichet came up with some of the successful events for the U.S. Democratic presidential candidate, including those involving rock star Bruce Springsteen . Yesterday, Mr. Pichet led a logistics training session for the Liberal national advance team. (Globe and Mail, May 7, 2005)
- The Liberals invited Democratic Party strategist James Carville to their November 2003 leadership convention, though Carville was unable to attend (The Hill Times, October 6, 2003)
- The Liberals reportedly consulted with Carville (Toronto Star, May 30, 1999). The Chretien government called in U.S. President Bill Clinton's pit bull consultant James Carville for advice on dealing with Quebec separatists in February 1997, just before calling the last federal election (Ottawa Citizen, January 18, 1999)
- Under the Liberal government, the Canada Information Office paid an undisclosed amount of money for a private audience with U.S. president Bill Clinton's chief strategist, James Carville, best-known for "rapid response" offensives against political opponents. (Ottawa Citizen, September 12, 2004).
- Former U.S. Democratic Vice President Al Gore delivered the keynote address at the Canada 2020 Progressive Policies, Practical Solutions conference in Mont Tremblant, Quebec on Wednesday, June 14th, which is being organized by Liberals like Anne McLellan and John Manley (Canada 2020 Press Release, May 4, 2006)
It was often observed that had an American political figure, say Newt Gingrich, been invited to deliver the keynote address to the Conservative Party convention the way Howard Dean delivered the Liberal convention keynote speech, Canadians would have been up in arms. Liberals would have been tripping over themselves to get to an open microphone to declare this proof positive of how Conservatives planned to sell Canada out to the Americans.
I don't buy it.
Not because it isn't true -- I'm certain that it would be a political firestorm. But implicit in that statement is that the Conservative Party is somehow shy of open links to Americans of similar political leanings solely because of the political consequences. I don't think that's true. I think that it doesn't even occur to Conservatives to go too often to the Americans for that sort of high-level help (experienced American-based advertising firms are different -- they help with packaging the message, Conservative or Liberal, not with defining it). For a Conservative, the natural inclination is to solve Canadian problems with Canadian solutions. That inclination is missing with the Liberals, probably because they are not all that interested in solving problems, except for the problem of not being in power. Dean and Trippi and Pichet and Carville and Gore might not know all that much about Canadian politics and economics and such, but they do know about power, and how to get it.
When that's the problem you're trying to solve, then of course you'd call on them for help.
How close is this relationship? The Liberal Party has a news release from Al Gore on their website, linked right from the home page:
Former U.S Vice-President Al Gore today released the following statement regarding Environment Minister John Baird’s recent misrepresentation of his comments concerning Canada’s climate change policy:
“I understand that last week Canada’s Minister of the Environment, Minister John Baird, mischaracterized comments I made last summer as praise for the Harper government’s actions on global warming.
The comments I made were designed to encourage the Harper government not to abandon Canada's tradition of fighting above its weight class on the world stage as part of the Kyoto process.
It is my experience that other nations do look to Canada for moral leadership. Canada’s position and actions on climate change matter a great deal. Nothing less than the future habitability of the planet is at stake.
I urge the Harper government to do the right thing.”
Nice of the Liberals to be so diligent in defending their American compatriots. Of course, you don't see news releases on the Conservative Party home page from angry Americans who are miffed at the way the Liberals keep flinging the word "neocon" around. Everything on the CPC site is about challenges facing Canadians, and how they believe Canadians are going to overcome them.
Vive la difference.
