Building a party
Following the recent Vancouver meeting, the Reform party must regard the national press as a crowd of jackals continually harassing them, looking for a wounded member who can be pulled down and eaten alive.
Preston Manning and his crew need to remember nothing is accomplished in the political arena without a few cuts and bruises.
When a populist movement enters politics, it attracts as members a diverse crowd of anti-establishment people, many without political experience. This makes for instability.
The next election should be fascinating to political scientists. The once-dominant Conservative party has to build from next to nothing.
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The New Democrats have a somewhat larger representation but still lack official party status in the House of Commons.
Election of a substantial number of these Reformers in the last federal election was a wake-up call to Canada’s political establishment. It was a protest vote, warning that the electorate wanted its governments on sounder economic footing.
I think Reform still has the task of establishing itself in the eyes of Canada as a force with staying power.
Some of its early enthusiasts became disillusioned recently when they found not everyone shared their hard-line views. Unless a touchstone is found, some voters who supported Reform as a way to jettison the Conservatives may look for another square on the ballot.
In the meantime the Liberal cat is purring and the jackals are snarling over the morsels from the political table.
