Reform Party offers riddle, ideology and enigma

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Published: June 30, 1994

Western Producer staff

Russia, British prime minister Winston Churchill once said, “is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.”

All of which meant that the wartime prime minister couldn’t predict when, if and how the Russians would enter the Second World War.

Motives, aspirations and intentions could not be predicted.

All of which sounds like Preston Manning, leader of the Reform Party and the man who confidently predicts he soon will be Opposition leader and eventually prime minister.

To judge his performance in the first session of the new Parliament, it is difficult not to conclude Manning is a riddle wrapped in an ideology inside an enigma.

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The riddle lies in the thrust of Reform’s daily anti-government barrage since it has been in Parliament.

With some minor exceptions, Reform questions have been on the themes of: what is being done to control crime (but don’t take away our guns); what is being done to slash costs (but don’t destroy basic programs); what is being done to preserve national unity (but don’t let Quebec dominate the agenda); and what is being done to make government more democratic (but the Liberals should abandon the agenda endorsed by voters and embrace Reform’s 19-percent solutions).

Why is a party that claims a national vision and purports to be a government-in-waiting offering such a narrow vision based on so few themes?

The mystery lies in Reform tactics.

It remains the second-most-popular party in English Canada but polls suggest it has been losing ground to the Liberals, who are enjoying a honeymoon of voter affection.

It is not as if the Liberals have performed flawlessly. They have been secretive on some issues, have broken promises, practiced patronage and generally acted like any other less-than-perfect government of partisans.

Yet Reform strategy seems to be to ignore much of the Liberal performance in favor of strict adherence to Reform’s ideological agenda.

Manning is a student of politics. He should know that generally governments are defeated, not elected.

It is one thing to let the people know you have alternative policies. It is another to give the government a free ride in many areas that also interest Canadians.

The puzzling situation is Manning’s recent conversion to the Quebec issue.

A staple of Reform appeal on the Prairies has been that Quebec demands have dominated the national political agenda for too long.

It is time to move away from the obsession, part of what Manning has called “the Ottawa disease.”

But now, here he is, regularly attacking prime minister Jean ChrŽtien for not being clear enough in his strategy to fight the separatists.

Manning insists that his call for a federalist “vision” is not the same as the previous political obsession with Quebec.

But as Manning and his Reform MPs head home to their constituencies for the summer, more than a few of their voters might be wondering if Manning himself has contracted a touch of “Ottawa virus.”

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