Please don’t run Mr. Chong

The Honourable Michael D. Chong, M.P.
House of Commons, Ottawa

Dear Mr. Chong

It must have given you some satisfaction to see your Reform Act legislation employed by the Conservative caucus to swiftly and permanently dispatch Erin O’Toole to the graveyard inhabited by Stockwell Day and Andrew Scheer. Without your legislation triggering a vote at the request of 20 per cent of the caucus, Mr. O’Toole would have died a slow and painful political death, and the Conservative party would have been in limbo during the critical period when the mop up from the ravages of the pandemic has to be undertaken. You may be considering a second run for the leadership of your party. You ran against Andrew Scheer and Maxime Bernier in 2017, and you came in well behind the winner. You were proposing a carbon tax at the time, which didn’t endear you to the party’s membership. Indeed, despite Mr. O’Toole’s protestations, the denial of climate change is still official Tory policy.

But I say to you: don’t do it. It’s going to be a waste of your time. The populist, libertarian, socially and fiscally conservative, governmenthating, ultra-right wing of the party will dictate the outcome of the race, and that will leave you out in the cold with bills to pay. Andrew Scheer was tossed out because he was a believer but couldn’t sell his beliefs. Erin O’- Toole was axed because he turned out not to be a believer, and couldn’t sell what he didn’t believe. You are not a believer either, and shouldn’t put yourself in a position where you have to sell bunk. Especially for a party that is coming apart at the seams.

The leadership of the Conservative party is destined to go to a true believer from the ultra-right. Pierre Poilievre has staked out that territory, having declared his candidacy last weekend in a bid to capture the flag before the race officially gets underway. Several caucus members and party celebrities have already signed on to support him.

Mr. Poilievre’s campaign announcement video hit all the buttons that appeal to the ultra-right He singled out truckers and anti-vaxxers for praise. He appealed to freedom loving people to support him. He blamed Mr. Trudeau for inflation, and left no doubt who was the principal target of his dissatisfaction.

Mr, Poilievre has the parliamentary demeanour of a Rottweiler. His questioning of the Prime Minister in Parliament is laced with sarcasm and venom. He treats Mr. Trudeau as if he were some master criminal, combining the worst traits of . The Joker, Ernst Stavro Blofeld and Fagin. No doubt there is a gentle side to him somewhere; he just chooses not to show it.

So the Conservative party and Mr. Poilievre are welcome to each other. However, it will be next to impossible to keep the ultra-right wing of the party happy, even when it controls the party; Red Tories will be marginalized still further. The party will at some point fracture completely and the big compromise engineered by Stephen Harper and Peter MacKay will be no more. Either the ultra-rightists, or more probably the Red Tories, will go off into their own corner. Even if by some miracle Mr. Poilievre makes it to become Prime Minister, voters won’t put up with a government hewing to the ultra-right for very long.

So why cast your lot with a party that has no future as a big tent right of centre party? You have options. One is to join the Liberal caucus. I am sure it would be happy to have you. The other option is to declare yourself an independent member of Parliament. That would effect your break from the ultraright wing list of the Conservative party.

In my view, that latter option deserves your serious consideration. As an independent member, you would be free to express your views free of the need to toe the party line. Yours is a respected voice that speaks out clearly on important issues—most recently, on the threat to Taiwan posed by China. You resigned from the Mulroney cabinet on a point of principle—you disagreed with the decision to recognize Quebec as a “nation within a united Canada.”

You also have the electoral base upon which to move to independent status without suffering the same fate as Jane Philpott, the former Liberal cabinet minister who crashed and burned when she ran as an independent. You have represented your riding since 2004. You won the last election by 18,000 votes The voters are likely voting for you personally as much as or more than for your party affiliation.

The House of Commons could use more independent members. There is nothing so discouraging as the sight of a hundred members rising to their feet to applaud some fatuous sound bite uttered by their leader. We need not just voices of opposition, but voices of reason and constructive criticism. You can be such a voice.

Yours truly,
David Simmonds