Matt Spoke: Country before party

Conservatism does not exist so that conservatives can feel solidarity with other conservatives abroad.

Last week, I posted the following on X:

Canadian conservatives,

Remember that you owe your loyalty first to other Canadians (even those with whom you disagree), before giving it to conservatives in other countries — no matter how much you might share their ideology.

The post received more attention than I expected, and the reactions were definitely mixed.

Although many people understood the point, others reacted with real hostility. Some insisted that Canadian liberals had already abandoned any sense of loyalty to them. Why should conservatives feel any obligation towards people who despise them, dismiss their values, and routinely treat them as enemies?

‘Liberals aren’t loyal to us’ was a common sentiment.

There is some truth to that. Too many progressives have come to see their political opponents not merely as mistaken, but as morally illegitimate. They speak about inclusion while treating millions of their fellow citizens as obstacles to be excluded from respectable society. Conservatives are not imagining that contempt. In fairness, though, that road often runs both ways.

None of that changes the principle.

Our loyalty to Canada cannot depend on whether every other Canadian reciprocates it. Patriotism is not a transaction or a favour we extend only to those who vote the same way we do. Nor should it depend on our political opponents behaving better first.

Canadian liberals, conservatives, progressives, socialists, capitalists, environmentalists, union members, entrepreneurs, urban professionals and rural workers all remain part of the same national community. We will disagree profoundly on what Canada is, what it should become and how it should be governed, but those disagreements take place within a country we share.

That common citizenship must mean something.

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Political ideology is not an end in itself. Conservatism does not exist so that conservatives can feel solidarity with other conservatives. Rather, it exists because we believe conservative principles can make our country stronger, freer, safer and more prosperous.

Those principles — strong families, free enterprise, limited government, public order and national sovereignty — are valuable because they serve the country and its people. The country does not exist to serve our ideology.

When that hierarchy is reversed, politics becomes tribal. Conservatism shifts from a set of governing principles into both a political identity and a purity test. That has become especially true in the age of social media, where people increasingly define their politics by the influencers they follow rather than by the ideas those influencers are meant to represent.

For Canadians, this often means consuming enormous amounts of American political content. We watch American television, listen to American podcasts, follow American politicians and political influencers, and absorb American arguments. Because we share so much in common culturally, it can be easy to experience American politics as if it were our own. But it is not.

American conservatives are Americans. They owe no loyalty to us, nor should they. Their responsibility is to advance the interests of their country, their institutions and their citizens.

The same is true of conservatives in Britain, France, Hungary, Australia or anywhere else. We can admire particular leaders, learn from successful policies and recognise that political movements in different countries sometimes confront similar problems. However, their first responsibility will always be to their own country, just as ours must be to Canada.

Ideological similarity, therefore, is not an alternative to national loyalty.

That distinction matters especially when another country’s government pursues policies that disadvantage Canadians. A foreign political movement may occasionally speak our political language, criticise many of the same institutions and oppose some of the same cultural trends. When our interests diverge, we have to remember where our loyalty ultimately lies.

There is nothing conservative about subordinating our country’s interests to those of another country. Canada is imperfect, and we will continue to have serious disagreements with our political opponents at home; nevertheless, we still share the same inheritance, the same institutions, the same mutual obligations and, ultimately, the same future.

Citizenship connects us to people we did not choose and with whom we often disagree. It connects Albertans to Quebecers, urban Canadians to rural Canadians, new arrivals to families who have lived here for generations, and conservatives to liberals and progressives. That bond of citizenship is what gives meaning to our political disagreements. We argue because the country belongs to all of us.

This does not mean conservatives should not fight for our beliefs, nor does it mean that our opponents will act in the same good faith described here. Some of their ideas will genuinely hurt our country, and we should fight to ensure ours prevail. But there is a difference between opposing what other Canadians believe and withdrawing our loyalty from them as fellow citizens.

Our objective should be national improvement, not partisanship for its own sake.

After all, our political opponents are still our neighbours. After an election is over, we will continue to live in the same communities, send our children to the same schools and share in whatever national challenges come next. So, whether or not ‘liberals aren’t loyal to us’ is true, the fact remains that we, as conservatives, should do better.

Conservatives must put country before party.

Matt Spoke is a real estate entrepreneur, a board member of the Canada Strong and Free Network, and a co-founder and contributor to Project Ontario.

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