“The Canada that many of us grew up believing was permanent turned out to be a set of conditions that required active maintenance, and we let them erode while we argued about tax rates.”
Thank you for a brilliant essay, Margareta.
More importantly, thank you for shining light on a pathway conservatives have feared to travel for far too long.
We have yielded so much to the left, for so long, often without resistance.
Faith follows utility, and executional competency builds confidence exponentially.
We have many options and platforms at our disposal to lay the conservative groundwork for a Conservative victory.
For too long we have been victims of our own timorous goals. Our pathway to victory is in laying out a clear alternative to the Liberal vision, and having the courage to support it vigorously.
Propose a Royal Commission on Health Care/Mental Health Care; not a four year slogg-a-thon, but a one year (or less) study inviting bold and challenging ideas to repair our broken system.
Propose a Royal Commission on constitutional reform. Split the Country into four regions: East, West, Ontario , and Quebec. Each reach gets 10 Senators elected by the people or elected by the legislature. Strict apportionment of seats in the House. The Senators are tasked with regional concerns, and the appointing of federal judges, including the Supreme Court.
Reform the tax system from top to bottom. Take away boutique, targeted tax breaks, and simplify the system.
Propose a reform of welfare using the tax system. A negative income tax could save billions in waste, duplication, and bureaucratic inertia.
The bold, radical ideas are endless; we only lack the courage to choose one or two and creative our own national narrative once and for all.
We are the Party of opportunity, innovation, and competency; let’s start performing like it.
Enjoyed this! Thank you. Any thoughts on organizing, institution building, marching through the institutions, when we are a coalition of disparate philosophies? For example right-wing liberals, traditional conservatives, and social conservatives can all support ordered freedom, but they do so from different first principles. Thoughts?
I would argue that we should decide first on the ideas upon which we agree,
and worry about our differences another time. So, with no further introduction, I present:
Donald Ashman's Ten Tenets of Conservatism
1) the need for a vigorous defence of capitalism, the price system, & free trade.
2) a desire for limited, effective government.
3) a willingness to maintain a mutually beneficial immigration system. Beneficial for Canadians, and designed to set up the New Canadian for success.
4) recognition of a cultural adherence to historical, or religious observance. The idea that there is something other than just today, and the notion there is something bigger than us that is worth preserving.
5) the understanding and acceptance that true sovereignty requires preparedness through military strength.
6) an enthusiastic desire for fiscal & monetary stability.
7) an acknowledgement of personal responsibility.
8) a sense of collective responsibility for a civil society, the recognition of a common good, and the idea that, should one wish to live in a caring community, one must contribute to that goal.
9) a recognition that a safe, successful society requires that laws be enforced as they are written, and adjudicated in a timely, proficient, and efficacious manner.
10) a sense of Gratitude, for nothing is worth conserving if we are not grateful for its beneficence.
If we can agree to these principles in practice, we have the beginnings of a movement, in my opinion.
“The Canada that many of us grew up believing was permanent turned out to be a set of conditions that required active maintenance, and we let them erode while we argued about tax rates.”
Thank you for a brilliant essay, Margareta.
More importantly, thank you for shining light on a pathway conservatives have feared to travel for far too long.
We have yielded so much to the left, for so long, often without resistance.
Faith follows utility, and executional competency builds confidence exponentially.
We have many options and platforms at our disposal to lay the conservative groundwork for a Conservative victory.
For too long we have been victims of our own timorous goals. Our pathway to victory is in laying out a clear alternative to the Liberal vision, and having the courage to support it vigorously.
Propose a Royal Commission on Health Care/Mental Health Care; not a four year slogg-a-thon, but a one year (or less) study inviting bold and challenging ideas to repair our broken system.
Propose a Royal Commission on constitutional reform. Split the Country into four regions: East, West, Ontario , and Quebec. Each reach gets 10 Senators elected by the people or elected by the legislature. Strict apportionment of seats in the House. The Senators are tasked with regional concerns, and the appointing of federal judges, including the Supreme Court.
Reform the tax system from top to bottom. Take away boutique, targeted tax breaks, and simplify the system.
Propose a reform of welfare using the tax system. A negative income tax could save billions in waste, duplication, and bureaucratic inertia.
The bold, radical ideas are endless; we only lack the courage to choose one or two and creative our own national narrative once and for all.
We are the Party of opportunity, innovation, and competency; let’s start performing like it.
Great essay, Margareta!!
Enjoyed this! Thank you. Any thoughts on organizing, institution building, marching through the institutions, when we are a coalition of disparate philosophies? For example right-wing liberals, traditional conservatives, and social conservatives can all support ordered freedom, but they do so from different first principles. Thoughts?
Again, thanks so much!
Thank you for the kind words.
I would argue that we should decide first on the ideas upon which we agree,
and worry about our differences another time. So, with no further introduction, I present:
Donald Ashman's Ten Tenets of Conservatism
1) the need for a vigorous defence of capitalism, the price system, & free trade.
2) a desire for limited, effective government.
3) a willingness to maintain a mutually beneficial immigration system. Beneficial for Canadians, and designed to set up the New Canadian for success.
4) recognition of a cultural adherence to historical, or religious observance. The idea that there is something other than just today, and the notion there is something bigger than us that is worth preserving.
5) the understanding and acceptance that true sovereignty requires preparedness through military strength.
6) an enthusiastic desire for fiscal & monetary stability.
7) an acknowledgement of personal responsibility.
8) a sense of collective responsibility for a civil society, the recognition of a common good, and the idea that, should one wish to live in a caring community, one must contribute to that goal.
9) a recognition that a safe, successful society requires that laws be enforced as they are written, and adjudicated in a timely, proficient, and efficacious manner.
10) a sense of Gratitude, for nothing is worth conserving if we are not grateful for its beneficence.
If we can agree to these principles in practice, we have the beginnings of a movement, in my opinion.