Episode 4: Why the Conservative Party of Canada will not win another general election?

Welcome to the Crazy Times Canada podcast. If this is your first time tuning in, welcome. And if you're returning, welcome back! 

Canada is the number one most educated country in the world as of 2022. However, you would not think that in pockets across our country, based upon the discourse happening, especially online. 

I recently heard this quote, "Ideology is the enemy of intelligence." I repeat, ideology is the enemy of intelligence. What does it mean? Many incorrectly use the words ideology and beliefs interchangeably. Let's have a   definition.

Beliefs is trust, faith, or confidence in someone or something after determining that it is true or that something exists. Example of this are one's beliefs grounded in a religion or spirituality through books like the Bible, the Torah, the Quran, the Secret, and usually guides one's personal choices or way of life or personal code. Think of the Ten Commandments from the Bible. Those same themes appear in almost all religions or faiths. One could call them a set of convictions that one lives by, independent of what others do. It becomes how one regulates oneself, one's personal code.

Oftentimes your beliefs guides what you do even when no one is watching. But knowing that a higher power or karma or the universe, can see all.

Now, Ideology. I found this definition on the Britannica site and states, "It is a system of ideas that aspires both to explain the world and to change it." In other words, less about personal accountability and more about having a set of views or opinions and deciding to do everything in your power to make your worldview compulsory on everyone else.

In a nutshell, beliefs are grounded in established truths. Ideology is rooted in concepts, theories, or biases. And unlike beliefs that holds oneself accountable, ideology sets out to accrue power and then force those ideals upon everyone else. For example, abortion. No one likes the idea of abortion. No one. However, life happens, and life happens to people. And so for this reason, the laws in Canada is written to allow abortion to be legal. Not because anyone is in favor of abortion, but rather because most of us believe in choice.

Ideology is the elimination of choice for others. It creates absolutism with no care of how it affects others.

So going back to the original quote, ideology the enemy of intelligence, it means ideology creates a tunnel vision that causes intelligence or reason or even empathy to fade into the background in favor of pushing ideas often aggressively onto the larger society. Often, very intelligent people get caught up into ideology and goes against everything that their former self would allow. It's an indoctrination. The entry point of an ideology usually starts from someone or an event that connects with one's personal fears, biases, inadequacies, helplessness, towards a group or a society that is changing in ways or at a rate that throws off your equilibrium. Ideology also usually have leaders that connect their ideologues.

Many of these leaders, once they have consolidated power, usually quickly develop a disdain for their followers. They lie to them, they mislead them, they abuse them, they control them. Knowing that no matter what happens, whatever the leader does, the minds of their followers will always find ways to rationalize it.

Do you know what cognitive dissonance is?

I will give you a definition, but first I will give you an example.

I grew up Christian, and I still consider myself to be Christian, but more on the spiritual side now instead of the religious side. I no longer go to church. Not sure when it started, but many who still call themselves Christians and go to church have become ideologues. What is the test? A lack of empathy for others, especially those who do not live like you, look like you, or pray like you.

Back to cognitive dissonance.

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me. I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison and you came to visit me. Matthew 25:35-37. Yet Christians or other professed - "good people" - looked to the South and watched as men were rounded up, often wrongfully, as most had no criminal records, and in fact many were legally in the country, and then were not only incarcerated but flown to a foreign country that was not their own, with no way of leaving, just for the cruelty factor of it all.

Empathy. How scared they must be. Yet good people rationalize - "they must have done something wrong" -  "Well, maybe that will dissuade others from coming to my country or encourage others to leave" -  "Or, I don't agree with that, I just voted for eggs to be cheaper."

Cognitive dissonance is defined as :a mental discomfort that results from holding two conflicting values or attitudes." That definition is from the Verywell Mind site.

Canada was founded on Christian values which reflects the values found in most religions. Feeding the poor and hungry - our welfare system. Taking care of the sick - our healthcare system. You visited me in prison - our prison system focused on rehabilitation. I was a stranger and you invited me in - our immigration and refugee system.

In Canada, our values are not just about words. It is entrenched in how we live and how our systems work. It is rooted in love. This is what makes us different from our neighbours to the South.

Our values have also presented and extended into our politics over the last 40 years, and longer.

Back in 1984, until 1993, our Prime Minister was Brian Mulroney. He was the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party, the PC party. He and President Reagan had a really close friendship due to their shared Irish heritage. That relationship drew Canada and US even closer and led to the NAFTA deal. Also in the 80s, during South Africa's Apartheid Regime, Mulroney spoke up about it. He called for Nelson Mandela to be released from prison and also encouraged the US and Britain to do the same. When Mandela got released from prison, he called Mulroney to thank him personally and conveyed his gratitude for his and Canada's support over the years of his incarceration.

In 1991, the first Bush and Mulroney created the Acid Rain Accord to reduce pollution as there was much pollution from America that was polluting our bodies of water and forests. 

Mulroney introduced the GST at 7 % as a temporary measure to cut the deficit. 

By the end of his prime ministership, the Reform Party, which was a right-wing populist party in Western Canada played a key role in the demise of the PC party as we knew it. 

Brian Mulroney, a conservative, brought us NAFTA, was a huge voice against apartheid, brought us the GST, and recognized the harmful effects of pollution on our natural resources. Mulroney served three terms. [Some of the references provided by the Canadian Press, April 24, 2024].

In 1993, after Mulroney stepped down, Kim Campbell, a fellow PC Conservative, was Prime Minister for three months. And she was a final leader of the PC party, as the Reform Party replaced it under the current name of the Conservative Party of Canada. In the election later that year, the Conservatives went from 151 seats to 2 seats...

Leading to Jean Chrétien, a Liberal, becoming Prime Minister from 1993 to 2003. When he won, he inherited an economy with debt and high annual deficit. By the end of his prime ministership, Canada had its first surplus in 30 years.

As part of his election campaign, Chrétien had promised to eliminate the new GST tax created under Brian Mulroney. However, it was such a good revenue generator that he kept it. Between 1993 and 1998, during Chrétien's first five years of his leadership, Canada continued to face high taxes, a national debt, and annual deficit. But by 1998,it had become a surplus.

Chrétien was born and raised in Quebec, but continued to have to contend with separatism talks by Quebec. In 1995, the Quebec referendum barely passed to stay as part of Canada.

Outside Canada, Bill Clinton was then president and he and Chrétien got along. By his second term as prime minister, Chrétien's economy was strong and so he started looking outward at the world issues as is typical of Canadian prime ministers and why Canada has always been popular and respected around the world.

9-11 happened on September 11, 2001 under the second Bush, who had only become president the year before. Canada showed itself as not only an ally, but a great friend in taking in Americans and showing them kindness when 38 flights and 6,500 passengers were redirected to Gander, Newfoundland. There they were cared for. They were invited into Newfoundlanders homes, fed, sheltered, clothed, and emotionally supported during the first days of the trauma of 9-11. 

Canada then sent troops to Afghanistan in support of America. However, Chrétien refused to send troops to Iraq, as it was not a war that was authorized by the UN Security Council. His judgment was spot on. But even then, when he made that decision, he saw huge support by Canadians for his decision in that moment. Chrétien served three terms before stepping down.

From 2003 to 2006, Paul Martin, a liberal, was Prime Minister. However, he had a minority government. He made reforms in our health care system and legalized same-sex marriage. Under the continued presidency of the second Bush, Canada and the U.S. started to develop a little bit of attention around the Kyoto Protocol, which aimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Unlike previous American presidents on both sides, the second Bush presidency started that push against climate change science. By 2006, the ongoing finance scandal in Quebec resulted in a vote of no confidence against Martin, forcing a general election in which Stephen Harper won.

Stephen Harper was the Prime Minister from 2006 to 2015. He was the leader of the new Conservative Party of Canada. Stephen Harper was one of the founders of the Reform Party, which was the right-wing arm of the Conservative Party. During the general election, he ran a centre-right campaign and won. After becoming Prime Minister, he unified the right-wing arm of the party into the main Conservative Party. While he held right-wing views, it was not apparent in the manner in which he led, to most Canadians. While more conservative, it held true to Canadian norms. From 2006 to 2011, he continued to support America in the Afghanistan War. He was staunchly supportive of Israel and cut Canadian aid to Palestine in protest of Hamas, which had been elected as their representative. He toughened the Criminal Code, established mandatory minimum sentencing, and almost doubled the funding to federal prisons. He oversaw a two balanced budgets and a slight deficit in his first few years, cementing his brand as the economist prime minister. He forced a general election in 2008, citing the need for a strong mandate based upon the severity of the global financial crisis. He won the election, however, still with a minority government. Following his win, he tabled a budget that removed the rights of federal government employees to strike, and another motion to remove public funding of elections and instead have private funding. Understanding the implications to democracy, the other parties all united against Harper. That is the NDP, the Liberals, and Bloc Québécois. They announced that they would form a coalition to take down the Conservative Party. In an effort to avoid defeat, Harper convinced then Governor-General Michaëlle Jean to adjourn Parliament early and faced with a public outcry by Canadians who wanted to see unity during this financial crisis, the coalition dissolved during the break, and Stephen Harper retained power. He soon after put in $45 billion as a stimulus package, which helped Canada to emerge as one of the first nations to rebound from the 2008 financial crisis, however, resulting in the first significant deficit under his leadership. In 2011, after a no-confidence vote in Parliament against Harper, due to the his refusal to disclose information on their law and order agenda, and their corporate tax cuts, and the purchase of fighter jets, an election was called. Canadians delivered his first majority government in this third election. As Prime Minister, Canada and US got along. He officially apologized to the Chinese community on the head tax placed on Chinese immigrants. He recognized Quebec as a nation, the Québécois Nation, and gave a heartfelt apology to the Indigenous and First Nation peoples for residential schools. In 2014 and 2015, worldwide oil prices dropped, resulting in job losses in the West, especially in Alberta. He received criticism for not having an economic plan that diversified enough, making it too dependent on oil. He was also criticized for doing little on climate change and failing to meet the greenhouse emissions targets previously committed to. The 2015 election was fraught with the Mike Duffy cheque scandal. Harper lost the election to Trudeau. Stephen Harper served three terms. [Reference material, the Canadian Encyclopedia].

From 2015 to 2025, Justin Trudeau, a Liberal, won a majority government when he became prime minister. However, soon after, he started experiencing a decrease in popularity due to decisions on immigration. His popularity went from 65 % in 2016, quite high, to 22 % in 2024. The result was less about immigration and rather about the volume and speed of immigration. By 2022 and 2023, immigration numbers had reached almost 1 million temporary and permanent residents for each of those two years. Many saw the volume of immigration affecting housing prices and availability. However, beyond that, there was a general feeling of too much too quickly when it came to immigration. And while Canadians are very welcoming, his decision to not manage the numbers better affected his popularity. On the debt and deficit, until COVID in 2020, Trudeau was successful in reducing the debt each year. Regarding climate change, he made commitments on the world stage about Canada doing its part regarding climate change and installed the Carbon Tax. The opposition seized upon it and branded it into something negative, before Trudeau could effectively communicate to Canadians on how the Carbon Tax would be beneficial in both the long and short term, even after he had implemented the Carbon Tax Credit, resulting in Canadians paying less out of pocket than the credits that they received. His defense of Ukraine was unwavering. He was an outspoken and staunch supporter of social and human rights. From the indigenous rights and relationship, even implementing the new federal holiday of the Truth and Reconciliation in response to the pain of Residential Schools, to abortion rights, to climate change, to calling countries out on their human rights failings. The latter resulted in strained relationships with several countries across the world. He increased the Canada Child Benefits, which took 400,000 children out of poverty. With a push by the NDP, he installed a $10 per day child care program across most of Canada. His prime ministership also saw several scandals. There was a scandal over his family vacation that they took to a private island in the Bahamas, where the result of the investigation showed that he had a conflict of interest. There was the SNC-Lavalin affair. There was a WE charity investigation. There was a scandal during the 2019 election about him wearing blackface. He apologized. But many of his opposition thought it'd be very damaging to his re-election. It was not, because even among minority groups, they were not offended. They saw it as Trudeau being Trudeau, the same guy that dressed in Indian wear on his first visit to India, same guy who called himself a feminist. They understood him to be an empath. In January 2025, Trudeau announced his resignation as leader of the Liberal Party.

Mark Carney stepped in as interim prime minister on March 14, 2025, then won the general election on April 28, 2025.

From this history, we can see that regardless of party and whether or not you agree with the methods, the prime ministers in the last 40 years worked to make Canada better. They were decent in how they treated groups of Canadians, how they treated the Indigenous and First Nation peoples, how they treated immigrants, during their best for the economy and to minimize debt and pay the debt down.

The reason why all other prime ministers since the 60s has focused on immigration to Canada is that the growth of our economy, our social programs and investments into the future require immigrants as our population is too small and is growing at too slow a rate to support our economy. Even among non-permanent immigrants such as international students, they help to subsidize the post-secondary tuition cost Canadians. The quality of our immigrants keep Canada on top with a highly educated, technical and skilled workforce, which allows us to remain competitive and sometimes lead in this global marketplace. Which is why despite the high immigration into Canada in the last few years, we still see and face labour shortage in many sectors.

All prime ministers showed Canada to be both an ally and a friend to the U.S. That is until Trump broke our friendship earlier this year. 

All prime ministers have all pushed forward social programs to ensure that safety nets exist in all areas for Canadians and are improved upon as needed.

With the exception of one Prime Minister, climate change has been a consistent focus for all Prime Ministers in the last more than 40 years, which means that they believe in science. 

When it comes to war, they were measured and principled. 

They spoke up for human rights around the world. 

On the world stage, they represented Canada in humility, with confidence in their progressive thinking and in their leadership.

Under Trudeau, monies for foreign aid was also a huge concern by many, especially on the right. However, this was not something Trudeau started. It has been present among all our prime ministers historically. Moreover, it is something done by all advanced countries. With Trump's killing of the USAID program overseas, that has already caused the deaths of tens of thousands, and which experts say will cause the deaths of millions in the coming years. Do you better understand why Canadian prime ministers send money overseas? Whether to help Ukraine fight the war or for aid to other countries experiencing drought or famine or other disasters? It is not money spent, it is cost avoidance. We send money so that we do not have to send troops to that part of the world, which not only saves us money, but saves the lives of our troops. Our cost avoidance is not having to take in additional refugees into Canada, where we need to pay for their housing, food, training, or integration programs. By doing that, it prevents costs to Canada later. Foreign aid is now referred to as Official Development Assistance, or ODA. Canada ranks as sixth in the ODA Donorship behind and in order the United States, Germany, Japan, the UK, France, and then Canada.
 
Canadians historically have not been ideologues. That's because Canadians usually take the time to understand an issue, even complex ones, hold true to our values as we consider issues, and have elected leaders, regardless of party, that align with our values.

Even this year, upon seeing where the current Conservative Party wanted to take Canada, Canadians did a 25-point swing towards the leader, not the party, that aligned with Canadian beliefs and values. In other words, we look for leaders who will keep our Canadian values, regardless of party. 

As can be seen by how Canadians flip between parties, usually after every 9 or 10 years. Canadians historically have not shown a preference between parties, though the NDPs and the Bloc Québécois usually serve as influencers to the Conservatives or Liberals in leadership.

You should have also seen that when you look at the Prime Minister over the last 40 years, the leaders have led according to core Canadian values, regardless of their parties.

This past election cycle, based upon history, should have been this Conservative Party's turn to lead. What changed? Not Canada. Canada did not change. Rather, the Conservative Party and their leadership mandate changed. They became like America. And when Trump came back in power in January, Canadians saw the twinship, and that freaked us out! We are not a nation of parties and ideology. We are a nation of beliefs, of values.

We look for servant leaders looking to make the lives of Canadians better while maintaining Canadian values.

We are not looking for people who seek leadership for the goal of aggregating power and changing Canada into their ideology or into America. That is why Canadians said no to Poilievre in April. Canadians said no to the current Conservative Party, which is made in America's image. One of wanting power for power's sake. One that is obstructionist. One that lies and pushes misinformation among its base to further control them and get them angry. One that seeks to create bogeymen instead of helping their followers to understand the complexity of issues that we face in Canada and around the world. One that has no effective solutions to problems. One that in its current form and leadership will hurt Canada both in the short and long term if put in power. 

And Canadians recognize that.

Regardless of party, Conservative, Liberal, Bloc Québécois, NDP.

The Canadian electorate are the most educated people in the world. So do not treat us as fools. 

Many Conservatives like myself said, "No!" to Poilievre in April. Even supporters of Bloc Québécois did the same and rallied behind Carney. And we will continue to say no to the current Conservative Party of Canada - even if they change the name like they did from the Reform Party. Why? Canadians are not right-wing. Canadians are not ideologues.

Right wing goes against everything that we are as Canadians, as we do not embrace ideology. We are thinkers. We are intelligent. We believe in choice. We believe in freedom. We care about people, not just ourselves. We are Canadians. We are values first, not party first. And so we will only follow leaders who reflect Canadian values. 

The Conservative Party of Canada, we saw what you tried to do - what you're still trying to do. Even as you use new words, since the April general election. But we see you. We do not want you. 

Bring back the PC party! The Progressive Conservative Party - the party of conservative policies and Canadian values - not right-wing populism. 

Until then, all Canadians, including true Conservatives, will continue to choose a leader who reflects Canadian values, regardless of party.


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We end each episode with questions to make us reflect and in some ways, may be a call to action.

When you look to the South at America, the utter chaos, do you see how that could have happened in Canada had we voted differently this past April?

Canada needs immigration and so we welcome our immigrants. How do we continue to learn about each other and embrace each other as Canadians, old and new?


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