State of Canada’S

ConServative MoveMent
april 2010

This document is intended as an annual report for Canada’s conservative

movement. It includes three parts:
1 Understanding Canadian attitudes towards conservative values;
2 Canada’s Electoral Map; and,
3 State of Canada’s conservative infrastructure. www.manningcentre.ca
Table of Contents
Letter From Preston Manning, President and CEO 2
Introduction 3
Understanding Canadian Attitudes Towards Conservative Values 4
Canada’s Electoral Map 7
State Of Canada’s Conservative Infrastructure 8
Manning Centre for Building Democracy: Background 12

Cover image: William Kurelek, Manitoba Party, 1964, photo © National Gallery of Canada
 t 403.255.8100 t
f 403.265.8855 f
www.manningcentre.ca

April, 2010

Canadian politics has changed. As a result, we conservatives find ourselves with

a unique opportunity to shape the future our country for the better.
The assumptions that have guided conventional thinking about Canadian politics since the time
of Trudeau are no longer valid. The constitutional debates that gripped generations of Canadian
thinkers and activists are no longer the defining issue of our political discourse.
The rise of the West along with evolving attitudes towards separatism in Quebec has also
fundamentally altered the political balance.
Canada seems to have reached the limits of the welfare state, and most Canadians understand that
the future is about restraint rather than activist government programs and expanding entitlements.
Canadians may be taxed more heavily than ever, but we are also wealthier and have more
disposable income than ever before. As a result our primary concern is quality of life, not standard
of living.
Despite the best efforts of generations of liberal pundits and politicians, you will see in this report
that Canadians are in many ways inherently conservative.
All of this leads me to the conclusion that Canadian conservatives have the opportunity to lead,
and to define Canadian political discourse for generations to come. Indeed, Canadians are
best served by timeless conservative principles rooted first in liberty, dignity, responsibility, and
tradition.
First, we conservatives have work to do.
Canada’s conservative movement needs to generate a constant supply of new ideas, well-trained
people, and communications tools, which all require significant financial investments to produce
and sustain them. This then, is the subject of this report and the mission of the Manning Centre.
For the cover of this report, we have chosen a painting by Canadian artist William Kurelek entitled
‘Manitoba Party.’ The big gathering under a big tent is representative of our common project.
Those of us who share a vision of Canada strong and free are gathering. Guided by our common
principles and with some hard work, we will serve Canada well and we will have lots to celebrate.
Yours sincerely,

Preston Manning,
President and CEO

PO BOX 1988, Station M CP 1988, Succ M

Calgary, Alberta T2P 2M2 Calgary, Alberta T2P 2M2

2 STATE OF CANADA’S CONSErVATIVE MOVEMENT

Introduction
This document is intended as an annual report for Canada’s conservative movement.
It includes three parts:

Understanding Canadian attitudes

❶ towards conservative values: ex-
amining the attitudes held by Canadians
towards conservative values as reported
in a national public opinion survey com-
missioned by the Manning Centre earlier
this year.
❷ Canada’s Electoral Map: summariz-
ing the current electoral standings of con-
servative-oriented political parties at the
federal, provincial, and territorial levels.
An Invitation for Feedback
This document is the first assessment of
the current state of Canada’s conserva-
tive movement. In future editions of this report,
the Manning Centre would like to continue to
develop descriptions of the various components
of the movement, useful performance measures,
and specific recommendations for strengthening
performance.
recipients of the State of Canada’s Conservative
Movement are invited to provide feedback on
how to make it more informative and useful, in
particular ideas on how best to report:

❸ State of Canada’s conservative

infrastructure: examining the current
■ The extent to which Canadian values are
consistent with conservative principles and
policies.
state of Canada’s conservative-oriented
think tanks, advocacy groups, training ■ The electoral successes and failures of
programs, communications vehicles, and conservative-oriented political parties.
fundraising capabilities. ■ The state of conservative democratic
infrastructure.
The State of Canada’s Conservative Movement is
based, in part, on the Manning Centre Barome-
ter and other presentations made to the Manning Please direct your feedback and suggestions
Networking Conference, March 11–13, 2010, to info@mcbd.ca.
in Ottawa.
More information on the Manning Centre
Barometer can be found on the website:
www.manningcentre.ca
More information on the Manning Network-
ing Conference 2010, including video from
the session “State of Canada’s Conservative
Movement” can be found on the website:
www.manningcentre.ca

INTrODUCTION 3
Understanding Canadian Attitudes
Towards Conservative Values
The Manning Centre Barometer is a snapshot of Canadian attitudes towards values and
policies generally recognized as conservative. The Manning Centre intends to replicate
this Barometer on an annual basis in order to track Canadian attitudes over time.

Prominent Canadian public opinion experts Allan The Canadian ‘centre’ is predominantly
Gregg and Andre Turcotte designed the survey. conservative
Between February 1–10, 2010 a total of 1,000
respondents were presented with a series of value
telephone interviews were conducted with adult
statements and asked to use a scale of 1 to 7 where 1
Canadians. The margin of error for a sample of this
is ‘totally disagree’ and 7 is ‘totally agree.’ A major-
size is +/-3.3 percentage points within a 95%
ity of Canadians expressed strong support (answer-
confidence interval.
ing either 6 or 7) for a variety of values generally
For more on the Manning Centre Barometer 2010 recognized as conservative:
visit: www.manningcentre.ca ■ Nothing is more important than family (89%)
■ Marriage, by definition, is between a man
and a woman (67%)
The majority of Canadians identify with
the ‘centre’ ■ Abortion is morally wrong (60%)
When asked to position themselves on the ■ Learn from what worked in the past to solve
political spectrum, Canadians overwhelmingly problems (54%)
self-identify as centrist: ■ Better to implement small changes than all at
once (54%)
In addition, the following value statements also
70% received high, though not majority, levels of support:
60%
■ Patriotism, strong military, necessary to
50% advance national interests (44%)
40%
■ There is a right and wrong, not all about
30% individual perception (42%)
20%
■ Private sector before government to solve
10% economic problems (36%)
0%
t re ht
lef 2 3
nt
5 6
rig
What is significant is that all of the above value
e ce e propositions are more strongly associated with con-
tr em m
ex tre servative values than with those of liberals or social
ex democrats. This is not to say that values generally
associated with liberals and social democrats are not
supported, but the levels of support are for the most
People sometimes talk about left and right in part significantly lower, including:
Q politics. Based on what you know, using a 1 ■ Tolerance and moderation are what it is all
to 7 scale where 1 is extreme left, 4 is centre about to be Canadian (50%)
and 7 is extreme right, where do you position ■ People holding different values/beliefs make
yourself on this political ideology scale? society richer (47%)
■ We have a responsibility to look after those less
fortunate (43%)
■ Government action is the best way to solve
economic problems (31%)
4 STATE OF CANADA’S CONSErVATIVE MOVEMENT
Ambivalence towards what government can do
There seems to be a deepening ambivalence toward
the relevance and capacity of government, which may
in part explain declining public interest in politics and
elections. While 84% of respondents say that the gov-
ernment should play a major role in managing the
economy, most do not want governments to do more
to reduce income inequalities or to stimulate economic
recovery and growth. Only 39% think “that govern-
ment can be very helpful,” and only 34% believe that
the federal government has a “big impact” on their
lives. When asked who or what they rely on first in
time of need, 8 out of 10 respondents say they turn first
to family rather than look to government for assistance.

84% feel that government

should have an important
But most do not want government to do
role in managing the
more to reduce income inequality, stimulate
economy.
economic growth or deal with economic recession.
• Only 39% think government can be very helpful.
• Only 34% feel government policies have
a big impact on our daily lives.

Dealing with moral issues

Social conservatives should take heart that a majority
of Canadians say they believe abortion to be morally
wrong and that marriage constitutes the union of a
man and a woman. While a majority of Canadians
hold these more traditional views, it should be noted,
however, that a majority believe that governments
should play only a minor role or no role at all in the
regulation of individual behaviour or morality.
This would suggest that if social conservatives wish
to retain and expand public support on moral issues,
they should rely less on urging government interven-
tions and more on advancing non-governmental ini-
tiatives to achieve their goals.

60% feel that abortion is

morally wrong and 67%
support the traditional
definition of marriage.
But just 31% feel government should play a
major role regulating individual behaviour
and morality.
• Split (46:50) on the role of government in
preserving the moral fabric of society.

UNDErSTANDING CANADIAN ATTITUDES TOWArDS CONSErVATIVE VALUES 5

Divergences between centrists and conservatives
When comparing the values and policies embraced
by self-identified ‘centrists’ and self-identified ’conser-
vatives‘, there is a surprising degree of convergence.
There are, however, several significant divergences.
Most significantly, ‘centrists’ place a higher priority
on environmental protection than ’conservatives‘.
Other significant divergences include:

Centrists Values/Policies Conservatives

Government should play a major role in preserving the moral fabric
42% 53%
of Canadian society

Government should play a major role in regulating individual

21% 54%
behaviour and morality

The policies implemented by government have a big impact on my

29% 51%
day-to-day life

That said, given the degree of convergence between ■ 6 of 10 support abolition of the long gun
‘centrists’ and ‘conservatives’ it should come as no sur- registry
prise that 47% of ‘centrists’ voted Conservative in the
■ 6 of 10 believe the government is doing “just
2008 federal election. Furthermore, quite a number of
enough” to deal with the recession
positions and policies of the Harper government are
commanding relatively high levels of support including: ■ 5 of 10 believe the government is doing “just
enough” to deal with climate change
■ 6 of 10 Canadians support reducing taxes on
corporations to stimulate economic growth ■ 8 of 10 think the military should leave
Afghanistan in 2011 as planned
■ 7 of 10 support the government’s spending
practices despite projecting a $56 billion
deficit this year

6 STATE OF CANADA’S CONSErVATIVE MOVEMENT

Canada’s Electoral Map
The relative success of conservative-oriented political parties in winning elections is
an important measure of their effectiveness in communicating their messages to the
public and winning support. It is also a reasonable proxy to track public support for
conservative values and policies.
At the federal, provincial, and territorial levels, elections shows that conservative-oriented parties,
conservative-oriented political parties have been loosely defined, hold 36% of the popular vote and
moderately successful in recent years. A superficial 42% of the seats.
analysis of the results in the most recent general

Popular vote Seats

36% conservative 42% conservative

oriented oriented

64% other 58% other

100%
90%
80% Seats conservative-oriented

70% Vote conservative-oriented

60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
L

YT

BC

SK

PE

L
TA

N
N

N
Q
N

O
TO

For the purposes of this document, conservative-ori- dictions. Furthermore, these results reflect the most
ented party only refers to the primary conservative- recent general elections in each jurisdiction, not any
oriented party in each province with the exception of recent by-elections.
the Wildrose Alliance Party in Alberta, which adds
It is also important to note that there are varying
6% to the popular vote (but no seats) in the 2008
degrees of commitment to conservative principles
provincial election. The BC Liberals and ADQ are in-
among those elected under the banners of conser-
cluded as conservative-oriented but federal indepen-
vative-oriented parties. In future editions of this docu-
dents are counted as other. The Northwest Territories
ment, we intend to further refine the definition of ‘con-
and Nunavut have no parties at the territorial level,
servative-oriented political parties,’ and the analysis
so only federal results are included for those juris-
of election results.

CANADA’S ELECTOrAL MAP 7

State of Canada’s
Conservative Infrastructure
Politicians, political parties, and policy makers are the agents of ideas; they are the
ones who will ultimately manage governments and implement public policy. But they
are also generally consumers not producers of human, social, and intellectual capi-
tal. The battle of ideas demands a constant supply of new ideas, well-trained people,
and communications tools, all requiring significant financial investments to produce
and sustain them.

Historically, political parties participated in serious Activism: Interest groups and campaigns that mobi-
policy development and communication campaigns. lize or litigate in order to protect or advance conser-
The realities of modern party politics, however, have vative principles.
forced most political parties to become primarily
machines for running and winning the next election Communications: Communications vehicles of all
campaign. types including publishing houses, periodicals, ra-
dio shows, television programs, and websites which
Increasingly, necessary intellectual capital, human
serve as the primary means through which Canadi-
capital, social capital, and communications capac-
ans receive information.
ity must be developed by programs and institutions
outside the political parties. In the case of Canadian
conservatives, this means that while the primary task
of conservative parties is to win elections. The pri-
mary task of the conservative movement, however,
is to build conservative democratic infrastructure, Political Practitioners
including:
Communications
Investment: Foundations, companies, and indi-
viduals who are willing to invest necessary financial Activism
resources in political endeavors other than parties. Networks
Ideas: Academic institutions, research organiza- Training
tions, and think tanks that generate and analyze
ideas, policies, and proposals. This includes: Ideas

i. Establishing the ideological and philosophical Investment

basis for ideas.
ii. Advancing timely and relevant public policies.
iii. Specialized knowledge about specific policy
areas.

Training: Programs and institutions that equip politi-

cal practitioners with the skills, experience and knowl-
edge to be effective.

Networks: Opportunities to form the coalitions,

linkages, networks, and relationships among like-
minded conservatives that are the backbone of
politics.

8 STATE OF CANADA’S CONSErVATIVE MOVEMENT

The following is a preliminary assessment of the state
of conservative democratic infrastructure in Canada,
based largely on presentations made to the recent
Manning Networking Conference. It suggests that
a great deal of work will be required from all par-
ticipants in the movement to strengthen it. To provide
leadership, encouragement, and resources to those
people who will be a part of this building process
is the mission of the Manning Centre for Building
Democracy.
Investment
Government departments, agencies, and organiza-
tions have virtually unlimited budgets; unions have
access to monopolistic fundraising, in particular the
public sector unions. Canada’s conservative move-
ment, however, must rely on the generosity of private
donors.
In 2008, conservative movement organizations
raised about $25 million. By means of comparison,
conservative-oriented federal and provincial parties
raised about $50 million.
It is important to improve the fundraising capacity of
Canada’s conservative movement, in particular:
■ To grow the number and size of donations
to political organizations other than political
parties, and to encourage a culture of
philanthropy that recognizes the importance of
investing in democratic infrastructure.
Sources of research and Expertise
Activity Areas of Government Think Tanks
Aboriginal
Culture
Economy
Environment
Fiscal
Immigration
...
Justice
Science
Tax
Trade
Urban
STATE OF CANADA’S CONSErVATIVE INFrASTrUCTUrE
■ To build funding models that have the potential
to self-finance, for instance the conservative
book club.
■ To further develop internet and direct mail
fundraising in order to raise money from large
numbers of small donations.
■ To construct a political venture-capital fund
market to help direct necessary funding to
new conservative-oriented ideas, projects, and
organizations.
Ideas
Those who wish to deliver good and principled gov-
ernment require an inventory of ideas grounded in
conservative principles on everything from aborigi-
nal affairs to urban development.
Ideas, analysis, and policy proposals from a conser-
vative perspective are predictably strong in areas like
fiscal policy, economic issues, trade, and justice. But
there are significant gaps, including a lack of well-
defined conservative positions on:
■ Science, technology and innovation.
■ Free-market approaches to environmental
conservation.
■ Social justice and positive alternatives to the
welfare state.
Academics Other
9
Activism
There are a respectable number of conservative-
oriented organizations that produce ideas, research,
and policy proposals
including: Fraser Insti- Think
tute, Frontier Centre
for Public Policy, C.D.
Howe Institute, Mon-
treal Economic Insti- Left Right
tute, Atlantic Institute
for Market Studies,
Institute for Marriage
and Family, Centre Do
for Cultural renewal,
Cardus, and others.
The conservative movement, however, needs more
capacity on the ‘do’ side of the equation. Though
well served by organizations like the Canadian Tax-
payers Federation, the National Citizens Coalition,
and the Canadian Constitutional Foundation, there is
a need for more activists. There are particular weak-
nesses that should be addressed, including:
■ A paucity of political activists in business
groups.
■ The tendency of government to provide public
funding to centre-left groups.
■ The failure of conservatives to translate private-
sector marketing skills into political marketing
and advocacy.
Communications
Communications refers to vehicles of all types includ-
ing publishing houses, periodicals, radio shows,
television programs, websites, and social media that
serve as the primary means through which Canadi-
ans receive political information and analysis. Con-
servative perspectives are relatively well-represented
in print media, radio, and new media. On television,
however, conservative voices and perspectives are
not well represented.
10 STATE OF CANADA’S CONSErVATIVE MOVEMENT
In order to address this deficiency, particular effort
is needed to strengthen the presence of conservative
perspectives and representatives on television. Fur-
thermore, social media will be most powerful as a
communications tool when integrated with other me-
dia, in particular television.
Training
Training refers to programs and institutions that equip
political entrepreneurs (those who run for office, run
campaigns, issue campaigns, interest groups, think
tanks, public policy researchers, staffers) with the
skills, experience, and knowledge they require to be
effective.
PrACTICAL POLITICS:
Conservative-oriented parties at the Federal and Pro-
vincial levels provide some training for grassroots
activists and volunteers in key campaign and orga-
nizational skills. In particular, political parties offer
training programs for candidate development, cam-
paign management, and constituency organization.
It varies, of course, what is offered across the coun-
try. For instance, parties in some provinces simply
have larger numbers of people involved and more
resources and are therefore able to offer more train-
ing. Furthermore, to receive this training, people are
generally expected to be already involved with the
party in question.
There are real opportunities for training upstream
and targeting those who are not already active in
politics or political parties. In particular:
■ MUNICIPAL POLITICS: there is substantial need
to train conservatives for municipal politics;
conservatives are generally under-represented
at the municipal or local levels.
■ STUDENTS AND YOUNG PEOPLE: there
is a need to train young people for student
government and activism, and also to provide
opportunities for young people to gain
experience in politics through internships.
■ GrASSrOOTS ACTIVISM: there is a need
to train people in the basic campaign and
organizational skills necessary for any
campaign, with a particular emphasis on those
who are already civically engaged but not
necessary political active.
POLITICAL MANAGEMENT:
Political management does not mean political sci-
ence, business administration, nor public administra-
tion. Political managers are professionals capable of
managing advocacy groups, political parties, cam-
paigns, and the political side of government adminis-
trations in an effective and principled manner.
As an example, when a political staffer arrives in
Ottawa he or she is seated across from a public ser-
vant (a Deputy Minister, Assistant Deputy Minister,
Director General) with 25 years experience, ad-
vanced degrees, and ongoing professional develop-
ment. Political staffers need to be adequately pre-
pared to work with these public servants.
STATE OF CANADA’S CONSErVATIVE INFrASTrUCTUrE
In the United States there are at least nine university
programs dedicated to political management. None
currently exist in Canada.
The Manning Centre has been working with Carleton
University to establish a cross partisan Graduate Pro-
gram in Political Management program. Hopefully
this program will be in operation by the fall of 2011.
In the meantime the Manning Centre has offered
courses in this discipline.
NAVIGATING THE FAITH-POLITICAL INTErFACE:
When people of faith get involved in politics, they
often do so on difficult moral and ethical issues. If
they make mistakes, they have the potential not only
to discredit their policy positions and political allies
but also their faith communities. There is a need for
training programs, targeted to all faith communities,
to encourage those with a faith commitment to be
as “wise as serpents and harmless as doves” when
participating in politics.
11
Manning Centre for Building
Democracy: Background
The Manning Centre for Building Democracy is a federally registered non-profit
organization founded in 2005 by Preston and Sandra Manning.

Vision The Manning Centre recognizes and accepts various

regional and philosophical dimensions to Canadian
We embrace a vision of Canada strong and free;
conservatism. rather than championing just one of
a people united in common purpose to serve our
these dimensions to the exclusion of the others, the
inalienable and inherent right to life, liberty, and
Manning Centre is committed to seeking common
property.
ground, resolving contradictions, and finding ways
We believe that Canadians and Canada’s purpose for conservatives of all ideological and regional
are best served by timeless conservative principles backgrounds to work together toward common
rooted first in liberty, dignity, responsibility, and objectives.
tradition.
We, therefore, envision a free and democratic Preston Manning, President and CEO
Canada where political entrepreneurs have the Nicholas Gafuik, Managing Director
courage, skills, knowledge, ideas, and public sup-
port to win campaigns and implement conservative
solutions to the challenges of our times. Board of Directors
Mission Preston Manning, President and CEO
To identify, develop, and support political entrepre- Cliff Fryers, Chairman
neurs who can advance our common vision of a free Blair Nixon, Secretary and Treasurer
and democratic Canada.
rick Anderson
Values Thompson MacDonald
The Manning Centre’s mission is informed by the fol- Gwyn Morgan
lowing values:
Tasha Kheiriddin
■ Individual liberty, dignity, and responsibility
Tom Long
■ Free markets, freedom of choice, and limited
government Nigel Wright
■ Canada’s cultural, religious, and democratic
traditions
■ Strong families and communities
■ Principled and prepared leadership
■ An informed, deliberative citizenry
■ Grassroots, democratic participation and
decision-making

12 STATE OF CANADA’S CONSErVATIVE MOVEMENT

MANNING CENTrE FOr BUILDING DEMOCrACY
Mailing Address: PO Box 1988, Station M, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2P 2M2
Tel: 403.255.8100 Fax: 403.265.8855 Email: info@mcbd.ca

www.manningcentre.ca