There is going to be a sharp fight for the leadership of Canada's new right-wing party, the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance. Stockwell Day, the treasurer of Alberta's provincial government, has announced his intention to challenge Preston Manning, the leader of the Reform Party, the official opposition in Canada's parliament. Day is known for having introduced a single rate of taxation or "flat tax" in Alberta.

The Canadian Alliance was founded at the end of January at a convention in Ottawa. The party was formed to challenge the ruling Liberal Party in the federal election expected next year. It is composed primarily of forces from the Reform Party, but also includes significant participation from the provincial Conservative parties in Alberta and Ontario where they form the government. Tom Long, a prominent advisor to Ontario's Conservative premier Michael Harris, was a keynote speaker at the convention.

Significantly, there was almost no participation from Quebec. A couple of minor figures in Quebec politics, Jean Allaire and Rodrigue Biron, who had participated in previous meetings, either stayed away in the first case or only hung around in the corridors in the other. The Reform Party, which is a major component of the new party, is known for its hostility to the rights of the Quebecois.

The aim of the Canadian Alliance is to win a majority based on a massive breakthrough in Ontario without counting on any real gains in Quebec. Only twice in the last few decades has this occurred. In 1957 and 1979 federal governments were elected with minimal support in Quebec.

The fact that a major party aims to form a government without support in Quebec is an important development. It is a sign of further fracturing and weakening of the domination of Canada's ruling wealthy families.

A minority wing of the Canadian ruling class has come to the conclusion that they cannot win a major base in Quebec for keeping Canada united and are determined to rule Canada--including Quebec--without significant support from the oppressed Quebecois nation.

One reason for this development is the decision of the sovereignist Bloc Québécois to maintain itself on the federal level, which seriously limits the possibility for parties other than the Liberal Party to win support in Quebec. This reflects the fact that the bourgeois sovereignist forces see few possibilities of allying with forces outside of Quebec in their search for greater powers for the provincial government.  
 

A reactionary program

The Alliance's program includes a flat tax of 17 percent on all taxpayers, end of wastefulness in government, and defense of the family, which Reform Party leader Preston Manning describes "as the principal building block of society." They also voice opposition to same-sex marriage, advocate tightening rules on immigration, oppose more money for health care, and call for maintaining law and order and more military spending.

When some immigrants from China arrived in Canada by boat, the Reform Party raised a hue and cry against allowing them to be accepted as refugees. "China is a country in full growth and even if several think it is not as good to live there as in Canada, that country does not correspond to the criteria for obtaining the status of refugee," said John Reynolds of the Reform Party.

Another target of the Reform Party is native rights. Reform mounted a major campaign against a treaty signed between the Nisga's of British Columbia and the federal government. Trying to stop approval, Reform Members of Parliament (MP) submitted 471 amendments. They argued that there should be a referendum on the treaty where all British Columbians, and not just the Nisga's, would vote.

The Reform Party MPs persistently denounce the Liberals for corruption. A scandal has broken out involving massive handouts to Liberal Party friends by the federal Human Resources Department headed by Jane Stewart. This has shaken the Liberal Party and is a sign that not everyone in ruling circles is satisfied with its performance.

Almost every day Reform MPs denounce this in parliament. For example, Deborah Grey, Reform deputy leader, declared February 22, "The Minister of Human Resources and the prime minister are a perfect couple. Since Imelda Marcos, I have never seen someone have such a flair for deals as this prime minister. This couple spends other people's money."

During a tour in the West, Manning has been attacking the federal Conservative party and its leader, Joe Clark. In a speech in Calgary, he declared, "The Conservatives have lost the right in Canada to represent social, economic, and democratic conservatism." Clark has refused to participate in the founding of the Alliance.

The Conservatives are in crisis. They are deeply divided over their attitude to the Liberal government's so-called clarity law, which establishes that in a Quebec referendum 50 percent plus one is not enough to separate from Canada. Party leader Joe Clark is opposing the law but deputy leader Elsie Wayne supports it.

Every other party in parliament supports the law except for the sovereignist Bloc Québécois, which is allied with the governing Parti Québécois in Quebec. With the maintenance of the Bloc Quebecois there is little hope of the Conservatives winning significant support in Quebec.

Joe Young is a member of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 501.  
 
 
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