New Canadian Ambassador to US?
Wed Jan 25, 2006 at 10:54:27 AM PDT
I just heard on the CBC that rumor has it that Preston Manning, the founder of the Reform Party, is to be the new ambassor to Washington, replacing Frank McKenna, who is rumoured to be the next leader of the Liberal Party.
I thought I would pass along a few tidbits about Preston, for your edification.
He comes from a political background. His father Ernest was the second Social Credit Premier of Alberta. He was an evangelical preacher who replaced the founder "Bible Bill" Aberhart in 1943. He was premier until 1968. Since Preston was born in 1942, this means he grew up with his Dad running a province.
According to
Wikipedia Manning's government was more pragmatic, and under his leadership, the party abandoned social credit monetary theories, and turned into a more traditional conservative party. After the war, Manning moved to purge the party of anti-Semitism, which had been an element of its Christian populist rhetoric until then. Several socially conservative laws remained in place, notably one restricting the serving of alcohol. Commercial passenger craft had to stop serving alcohol while flying over the province.
The discovery of significant reserves of oil in 1947 transformed Alberta from one of Canada's poorest provinces to one of the country's richest with resource revenues pouring into the government's treasury.
The Socreds remained in power until 1971 when they were replaced by Peter Lougheed Progressive Conservatives in 1971.
A graduate of the University of Alberta, Preston Manning made one unsuccessful run at federal politics in 1965 under the Socred banner.
Fast forward to 1986 and a conference in Vancouver.
Again from Wikipedia
In 1986, a conference called "Canada's Economic and Political Future" was held in Vancouver, British Columbia. This conference led to the formation of the Reform Party in the following year. The party's founding occurred as the coalition of Western Prairie populists, Quebec nationalists, Ontario business leaders, and Atlantic Red Tories that made up Brian Mulroney's Progressive Conservative Party began to fracture.
The party was the brainchild of a group of discontented Western interest groups who were upset with the Tory government and the lack of a voice for Western concerns at the national level. They believed the West needed its own party if it was to be heard. Their main complaints against the Mulroney government were its alleged favoritism towards Quebec, lack of fiscal responsibility, and a failure to support a program of institutional reform (for example, of the Senate). The roots of this discontent lay mainly in their belief that a package of proposed constitutional amendments, called the Meech Lake Accord, failed to meet the needs of Westerners and Canadian unity overall.
The Reform Party was founded as a populist party to promote reform of democratic institutions. However, shortly after the 1987 founding convention, social and fiscal conservatives became dominant within the party, and pushed it to the political right. Their political aims were a reduction in government spending on social programs, and reductions in taxation.
In 1992, the Mulroney government made another attempt at amending Canada's constitution. The Charlottetown Accord was even more ambitious than the Meech Lake Accord, but it failed to win support in a nationwide referendum. The Reform Party was one of the only groups to fight against the accord.
The constitutional debacle, unpopular initiatives such as the introduction of a Goods and Services Tax (GST), together with a series of high-profile scandals, all contributed to the implosion of the Progressive Conservative coalition in the 1993 election. While the Atlantic remained Red Tory, the Quebec nationalists moved to the Bloc Québécois, Ontario supported the Liberals, and, looking for a new voice, the people of Alberta and portions of other western provinces moved to support the Reform Party.
In the election, the Reform Party swept most of Alberta, and won strong support in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. While running candidates in almost all ridings outside Quebec, Reform won only one seat in Ontario (Ed Harper in Simcoe Centre), and none in Atlantic Canada. It was still a Western protest party, but it nevertheless won 52 seats, making it the third largest party in Parliament.
Manning elected as a Reform MP 1993 and served as an Alliance MP from 2000 to 2002. He became leader of the opposition in 1997.
Over time the Reform itself fractured, with some MPs leaving or being kicked out of the Party, including Deborah Grey, the first Reform member elected nationally.
With the realization that they were steadily shooting themselves in the foot a new movement began to coalesce into a new stronger group made up of Reformers, the break away group and the right wing of the discredited Progessive Conservative Party that had been decimated in the federal election election that had stripped the PCs of official party status. The group formed the Canadian Conservative Reform Alliance Party in 2000. After announcing the new party, they quickly realized their acronym was CCRAP and renamed themselves the Alliance Party. Comedians across the country gnashed their teeth in disappointment but soon found new fodder with Stockwell "Doris" Day.
In the lead up to the leadership fight Preston had to undergo an extreme make over, including wardrobe, contacts, hairstyle and voice coaching. But it didn't work.
Preston Manning lost to "Action Man" Stockwell Day, a man who makes George W. Bush look like he actually earned those "gentleman's Cs".
Thus Manning's main claim to fame is that he was the one and only leader of the Reform Party.
You might be interested in reading more about Preston from his own site.
Of especial interest is this link Explaining the Beaver to the Eagle which links to a series of his essays, including that one. He actually explains the beaver to the eagle in a Stephen Leacock address, which is supposed to be humourous. It's actually pretty funny but I doubt he wrote it himself.
If Manning does become the ambassor to the US I expect that he'll convey how swell he thinks Bush and his cabal are. He comes from a strong Christian background. I just wonder if he'll actually see what a hypocrite Bush is when he gets up close.
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