Byfield: “Manning Going Back To Brian Mulroney”
OTTAWA, Aug 16, 2001 (LSN.ca) – Progressive Conservative Leader Joe Clark, who led the Gay Pride Parade in Calgary this year, has lauded Reform Party founder Preston Manning for his endorsement of the unite the right talks between rebel Alliance MPs and Conservative MPs at Mont-Tremblant, Que., this weekend. Clark revealed to the press that Manning called him prior to releasing his blueprint for a united right yesterday.
Manning’s suggestion to leave social conservative issues out of the cooperation plan between Tories and the Alliance fits with the criteria demanded by outspokenly pro-abortion Clark’s own unification plan. In a post-election op-ed, Clark stipulated a new conservative coalition must be economically conservative and “socially progressive.”
Canadian conservative icon and founder of The Report magazine, Ted Byfield, told LifeSite that by forgoing allegiance to his constitutional policies, Manning has alienated the West. “He has abandoned the West and abandoned social conservatives. What’s left? He stands for Mulroneyism. He’s back to Brian.” Byfield explained that Manning’s current approach is to favour a brand of fiscal conservatism that appeals to only Ontario and Quebec. He said the Reform Party was established to repudiate that very type of conservatism.
Writing in the Hill Times following Clark’s mandate that a united right must be “socially progressive,” Tory Senator Dave Tkachuk rebuked Clark’s position of intolerance for social conservatives. Tkachuk noted that the united conservative movement envisioned by Mr. Clark, “certainly does not include a welcoming of the social conservative movement in Canada.” He asserts, “without the social conservatives, there is no conservative party.” (Tkachuk, The Hill Times, January 29th 2001)
See related LifeSite coverage: https://lsn.ca/ldn/2001/aug/010815.html#1 https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2001/may/010528.html#2
See the coverage in the Globe and Mail: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/GIS.Servlets.HTMLTemplate?tf=tgam/common/FullStory.html&cf=tgam/common/FullStory.cfg&configFileLoc=tgam/config&vg=BigAdVariableGenerator&date=20010816&dateOffset=&hub=headdex&title=Headlines&cache_key=headdexNational