TORONTO, June 2 (LifeSiteNews.com) – As the election date for the Alliance leadership nears social liberal columnists appear to be panicking over the possibility that Stockwell Day might actually win. The non-issue of a few lines in the candidate analysis on LifeSite continues to be dragged out by various reporters desperately trying to tag Day with anything that might be skillfully manipulated to cast him as an extremist.
In today’s Globe and Mail, regular columnist Jeffrey Simpson goes so far as to state that Day must “ditch the social conservatives joining his campaign. The anti-abortion crowd, REAL Women, the evangelicals—he’s got to put as much distance between himself and them as possible, and fast.” Simpson also refers to the Ontario Tories which Tom Long and most of his inner campaign team have served at the highest level. He states “The Harris Conservatives in Ontario understood the politics of social conservatism. They paid lip service to it, the way Ronald Reagan did, without doing anything concrete.”
Perhaps not realizing it, Simpson is calling for Day to reject a majority of his core support which happens to be social, as well as fiscal conservative. By extension also, following Simpson’s logic, the Alliance would have to expunge itself of possibly a majority of its members who are strongly loyal to what they see as traditional Canadian social values entrenched in Alliance policies. Simpson’s and similar articles appear to be confirming warnings that Long supporters may have a goal of taking over the Alliance and dramatically watering down many of its core principles.