The New Canada
Encyclopedia
The New Canada is a Canadian political literature book written by Reform Party of Canada
Reform Party of Canada
The Reform Party of Canada was a Canadian federal political party that existed from 1987 to 2000. It was originally founded as a Western Canada-based protest party, but attempted to expand eastward in the 1990s. It viewed itself as a populist party....

 founder and leader Preston Manning
Preston Manning
Ernest Preston Manning, CC is a Canadian politician. He was the only leader of the Reform Party of Canada, a Canadian federal political party that evolved into the Canadian Alliance...

 and published by Macmillan Canada. The book explains the personal, religious, and political life of Preston Manning and explains the roots and beliefs of the Reform Party. At the time of its publishing in 1992, Reform had become a popular populist
Populism
Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...

 conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...

 party in Western Canada
Western Canada
Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces and commonly as the West, is a region of Canada that includes the four provinces west of the province of Ontario.- Provinces :...

 after the mainstream Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....

 was collapsing in support and in 1991 decided to expand eastward into Ontario and the Maritimes. One year later the PC party collapsed in the 1993 federal election
Canadian federal election, 1993
The Canadian federal election of 1993 was held on October 25 of that year to elect members to the Canadian House of Commons of the 35th Parliament of Canada. Fourteen parties competed for the 295 seats in the House at that time...

, allowing the Reform Party to make political history in Canada, deplacing the PCs as the dominant conservative party in Canada. Reform, later renamed the Canadian Alliance, merged with the PC Party in 2003, to form a united right-wing alternative to the governing Liberal Party of Canada
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...

, named the Conservative Party of Canada
Conservative Party of Canada
The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...

 which has dropped many of the populist themes that the Reform Party had.

The book's principal thesis was challenging the dominant notion at the time that Canada was always divided between English and French Canada. Manning claims that this thesis of two founding peoples is flawed and the solutions to counter this division have caused more division and proposes a New Canada with a new identity that would solve existing problems, saying:

The leaders of Canada's traditional federal parties continue to think of our country as "an equal partnership between two founding races, the English and French"—a federation of founding peoples and ethnic groups distinguished by official bilingualism, government-sponsored multiculturalism, and government enterprise. The approach to national unity is to grant special status to those Canadians who feel constitutionally or otherwise disadvantaged. This is Old Canada—and it has become "a house divided against itself."


Reformers seek a New Canada—a Canada which may be defined as "a balanced, democratic federation of provinces, distinguished by the sustainability of its environment, the viability of its economy, the acceptance of its social responsibilities, and the recognition of the equality and uniqueness of all of its citizens and provinces." New Canada must include a new deal for aboriginal peoples and a new Senate to address the problem of regional alienation. New Canada must be workable without Quebec, but it must be open and attractive enough to include a New Quebec.

Ontario, Nova Scotia, and Quebec

Manning credits the populist reform tradition in Canada as not having begun in the west, and mentions its early roots in the reform parties of Upper Canada
Upper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...

 (Ontario) Lower Canada
Lower Canada
The Province of Lower Canada was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence...

 (Quebec), and Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

 that fought against the rule of colonial elites
Elitism
Elitism is the belief or attitude that some individuals, who form an elite — a select group of people with intellect, wealth, specialized training or experience, or other distinctive attributes — are those whose views on a matter are to be taken the most seriously or carry the most...

 such as the Family Compact
Family Compact
Fully developed after the War of 1812, the Compact lasted until Upper and Lower Canada were united in 1841. In Lower Canada, its equivalent was the Château Clique. The influence of the Family Compact on the government administration at different levels lasted to the 1880s...

 and Château Clique
Château Clique
The Clique du Château or Château Clique was a group of wealthy families in Lower Canada in the early 19th century. They were the Lower Canadian equivalent of the Family Compact in Upper Canada...

 and sought to replace them with responsible government
Responsible government
Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability which is the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy...

s. Manning complements the politics of the province of Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

 for being open to populist politics and populist third party politics. Manning mentions the Bloc Populaire Canadien
Bloc populaire canadien
The Bloc populaire canadien was a political party in the Canadian province of Quebec from 1942 to 1947. It was founded on September 8, 1942 by opponents of conscription during World War II...

, the Ralliement créditiste du Québec
Ralliement créditiste du Québec
The Ralliement créditiste du Québec was a provincial political party in Quebec, Canada that operated from 1970 to 1978. It promoted social credit theories of monetary reform, and acted as an outlet for the expression of rural...

, the Parti Québécois
Parti Québécois
The Parti Québécois is a centre-left political party that advocates national sovereignty for the province of Quebec and secession from Canada. The Party traditionally has support from the labour movement. Unlike many other social-democratic parties, its ties with the labour movement are informal...

, and the Bloc Québécois
Bloc Québécois
The Bloc Québécois is a federal political party in Canada devoted to the protection of Quebec's interests in the House of Commons of Canada, and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty. The Bloc was originally a party made of Quebec nationalists who defected from the federal Progressive Conservative...

 as examples of populist third parties in Quebec.

Prairies

Manning links his political roots to Canadian Prairies
Canadian Prairies
The Canadian Prairies is a region of Canada, specifically in western Canada, which may correspond to several different definitions, natural or political. Notably, the Prairie provinces or simply the Prairies comprise the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, as they are largely covered...

' tradition of democratic
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...

 populism
Populism
Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...

. In particular Manning credits the Alberta Social Credit Party as led by his father Ernest Manning
Ernest Manning
Ernest Charles Manning, , a Canadian politician, was the eighth Premier of Alberta between 1943 and 1968 for the Social Credit Party of Alberta. He served longer than any premier in the province's history, and was the second longest serving provincial premier in Canadian history...

, who served as Premier of Alberta
Premier of Alberta
The Premier of Alberta is the first minister for the Canadian province of Alberta. He or she is the province's head of government and de facto chief executive. The current Premier of Alberta is Alison Redford. She became Premier by winning the Progressive Conservative leadership elections on...

, as well as the federal, Western Canada
Western Canada
Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces and commonly as the West, is a region of Canada that includes the four provinces west of the province of Ontario.- Provinces :...

-based Progressive Party of Canada
Progressive Party of Canada
The Progressive Party of Canada was a political party in Canada in the 1920s and 1930s. It was linked with the provincial United Farmers parties in several provinces and, in Manitoba, ran candidates and formed governments as the Progressive Party of Manitoba...

 as both being major inspirations to the Reform Party. Manning claims that while he came to accept populism as a positive political force, he also developed a "healthy fear of its darker side". Manning defends the political actions of Alberta's Social Credit Premier William Aberhart
William Aberhart
William Aberhart , also known as Bible Bill for his outspoken Baptist views, was a Canadian politician and the seventh Premier of Alberta between 1935 and 1943. The Social Credit party believed the reason for the depression was that people did not have enough money to spend, so the government...

 of the 1930s, saying that Aberhart was a person dedicated to saving the common people from the disaster of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

 and fought against big business elites to serve the people. Manning claims that the vilification towards Aberhart are no different than that those towards other Western Canadians such as famous Manitoban Métis
Métis people (Canada)
The Métis are one of the Aboriginal peoples in Canada who trace their descent to mixed First Nations parentage. The term was historically a catch-all describing the offspring of any such union, but within generations the culture syncretised into what is today a distinct aboriginal group, with...

 leader Louis Riel
Louis Riel
Louis David Riel was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and a political and spiritual leader of the Métis people of the Canadian prairies. He led two resistance movements against the Canadian government and its first post-Confederation Prime Minister, Sir John A....

 or Frederick W. A. G. Haultain
Frederick W. A. G. Haultain
Sir Frederick William Alpin Gordon Haultain was a lawyer and a long serving Canadian politician and judge. His career in provincial and territorial legislatures stretched into four decades...

, who were both initially vilified but eventually historians "rehabilitated them about seventy-five years after their death". Manning claims that the same will be the same for Aberhart.

Manning commends the Alberta Social Credit government's policies of working with local Métis as part of the Metis Population Betterment Act to create new Métis colonies throughout the province. Manning notes the words of Albertan Métis leader Adrien Hope of Kirkino Colony who commended Louis Riel as "the first western Reformer" for having led a grassroots uprising against the federal government to demand the creation of the province of Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...

 in 1870. Manning identified the Progressive Party of the 1920s as being a highly influential and successful federal Western populist party which he argues may "have perhaps been the most successful third party to emerge on the Canadian federal scene during this century". Manning credits the Progressives for their miraculously fast rise to prominence as well as for their policies of calling for reforms to agricultural policy, tariff
Tariff
A tariff may be either tax on imports or exports , or a list or schedule of prices for such things as rail service, bus routes, and electrical usage ....

 policy, transportation policy, and parliamentary practices.

Manning claims that the social democratic Cooperative Commonwealth Federation as led by Tommy Douglas
Tommy Douglas
Thomas Clement "Tommy" Douglas, was a Scottish-born Baptist minister who became a prominent Canadian social democratic politician...

 in the province of Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....

 is an example of prairie populism.

Dangers of extremist politics

Manning addresses the dangers of political extremism in response to claims that he and the Reform Party harboured extreme and intolerant views. Manning claims that

"...everyone with political interests should be required to examine the "dark side of the moon." By this I mean the negative side (or downside of whatever political philosophy one finds attractive, whether it be liberalism
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...

, conservatism, socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...

, nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...

, or populism."


Manning claims that as a consultant he occasionally encountered "zealous ideologues of both the right
Right-wing politics
In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...

 and the left
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...

" to whom he advised that they temper their political passions. To ideologue conservatives, Manning recommended that they read The Politics of Cultural Despair: A Study in the Rise of the Germanic Ideology by Fritz Stern
Fritz Stern
Fritz Richard Stern is a German-born American historian of German history, Jewish history, and historiography. He is a University Professor Emeritus and a former provost at New York's Columbia University...

 who describes "how conservative ideologues in the 1920s inadvertently prepared the way for Hitler and the rise of fascism". To ideologue socialists, Manning recommended that they read The Gulag Archipelago
The Gulag Archipelago
The Gulag Archipelago is a book by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn based on the Soviet forced labor and concentration camp system. The three-volume book is a narrative relying on eyewitness testimony and primary research material, as well as the author's own experiences as a prisoner in a gulag labor camp...

by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn was aRussian and Soviet novelist, dramatist, and historian. Through his often-suppressed writings, he helped to raise global awareness of the Gulag, the Soviet Union's forced labor camp system – particularly in The Gulag Archipelago and One Day in the Life of...

 or read stories about the massacres committed by Pol Pot
Pol Pot
Saloth Sar , better known as Pol Pot, , was a Cambodian Maoist revolutionary who led the Khmer Rouge from 1963 until his death in 1998. From 1976 to 1979, he served as the Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea....

 regime in Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...

 "to get a feel for socialism run amok".

Manning recognizes the prevalence of anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...

 which rose in the Alberta Social Credit Party and describes how his father as Social Credit leader actively purged anti-Semites from the party that later resulted in his efforts to purge racists from politics being recognized by receiving the B'nai Brith Humanitarian Award in 1982. Manning claims that like his father, he was seeking to purge racists from the Reform Party. Manning describes his October 1990 speech to Jewish community leaders in Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...

, Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...

, where he assured them that the Reform Party actively sought to purge racial extremists from the party through racially neutral policies.

On the issue of episodes of racism and extremism within the Reform Party, Manning spoke of the serious need to repel the party from absorbing such racism and extremism, saying that:

If a revival of grassroots democratic populism is to be characteristic of the revitalization of Canadian federal politics of the 1990s, especially in Quebec and the West, it is of primary importance that its leaders be well versed in ways and means of preventing populism from developing racist or other extremist overtones. (This, of course, is also the number-one challenge facing those attempting to lead the reform movements of eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.)"

Meech Lake Accord

Manning describes the reasons for why the Reform Party opposed the Meech Lake Accord
Meech Lake Accord
The Meech Lake Accord was a package of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada negotiated in 1987 by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and ten provincial premiers. It was intended to persuade the government of the Province of Quebec to endorse the 1982 Canadian Constitution and increase...

 that involved granting distinct society status to Quebec. Manning claims that he and the Reform Party went against the Meech Lake Accord because it was discriminatory advocating special powers for the province of Quebec while not advocating similar powers to the other provinces of Canada. Manning points out the hypocrisy of the Meech Lake Accord's advocacy of distinct society for Quebec while ignoring aboriginal
Aboriginal peoples in Canada
Aboriginal peoples in Canada comprise the First Nations, Inuit and Métis. The descriptors "Indian" and "Eskimo" have fallen into disuse in Canada and are commonly considered pejorative....

 Canadians that Manning claims justified aboriginal Manitoba New Democratic Party MLA
Member of the Legislative Assembly
A Member of the Legislative Assembly or a Member of the Legislature , is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to the legislature or legislative assembly of a sub-national jurisdiction....

 Elijah Harper
Elijah Harper
Elijah Harper is an Aboriginal Cree Canadian politician and band chief. He was a key player in the rejection of the Meech Lake Accord, an attempt at Canadian constitutional reform.- Early life :...

's decision to act in the interests of his aboriginal people and in the interests of the popular will of the people of Manitoba in opposing the Meech Lake Accord. Manning condemns then-Prime Minister Brian Mulroney
Brian Mulroney
Martin Brian Mulroney, was the 18th Prime Minister of Canada from September 17, 1984, to June 25, 1993 and was leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1983 to 1993. His tenure as Prime Minister was marked by the introduction of major economic reforms, such as the Canada-U.S...

 and then-Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa
Robert Bourassa
Jean-Robert Bourassa, was a politician in Quebec, Canada. He served as the 22nd Premier of Quebec in two different mandates, first from May 12, 1970, to November 25, 1976, and then from December 12, 1985, to January 11, 1994, serving a total of just under 15 years as Provincial Premier.-Early...

 of being deceitful for accusing opponents of Meech Lake such as Newfoundland Premier Clyde Wells
Clyde Wells
Clyde Kirby Wells, QC was the fifth Premier of Newfoundland and was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador from 1999 to March 2009...

, Manitoba Premier Gary Filmon
Gary Filmon
Gary Albert Filmon, PC, OC, OM is a Manitoba politician. He was the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba from 1983 to 2000, and served as the 19th Premier from 1988 to 1999.-Early life and municipal career:...

 and Elijah Harper of "rejecting Quebec". Manning states that the rejection of Meech Lake was not a rejection of Quebec and that such claims were lies. Manning notes that the Reform Party stood out against the traditional federal political parties (the Liberal
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...

, New Democratic
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...

, and Progressive Conservative
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....

parties) in opposing the accord.
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