|
The Liberals are the moderates. The NDP are the liberals. The Bloc Quebecois are the nationalist separatists.
What used to be the Progressive Conservative Party (PC) is no more, except in Provincial politics. After their defeat in 1993, the PC went from a 155-seat majority to holding only 2 seats. After that, a right-wing splinter group of former Tories (PCs) formed their own party, known as the Reform Party of Canada. Reform quickly became identified with fringe right politics, then changed their name to the Alliance Party, neither of which names gained them much recognition or power outside of Alberta. The Progressive Conservative Party lingered, eventually polling as many as 12 seats (IIRC), then held a leadership race in 2004 -- here's where the story gets interesting.
Among the contenders in the leadership race, Peter MacKay was getting around 40% support, not enough to break through and win the leadership. I can't recall who the second-place contender was, but in third place with 25% was David Orchard, who threw his support behind MacKay ON CONDITION THAT HE NOT seek to unite with the Alliance Party. MacKay agreed and won the leadership. FOUR MONTHS LATER, MacKay united the Progressive Conservatives with the Alliance Party under the banner of the Conservative Party. This effectively took a once moderate, fiscally conservative party and radically shifted it rightward. But because they still call themselves Conservatives and even Tories, many people, especially committed older voters who voted PC all their lives have failed to realize that it ain't your daddy's PC Party.
Even so, the Conservatives got in this time because of voter outrage over Liberal scandals (which to Americans would seem like trifles), which are certain to have a very short shelf-life. In the next election, which likely will follow shortly upon the heels of this one due to the minority status of the new Government and the ideological divide between them and the three other major parties, the Liberals are quite likely to return to power, possibly even as a majority party.
Canada isn't shifting to the right. It's just giving the Liberal Party a well-deserved spanking.
|