The key thing to remember about David Cameron is that he dramatically changed the way his party approaches the issues. He shifted the focus onto new issues and made conservatives think of themselves as smiling, forward-looking change agents rather than brooding, tax-obsessed fear-mongers. Still, he didn’t change the basic values that the party holds dear. In a lot of ways he’s like Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota. Both are seen as a little moderate because they try to be optimistic pragmatists rather than ideologues, but they also fit into the broad conservative mainstream in their respective nations.

… Then again, maybe we’re totally off base in looking to Britain as the best template. Canada probably compares much better to the United States, and their Conservative Party has also risen from the ashes in the last few years - and they did it with a rather drastic swing to the right. Traditionally, Canada had two major parties: The dominant Liberal Party and moderate Progressive Conservative (PC) Party. However, the PC Party imploded in the 1993 elections, as PC Prime Minister Kim Campbell lost 293 of the party’s 295 seats in Parliament. The defeat fractured the Canadian right and ushered in the 10 year reign of Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chretien, but it also laid the foundation for the rise of real conservatism in Canada.  As Campbell and the PC Party crashed and burned, the far more conservative Reform Party of Canada blew onto the national scene by taking 52 seats in Parliament (they previously had one).  Despite the fact that Reformers’ seats were concentrated in Western Canada and they never came close to forming a government, the demise of the PC Party enabled them to become the second largest party in parliament and the voice of the Canadian Right.

By the early 2003, Canada’s battered conservatives were ready to re-form into a competitive party, but the national situation had changed drastically since they were last in power. The moderate PC Party was now only the fifth largest party in Parliament, holding only 12 seats. On the other hand, the right-wing Canadian Alliance (the re-named Reform Party) was the second-largest. They held 66 seats and had established themselves as largest force on the right.

 The PCers had been holding out on a potential merger for several years, knowing that they would not be the dominant force in the new party, but in 2003, they finally gave in. Newly elected PC leader Peter MacKay was both more open and more conservative than his predecessor, and merged with the alliance to form the new Conservative Party of Canada. The right-wing had united into a cohesive national force again, and that force was headed by former Canadian Alliance leader Stephen Harper…who had been with the Reform Party since 1988 (before they ever won a seat in Parliament). So, the right had not only united, but it had also coalesced around a far more conservative message than Canada had seen in recent history. The revitalized party gained seats in the 2004 election, depriving the Liberals of a majority in Parliament for the first time since 1993, and then forced another election in 2006 - when they stormed to power and installed Harper as Prime Minister. I might also point out that the most moderate (or “Red Tory”) wing of the old PC Party largely abandoned the new Conservatives and defected to the Liberals. It didn’t hurt the Conservatives and didn’t even help the Liberals (who suffered their worst popular vote loss in history when Harper was re-elected this October).

Regardless of where you stand on the issues, it is hard to see how the moderate strategy of purging conservatism and running to the center could work. Their supposed hero, David Cameron, succeeded primarily by rebranding and revitalizing traditional conservative ideals. Steven Harper’s path to victory is even more illustrative of how true conservatism can be made relevant in the 21^st Century. If you think conservatives are in the wilderness here, think about what it must have been like to be stuck in an unelectable Third Party that could only compete in Western provinces! Of course, that didn’t stop Stephen Harper from merging the PC Party into his machine and becoming Canada’s most conservative Prime Minister in at least 50 years.

Both Britain and Canada’s Conservative Parties show that the road back to power might be a long one. However, they also show that there is a way back and that it does not involve abandoning our principles for the sake of winning.