Harper’s new enemy: Conservatives

Environmental concerns create internal opposition to budget, agenda.

by Susan Riley

There is a new front opening, as opposition to Stephen Harper's budget — and his broader agenda — gathers strength. Increasingly, criticism is coming from dismayed conservatives offended by Harper's hostility, or indifference, to the environment. And to democratic tradition.

The dissidents are mostly Progressive Conservatives, but not exclusively. This week, for instance, former Alberta Reform MP Bob Mills joined Green Party Leader Elizabeth May in decrying the elimination of the National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy (a Mulroney-era initiative.)

Mills, a one-time biology teacher, served as environment critic in Harper's Opposition shadow cabinet. While he stoutly defended market-friendly prescriptions, Mills won friends across party lines. But Mills proved too green for the PMO and was never appointed environment minister — although he was a member of the now-doomed NREE, after he left politics in 2008.

Perhaps Mills can be dismissed as a secondary figure. Alberta Premier Alison Redford is anything but. While she has been correct in her dealings with Harper, the two leaders — both nominally conservative — clearly differ on the environment and the conduct of politics.

In an insightful analysis of the relationship, Don Lenihan of Public Policy Forum argues that Redford "is showing an impressive ability to speak to where the public is going to be, rather than where it was."

Harper, busy defending the dinosaurs, risks being eclipsed by newly-visible conservative moderates like Redford. While the prime minister remains determined to remove any obstacle to rapid development of Canada's resources, environment be damned, Redford insists on sustainability. While Harper is quick to exploit divisions — portraying Alberta as a potential victim of mythic eastern bastards — Redford is promoting a pan-Canadian energy strategy, led by Alberta.

In tone, Harper is tough, impatient and secretive — note the many surprises buried in his omnibus budget bill — while Redford preaches inclusiveness and transparency. She became the first Alberta premier ever to launch Edmonton's pride festivities.

Another prominent defender of progressive conservative values leads another party: Elizabeth May. Decades ago, as a young lawyer, she worked for the Mulroney government and retains deep admiration for the former prime minister's green record. Today, she is eviscerating Harper's omnibus budget bill in the Commons with her usual tenacity and eloquence.

In her view, the problem isn't conservatives, per se — she says a majority of Harper's caucus understands and supports climate science. But Harper doesn't and only a brave few MPs dare disagree.

One such MP is Michael Chong, consigned to the backbenches after a disagreement with Harper over recognizing the Québécois as a people. He now belongs to a non-partisan committee established by Liberal Kirsty Duncan to hear expert opinion on climate science. Chong, 41, speaks for many younger conservatives when he says: "I think the environment is one of the greatest challenges of my generation."

There have even been rumblings in the mostly docile, Conservative-controlled Senate. Senators Nancy Ruth and Hugh Segal, a Red Tory stalwart, have both strongly objected to the government's crackdown on environmental charities.

Credible criticism of other aspects of the omnibus bill — notably the weakening of the fisheries act — has come from Tom Siddon and John Fraser, Mulroney-era cabinet ministers. Siddon, now 70, lambasted the government for undoing decades of environmental progress, returning Canada to the status of "hewers of wood," and for ramming changes through Parliament. "This is unbecoming of the Conservative party I belonged to," he said.

To some, this will sound like the grumbling of old warhorses, but, elsewhere, Progressive Conservatives are enjoying a moment. Former Alberta premier Peter Lougheed, now 83, was feted in Calgary this week. Lougheed — who serves as a role model, and influential cheerleader, for Redford — reminded his audience, pointedly, that he always put Canada first.

Harper wasn't feeling much love from Atlantic Canadian conservatives this week, either. New Brunswick's David Alward and Kathy Dunderdale, of Newfoundland and Labrador, questioned federal EI reforms that, they argue, fundamentally misunderstand and devalue the Atlantic Canadian economy.

Premiers will always put regional loyalties before party, but there is little evidence of kinship between Harper and Atlantic conservatives. They don't even seem to belong to the same party.

If progressive conservatism has a current hero, it could be former federal environment minister Jim Prentice, a Calgarian now working in Toronto for the CIBC. (He has even been praised by noted BC environmentalist Andrew Weaver.)

Interestingly, Alberta consultant Susan Elliott, who managed Prentice's 2003 leadership campaign for the federal PC party, also ran Redford's recent campaign. And another Mulroney-era veteran, Calgary MP Lee Richardson, is leaving Ottawa, to all-party applause, to work in Redford's office. He cautioned his many friends to "leave the partisan furies at the water's edge." Advice the prime minister might want to heed, as he becomes increasingly isolated.

© Copyright 2012 Susan Riley, All rights Reserved. Written For: StraightGoods.ca