Andrew Coyne on MMP

The National Post's Andrew Coyne had a really good article on Ontario's Mixed-Member-Proportional referendum today... and it's actually making me think twice about my opposition to MMP. It's called, "Why conservatives should support proportional representation", and I STRONGLY recommend that you give it a read... it's a good series of thoughts on why conservatives should consider supporting MMP.

All along, my main stated opposition has been this... I don't trust Liberals. My view is that MMP will allow them to become a defacto-governing party in Ontario, because they'll typically have enough support to always be the party to broker a deal with, and that it would cause this province to turn further to the left... which would be horrific economically.

However, there's another underlying reason I've not been supporting MMP that I never fully realized until now... I've not wanted to support MMP because, in reality, I mistrust conservatives even more than I mistrust liberals.

"Huh?" you might be saying... let me explain.

With all the reading I've been doing over the last couple of years, from the host of books on Trudeau and the Liberals, to the biographies on Stephen Harper, and various other works on conservatism in general, one underlying truth has come to the forefront over and over again... conservatives for the last, oh, hundred years, have had a tendency to shoot our wounded, or to scream and shout and take our ball and go home when we don't get our way. We've been divisive, fractured, and too easily annoyed when things seem to be going south. Instead of shutting up and putting in the necessary hard work to make things right when we see them going wrong, we all to often go and do something that only hurts the cause of conservatism at large.

I've been opposed to MMP because I know for a fact that the current incarnation of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party will fall apart, and be fractured into one main and two or three (or four or five) smaller parties. Meanwhile, I know the Liberals will do everything they can to hold together, and while they may lose some of their left flank to the NDP, they'll likely be able to hold enough together to make them the natural governing party who will most likely be able to form a coalition, keeping them in the Premier's office perpetually, at least for the first few elections. Therefore, because of the typically divise nature of the conservative movement in general, and my concern that we would be plunged into a defacto Liberal rule that would ruin this province, I've been reluctant to support MMP.

However, reading Andrew Coyne's article today has made me rethink things a little bit. With all my issues over John Tory's faith-based school funding, to the reasons why I won't likely take out a PC membership (because I'm not "Progressive"), I think I've come to a new conclusion about the current state of affairs, and as a result, about MMP... if MMP will cause a split-up of the current PC party, and a realignment of conservative options in Ontario... THEN BRING IT ON.

Any such split up would likely result in a truly "conservative" option here in Ontario. A party that will reduce taxes; who will keep its nose out of moral issues; who will actually deal with crime by punishing offenders and restoring respect for the rule of law and the legal system; who will take the steps required to stabilize our healthcare system and deal with the issues surrounding wait times and the overbloated bureaucracy within it; and who will finally push forward the conservative ideals that the best form of support for the poor is a steady, good paying job, and not another government program or cheque.

If MMP can get us on the way to that, then you know what? Even though there will be a few years of pain while the conservative movement gets their act together, then maybe, just maybe, it will be all worthwhile. (besides... if you really think about it, since we're already two or three different groups within the PC Party, maybe we'll be able to respond faster than the left and put together a working coalition in shorter order than my initial predictions)

Thanks for your thoughts Andrew Coyne... I'm still not set yet, but I'll be making my decision over the next few days... stay tuned.