CalgaryLiberal

Susan Delacourt of the Toronto Star has quoted my blog post.

What is a political party anyway?

Given that there are so many ways for politicians to connect directly with citizens, many wonder why people need the brokerage role of political parties in the modern age. Besides electoral machines, what are they?

Vincent St. Pierre is a history student who writes a blog called CalgaryLiberal.com and who had been set to do an internship in Ottawa until this week’s defeat. St. Pierre may have written one of the most intriguing posts about the Liberals’ future.

In his blog post, St. Pierre argues that centrism is an electoral strategy, not a political philosophy, and that the Liberals should now start listening more closely to the current wisdom of — yes — Preston Manning, founder of the old Reform Party.

Manning uses an iceberg metaphor to describe politics — parties in themselves represent the 10 per cent above the surface, while ideas, movements and activism form the 90 per cent you don’t see.

“I fear the Liberals have become ice cubes — a party for a party’s sake, and an accumulation of people interested in being in a party and implementing a party’s vision,” St. Pierre wrote. “A party without a base of support, that is. Being solely ‘centrist’ will not get the Liberals anywhere. What the Liberals have the do in the next two years is find that coalition, find that group of supporters, and find those factions that have been unclaimed by other groups. Or, grow those groups. Or steal them back, in the case of the federalists in Quebec. The Liberals need to grow from their ice cube and push for a creation of a base of support that rivals the Conservatives and then would ultimately defeat it.”

St. Pierre soberly cautions, however, that this will take years.

And when Liberals are talking “years,” these days, they may be talking about longer than four years — maybe even eight or the 10 years it took to unite the right. That’s not an easy prospect for a party that’s favoured quick fixes of duct tape, string and shiny new leaders. But it may be reality for a Liberal party that has to rediscover the point of its own existence.

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