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It's hard to imagine the leaders of Canada's two largest federal parties having much in common, but there is a matter on which they share a bond. In his own way, each faces the vexing challenge of winning the trust of a region of the country that has written him – or his party – off.
For Harper, the challenge is the still-wary Ontario, which has never quite gotten over the fear that the Conservative leader will drop his moderate tone and pull out the hard-right agenda the minute he wins a full mandate. For Ignatieff, it is the ever-suspicious prairie provinces, and even B.C., which turned its back on the Stephane Dion Grits in the last federal election.
Harper's determination to overcome this challenge has led to years of compromises and a softening of his Reform Party principles so much that he has taxed the loyalty of his western supporters. Yet, even shedding his necktie and playing shinny at 24 Sussex with Rick Mercer hasn't overcome his image as a stiff and cold economics prof, who thinks a recession represents “buying opportunities”.
But Harper's ongoing frustrations do not mean a free pass for the new darling of the Natural Governing Party, either. Ignatieff has inherited a party very much back on its heels and scrambling to regroup after a series of recent fiascos.
Most damaging has been the bumbling campaign of his predecessor, who committed what amounted to political suicide during the last election campaign by refusing to acknowledge that the crashing economy was foremost in voters' minds. Then, when Dion appeared ready to make deals with the “devil” (the Bloc) and its allies on the left (the NDP), many westerners concluded the Liberals were prepared to park all ethical standards in a naked quest to regain power.
Ignatieff knows what he needs to do. This past week, he made his first of what will need to be many odysseys to the prairies, visiting Saskatchewan. With appropriate contrition, he held out the olive branch:
“Sometimes we've fallen prey to the temptation to run against the West, you know, to run against Alberta, to run against the Saskatchewan energy sector. This is not the way to go,” he told about 400 sympathizers at a gathering in Saskatoon.
It's not enough, however, to declare you are not an enemy of the West. Ignatieff must somehow one-up the Conservatives on their home ice. Convincing Alberta to turn its back on home boy Harper is, to say the least, a tall order. If the Grits hope to position themselves as better advocates for western priorities, then they will need to do a lot less talking and a lot more listening.
Paul Martin tried to do just that during his run for the leadership of the Liberals in 2003. No promise seemed too grand for the Montrealer, who among other things committed himself to opening a western Prime Minister's Office in Calgary once he got into power. Like so many of his commitments, however, this amazing commitment disappeared as quickly as it was created, leaving westerners naïve to believe him in the first place feeling burned and betrayed.
All new leaders inherit baggage, of course, but any act that reinforces the notion that the Liberals don't care about the West is especially damaging for the Grits, who trace their troubles back to Pierre Trudeau in the 1970s and early '80s.
Explained one Calgarian: “The Liberal Party of Canada has richly earned its pariah status in western Canada. For over a generation, the Liberals' approach to fix their problem in the west has been to tell westerners that they don't vote Liberal because they are stupid, ungrateful, and parochial.”
Ignatieff knows this has to change, not just to win a majority government, but also to govern with moral authority: “I want to be able to stand up in the House of Commons as the prime minister of Canada and say I represent every province in this country. But I can't do it alone.”
Not surprisingly, Albertans will be the toughest sell of all. Responding to Ignatieff's visit to Saskatoon, one Albertan blogged: “What's good for the West is to dig a wide moat to keep Ignatief and the rest of his Eastern thieves off our money. The only question is, Which side of Saskatchewan do we dig that moat?”
It seems in the trust game, some Albertans are even suspicious of their neighbours to the east.
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