A modern Conservatism for a modern Canada - An MLI collection of essays

That is why I saw the Conservative leadership campaign now underway as a perfect moment to reflect on the public policy ideas that we have at MLI that might help shape the thinking of both the candidates for the Tory leadership as well as of actual and potential members of the Conservative Party. [...] 12 A MODERN CONSERVATISM FOR A MODERN CANADA It is on the Tories that we have a government that has allowed virtually all the symbols of Canadian sovereignty and nationhood to be denigrated, dispar- aged and neglected: the flag, Parliament, Canada Day, the military, the RCMP, the border, our alliances with other democracies in defence of our most im- portant values. [...] The political payoff has been tremendous, as the Tories articulate and act on smart ideas about how to use the power of markets and the state to improve the lot of the least well-off. [...] If they succumb to this temptation, the law stops being a neutral instrument that protects everyone’s right to engage in lawful activities, that commands every- one’s obedience precisely because everyone is under the law, the rich, the powerful, the poor, the meek, the virtuous and the vicious. [...] It is a measure of the corruption of the understanding of the rule of law in today’s Canada that almost no one in the political parties seems capable of articulating that there is no contradiction between supporting demonstrators’ demands and requiring that they respect the law.