A chance for introspection

As dispiriting as it was for Liberals, one of the more encouraging results of this election is the opportunity it affords to rebuild the Liberal Party -- as the modern, progressive party it imagines itself to be, rather than the reactionary rump it has become. The days of effortless Liberal hegemony are over, but the Liberal Party itself can still dream of better days.

But it cannot only dream: it has to come to grips with what just happened. The extraordinary Two Minute Hate of the campaign’s final days, a barrage of fearmongering aimed especially at urban and female voters, may have saved the party from a complete debacle, but it cannot be the basis of its regeneration. We are in a different era, now, with a whole different set of rules.

The first thing the party must understand is that this is a different Tory party than they have ever faced before: more disciplined, more self-confident, more united. This is not 1962, and it is not 1979. Stephen Harper is neither as erratic as John Diefenbaker, nor as feckless as Joe Clark. Nor is his coalition as unstable as was Brian Mulroney’s: there is no unexploded Lucien Bouchard in Mr. Harper’s caucus. So they cannot count on Mr. Harper to deliver them back into power. That was supposed to happen this time.

Second, they are also facing a different NDP. Jack Layton’s ambition is not to be the Liberals’ helpful little brother, but to replace them, as the main alternative to the Tories. The NDP and the Tories have a mutual interest in cooperation, each reaching across the centre to establish its pragmatic, moderate credentials. It will be hard for the Grits to reclaim this crowded turf.

Third, there can be no future for the party if it does not embark on a major overture to the West. Liberals have sustained themselves in power in recent years on an increasingly narrow base: first Ontario and Quebec, then just Ontario. Meantime, the country’s centre of gravity has been shifting ever westward, along with the population, the money and the power. Paul Martin talked about rebuilding the party in the West. The next leader has to do it.

Fourth, the party obviously has some significant repair work to do in Quebec. This isn’t, as often supposed, just a legacy of the sponsorship scandal. On the whole national unity file, traditionally the party’s strong suit, its message has become muddled. It was hard for Mr. Martin to talk of a strong federal government, having on repeated occasions rolled for whichever premier crooked a finger at him. It was ludicrous for him to pose as the champion of federalism in Quebec, having installed Jean Lapierre as his lieutenant.

A spell in opposition, then, offers the party an opportunity: to reflect upon the lessons of the recent past, to adjust to a very different future, to reclaim its ideological inheritance as the party of Pearson and Trudeau even as it is remaking itself for an era of two- and three-party politics. And the time to do it is in the coming leadership race. The party establishment is clearly aiming for a coronation, hoping to install Frank McKenna as the heir presumptive before the party’s differences break out into the open. That would be a huge mistake.

In the weeks and months to come, the party needs to debate, openly and honestly, just what it stands for, indeed what it is. If it is to erase the ethical stain on its name, it will need to forcefully renounce the patronage-and-pork traditions of its past. It will have to remake itself as the cleaner-than-clean party, even outflanking the Tories on issues of ethics and accountability. At the same time, it will need to rediscover its historic role as the party of national unity, not only in Quebec but more generally, defending a national vision against the parochial demands of the provinces.

It will need to recommit itself to the Charter of Rights, as the embodiment of our highest ideals of citizenship, not just a prop for winning elections. Mr. Martin may have intended it only as a campaign stunt, but his sudden call to abolish the notwithstanding clause may yet serve as the launching point for an important national debate. As the party of abolition, the Liberals could clearly differentiate themselves in the marketplace of ideas, not only from the Tories but also the NDP and the Bloc.

Last point. The Liberal Party that won back-to-back-to-back majorities under Jean Chretien was a party that combined Trudeau Liberalism with fiscal conservatism. Mr. Martin, bafflingly, threw away his own legacy as finance minister on assuming the leadership: in the last year alone, spending jumped 15%. On this, as on so much else, his successor will have to pick up the pieces.