Ah ... Maxime Bernier: the name brings to mind tales of chesty girlfriends and biker gangs, and even in an age of busty hookers and cocaine it manages to hold scandal currency.
But still, I admit to having a certain appreciation for the former Minister of Foreign Affairs and current Conservative MP for Beauce, Quebec. Right now, Bernier seems to be about the only conservative politician in this country who isn't toeing the Tory(TM) line.
Whether it's espousing the values of fiscal conservatism, raising doubts about global warming, or taking a stab at Quebec (our favourite province), the man seems well on his way to being branded a maverick, and in an age of mavericks to boot.
After all, let's not forget the most famous political maverick of the last few years: John McCain. I think most of us remember the rather repetitive way with which the title of maverick was conferred upon him during the last American election.
But, where McCain was a maverick in the sense that he was a borderline RINO (Republican in Name Only) and a conservative squish, Maxime Bernier is turning into a maverick that conservatives can actually be proud of. He's challenging the status quo (or so he'd have us believe) by standing true to conservative values and he might well be ruffling a few feathers in the PMO in the process.
However, maverick-ism aside, I think Maxime Bernier serves as a grim reminder of where Canadian politics have gone in the past few years.
Ever think we’d see the day when Jim Flaherty and Stephen Harper and Co. denounce the Fraser Institute for being too conservative? This is the new era of fiscal restraint, after all, so bust out the stimulus.
In other words, the situation is even more insane than usual. Some people wonder why I don't bother denouncing Canada's opposition parties and tend to go straight for the Tories all the time. This is simply because, with the opposition, I know where they're coming from and how they’re going to approach a problem. And my responses, let's face it, are going to be pretty boilerplate. I simply cannot agree with much of what the opposition parties have to say.
But with the Conservatives, I face the problem of not knowing where things stand. They're a conservative party, so by all rights they should be doing conservative things ... only they aren't. So what's a conservative to do? My attack dog instincts are being turned inwards. I find myself in the peculiar position of having to criticize the opposition and the Tories while all the time still maintaining my support for the latter. It's all rather schizophrenic.
Enter Maxime Bernier. The man is not a conservative god. He is not the next great libertarian wordsmith or orator. He expresses what is, in many ways, basic conservative thinking: less government spending and a re-examination of sovereignty issues. And yet the man is heralded as a maverick fighting the Conservative machine—perhaps even aiming for Stephen Harper's job. His words are seen as an electoral ploy by analysts or an undermining of Tory efforts by the party faithful.
In short, everybody ascribes cynical motives to his efforts. I think this shows where Canadian politics has gone. Whereas one day long ago, an MP might have actually been able to express something beyond the national party strategy, these days when an MP goes off-script they’re seen as dangerous or cynical.
After all, why would someone like Maxime Bernier go off-message? Surely he can't actually believe what he's saying? Instead of examining the institutional problems which have led to the tightly-controlled state of our political messaging, it's far easier to assume that he's just aiming for the Prime Minister's spot.
Of course, it's entirely possible that Maxime Bernier is aiming for the Prime Minister's position. Given that he's stayed away from cabinet and distanced himself from the PMO, maybe he’s buttering up the base for a take-over. If he is, I wish him well: he certainly couldn't be any less of a conservative leader than Harper these days.
But until Maxime announces his intentions to start the next great Conservative revolt, maybe we could take what he's saying at face value? It's hard to with politicians, I know, but perhaps if we treat them like human beings with real thoughts and at least a degree of sincerity, they'll actually start to act that way.
It couldn't hurt to try, could it?
Any comments, hate mail, or love notes? Feel free to drop me a line or four at dresdenmorrow@gmail.com or give me grief on Twitter @wmorrow1.
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/10706961@N04/2207755917/
