Libertarians vs. big government Tories at Canada Strong and Free Network conference
Article content
In Ottawa at 9 a.m. Thursday Canada’s Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre, is scheduled to deliver a keynote speech at the annual conference of the Canada Strong and Free Network (CSFN). More than 1,000 conservatives are expected to spend the following three days exploring the ideological landscape in search of coherent alternatives to the Liberal/NDP swampland. The conference has the potential to enhance the Conservative party’s policy agenda. It won’t, however, be easy to bring consensus at an event stacked with clashing perspectives, hot topics and controversial figures.
Advertisement 2
Article content
The CSFN network is the successor to the Manning Centre, an organization founded in 2005 by former Reform Party leader Preston Manning. Perhaps unfortunately, Poilievre has been asked to address the audience early on the first full day of the four-day event — and after the audience has heard from two international political figures. The opening session Wednesday night features Tony Abbott, former Liberal prime minister of Australia, and Boris Johnson, former Conservative prime minister of the United Kingdom, moderated by John O’Sullivan, known to many Canadians for his role launching the editorial pages of the National Post.
Article content
Abbott and Johnson have been on opposite platforms on climate change, an issue that also divides Canadian conservatives. Johnson set up the U.K. green energy regime in a surprise burst of climate policy action in 2021 while Abbott has in the past dismissed climate change activism as “a cult.” On foreign affairs, the two share anti-Putin and pro-Israel perspectives. Where do they stand on social media and immigration and other issues?
Article content
Advertisement 3
Article content
The Abbott-Johnson Wednesday night event will leave Poilievre with the task of picking up the pieces early Thursday — before the conference’s roster of more than 60 highly-opinionated and trouble-making panellists and speakers launch into public debates over a long list of the most high-profile issues facing Canadians. This is also not an audience that will be swayed by easy axe-the-tax slogans. Maybe it would have been better if Poilievre had been asked to deliver a post-conference keynote to summarize some of his policy preferences following the debates.
Under the leadership of Michael Binnion, the CSFN appears to be aiming to tackle a broader range of issues than the Manning Centre it replaces. More than two dozen sessions will discuss topics including foreign policy, immigration, parental rights, social media, First Nations, Net Zero, urban issues, AI, and climate policy.
Energy policy, however, is certainly at the top of the agenda. Binnion is the president and founding shareholder of Questerre Energy, a public oil and shale gas production company operating in Quebec and internationally. As a kind of corporate activist, Binnion has in the past highlighted the views of international climate policy critics such as Bjorn Lomborg and Alex Epstein.
Advertisement 4
Article content
The first session following Poilievre’s keynote address is “Regulating the Internet: The Power, Potential, and Peril of Social Media,” a panel featuring Montreal YouTube activist David Freiheit and University of Ottawa Professor Michael Geist, a leading critic of Liberal tech policies. A few sessions later, New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs, an opponent of carbon taxes and supporter of LNG exports, delivers a keynote. Then comes a panel discussion on carbon tech versus taxes with Binnion and others along with Dan McTeague as moderator.
One certain highlight, which would contrast with Boris Johnson’s climate policy framework, is a panel titled “Europe’s Net Zero Rebellion and the coming North American reckoning.” The panel includes Benny Peiser, director of the London-based Global Warming Policy Foundation, one of the world’s leading critical voices against extreme climate and carbon control. Where does Poilievre stand on the global (and national) plans for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050?
On Friday, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith delivers a keynote, followed a bit later by a panel on the benefits of First Nation participation in energy development projects. Panellists include Stephen Buffalo, CEO of the Indian Resource Council of Canada and a fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. In Buffalo’s words, the Indian Act is a form of “soft communism” and the ”energy industry is so critical for our people, despite what people might think and some of the narratives you’re hearing from environmental groups.”
Advertisement 5
Article content
Foreign policy panels include sessions on the threat of Iran and Qatar, Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine, and the foreign interference issue with Australia’s Tony Abbott and Canadian Tory MP Michael Chong.
For free marketers and libertarians, however, the conference is unlikely to stir enthusiasm. The final major event is an appearance by Sohrab Ahmari, author of Tyranny, Inc.: How Private Power Crushed American Liberty — and What to Do About It. The main purpose of Tyranny, Inc. is to tear down the neo-liberal market theories of Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman and replace them with “post-liberal” government intervention. Ahmari claims government “failure to subject the market to sufficient political control and democratic give and take has imperilled the livelihoods of millions of ordinary Americans while damaging our economy and the common good.” A review in Reason magazine summarized Ahmari’s ideas for state planners: “restrict international trade, encourage unionization, exert veto power over the financial sector, mandate higher minimum wages, spend far more on large-scale public works projects, and so on.”
Recommended from Editorial
-
After the carbon tax, axe Ottawa’s tree plan
-
Immigration is all about freedom
-
Galbraith’s industrial state makes a comeback
Ahmari will end the formal policy sessions at the conference, but will his views form the ideological resting place of the CSFN and Canadian conservatism?
Financial Post
Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don’t miss the business news you need to know — add financialpost.com to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here.
Article content
Source link