Five Traits Needed To Win The Conservative Leadership

The Conservative Party leadership race is less of a race and more of an ambling shuffle. So far most of the candidates seem very timid and reserved. Hopefully things pick up soon, but there is currently a malaise weighing on the Conservative Party that needs to be lifted. In order to lift it, we need five traits to be injected into the leadership race and into the potential leaders themselves...otherwise we’re looking at a snooze-festival until Justin Trudeau wins a second term.
So, without further ado…
#1. Vision
If you’re running for the leadership, make sure you have a
compelling reason to do so. This means having a vision for what you
want Canada to look like, accomplish and become. What are you going
to focus on as our national leader? Why should people vote for you?
This seems really elementary, but so far it doesn’t seem like
current leadership candidates have bothered constructing a vision.
Maxime Bernier is staking out territory as the libertarian candidate.
The others? Please tell me if you know.
You can’t just show up and be yourself and expect people to get
excited. Even Justin Trudeau required a Gerald Butts army of backroom
boys to provide some Liberal substance to go along with the hair.
Embody and communicate a vision.
#2. Ideas
Promoting conservative ideas is necessary in order to counter the
tide of liberalism. Conservatives need to drive the agenda with ideas
that set the pace. Defensive conservatism is a failure from the
start, because it does nothing but slow down the progressive march.
Maxime Bernier has floated privatizing Canada Post, ending supply
management, and abolishing the CRTC. These are big, bold, attention
grabbing moves. Let’s get more on the table. Ideas need not be in
short supply.
You’ll need to win over card-carrying Conservative members who aren’t
as impressed with a nice set of personality characteristics. Being
vague and beige isn’t a recipe for success. Let’s hear what you
think and what you want to do. If you don’t have ideas to sell,
then why bother trying to climb into a leadership position?
#3. Brand
The CPC brand needs revitalizing. Maintaining the Harper status
quo and just slapping a new face onto the party isn’t going to
work. The CPC needs new direction in the hearts and minds of normal
Canadians.
When Harper won in 2006, the party brand was decency, transparency,
respect, tax cuts, family and security. By the time Harper walked off
stage on Oct 19, 2015, the brand had morphed into one of autocracy,
hostility, stability, competence, tax cuts and complacency.
Much less inspiring.
What will the party brand become now? Youth? Patriotism? Strength?
Empathy? Liberty? Prosperity? Unity? Freedom?
I don’t know, but the leadership candidates should.
Do they?
#4. Engagement
Normal Canadians don’t live and breathe politics the way
political junkies do. Normal people aren’t even mildly interested
in politics outside of election cycles. This is an opportunity for
the CPC to introduce themselves to the public with a new first
impression.
How do you do this?
By presenting ideas and hustling face-to-face. Get relational on a
small scale and aim to get noticed on a large scale. Non-biased media
coverage is hard to attain in Canada, but if you give the media
something interesting, like a new idea, they’ll take the bait and
help provide exposure. Don’t bother cultivating social-media, it’s
myopic and fragmented and dying. Read this article I wrote about
social media last year.
Get normals excited by reaching out to them on their turf. If you
can’t get them excited then at least get them awake. The dividends
will come later.
#5. Guile
Some conservatives are advocating becoming a second Liberal Party
under the guise of modernization. Conservatism needs to be
conservative in order to have traction, but wearing your heart on
your sleeve is a dangerous vulnerability as well. The liberal media
will exploit this vulnerability and use it to destroy you.
Harper had a good balance of knowing how to handle the liberal
cultural context that the CPC finds itself in today. Sometimes you
have to talk the talk, while letting the base understand that you’ll
never walk the walk. Be sophisticated and tactical. Without guile,
you’ll be chewed up and spit out.
Above all other traits, guile is what is needed to thrive and
survive.
The leadership race is boring. If it’s boring now, it’ll be even worse in a general election in three years. Adopt these five traits and add some meat to your campaigns. Otherwise we’ll all be yawning during the concession speech in 2019.