Now that CPAC is over in the US I thought I’d turn my attention to the Preston Manning Centre yearly Network Conference & Exhibition. (March12-14th Ottawa)
Frank Schubert, Campaign Manager for “Yes Proposition 8″ in California is leading a workshop as is Stephen Taylor of the Blogging Tories. Scott Reid, Bernard Lord, Pierre Poilievre, Hugh Segal, Deb Grey, various journalists and think tankers will lead workshops with topics such as Regional Dimensions of Canadian Conservatism, Next Generation, Conservative Intellectual Capital: New conservative ideas, Moving Forward: Building a conservative movement.
Focus on the Family Institute of Marriage and Family Canada Annual Family Policy Conference 2009 on March 12th will join in for the conference kick off reception. Prior post on this Institutes fellow Glenn T. Stanton’s misleading publication and rebuke from The American Anthropological Association. My query to the Institute regarding Mr. Stanton was not answered or acknowledged.
Not much noise on blogs, the cost of this conference may be too prohibitive for most bloggers who would find some of the topics interesting.
It might be that your small-c conservatives are too interested in being Conservatives at this point and might be distancing themselves from their small-c side. Such conferences play up the old Reform side of the Conservatives (if I recall correctly, you want to retire the Tory label with the old Joe Clark style PCs), as the Manning Center invokes the founding father of the Reform Party.
Unlike CPAC, which had plenty of Republican big wigs showing up, this conference has no active MPs. The one name I did recognize on your short list (I had it down as “snort list” at first; that might work better, actually) was Deb Gray, and she’s now an ex-MP.
Could this be the governing Conservatives and their fans quietly backing away from the “crazy aunt in the attic”, lest the media and the Grits give them both barrels over their Reform roots.
The Cry (the Cdn cousin of Lou Engle’s The Call) held a rally on the east coast (St. John’s) in a Catholic basilica a few weeks ago and broadcast on GodTV and I didn’t see any media coverage – big C social conservatism under religious language doesn’t draw much attention here, and if it’s covered it’s puff pieces in Canadian Christianity. 4MyCanada is one of the Manning Conference exhibitors.
http://www.manningcentre.ca/en/conf
Manning’s get together is Reform and always has been, I think most voters realize progressive conservatives are gone.
There are 2 MLA’s, (Yukon & Nova Scotia) a senator, former NB Premier Bernard Lord and a couple of Conservative Party MP’s are doing breakout sessions; Pierre Poilievre,(Nepean—Carleton) Scott Reid (Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox & Addington).
I’m not sure it’s the crazy aunt in the attic scenario, it’s more an east-west thing, the economy, Afghanistan and an election the end of the year. Parliament hasn’t done much of anything since May and if these guys want to be re-elected they are smart enough to keep their heads down and look like they are working.
Pingback: Turning over rock- centralizing post on the Canadian religious right at Bene Diction Blogs On