A key explanation for the recent electoral success of the Conservatives is that they have more dough than their rivals. From 2007 to 2010, they raised $73 million, while the Liberals raised $24 million and the NDP $17.7 million.
Gerry Nicholls, who spent years working side by side with Stephen Harper at the National Citizens Coalition, thinks the party now faces an uphill battle, since they have a majority government.
Nicholls, who is no longer on Harper's Christmas card list, raised money for the NCC for 22 years, writing bushels of letters to wring money out of small-c conservatives across Canada, but especially in the interior of British Columbia, southern Alberta and southwestern Ontario.
To get those donors to reach for their chequebooks, he says the Tories will need a new villain, and says public sector unions "are from central casting."
"My prediction is, if they're serious about doing anything on the deficit, they'll fundraise against public sector unions," he said. "It makes sense from a tactical point of view. 'We want to cut the deficit but the powerful public sector union bosses try to stop us.'
"The Conservative base hates unions. And the rule of thumb for me when I'm fundraising is, don't try to convince somebody of something. Don't try to explain why something's bad. Take advantage of the prejudice that's already there."
In the federal budget this spring, the Conservatives are seeking about $4 billion in cuts, which will likely mean at least 10,000 public servants will get pink slips.
The Conservatives are already trying out lines of attack, taking aim at New Democrats as "union bosses," which works because it's true. Interim leader Nycole Turmel, for example, is a former president of the Public Sector Alliance of Canada.
Nicholls expects the Tories to make the case to donors in fundraising appeals, but he's not sure how well it will work.
"There's got to be donor fatigue," he said. "Since it's a majority government, it's going to be harder for them to whip up fear. Often victory is the worst thing to a political party in terms of fundraising. "
So the Harper majority is an opportunity for the opposition.
"The Liberals and the NDP technically should be in a good position, because we've got a real bad guy out there, who's doing things their members are afraid of."
But Nicholls isn't impressed by their efforts.
"People, when they are thinking rationally, will not give money to a political party," he said. "You have to appeal to their emotions. And the chief emotions to mobilize people are hate and fear. "
A recent fundraising letter to Liberals from Jean Chretien warned of a grim Conservative future.
"The Conservatives have already ended gun control and Kyoto. Next may be a woman's right to choose, or gay marriage. Then might come capital punishment. And one by one, the values we cherish as Canadians will be gone."
Harper has committed not to do anything about abortion, gay marriage or capital punishment, so the pitch is aimed at emotion, not the intellect, but Nicholls isn't sure the letter finds the right vein.
"This is where pollsters earn their money," he said. "What out there is really making them upset about Harper? Once you find that information, once you find what that little nugget is, you can isolate it, figure out how to take advantage of it. It's expensive but you need to do it. The Liberal letter looked like they didn't do any polling at all. Looks like stuff they dredged up from 15 years ago."
Nicholls was also unimpressed by the NDP's year-end fundraising letter, which begins: "At the end of the year, all parties assess what they've accomplished in the last 12 months. For New Democrats, this year — there were many. But I would like to start by talking about what Canadians accomplished."
Too bland and too positive, says Nicholls.
"What they should have done is said something like, 'Thanks to you the NDP had the best year in its history . . . . But much remains to be done.' Then I would have really tore into Prime Minister Harper's demon-like plan to destroy the Canadian values we all share."
To raise money, Nicholls says, you need to make it about us versus them.
"Whenever you can phrase it that way, that us, whoever us is, is threatened by them, whoever them is, then you're getting somewhere. Because then you're appealing to that tribal instinct that we all have, of being wary of outsiders, of people who are not us, who are a threat to us.
"The Tories are very good at this. This is what they've been doing. They've been saying 'We're the real Canada. The elites at the CBC, the intellectuals, whatever, all these people are out to take your guns, out to do all kinds of stuff.' And that's what the Liberals and NDP are going to have to learn to do. They have to take it down a level. They need to hit people in their emotional wheelhouse."
Original Article
Source: Canada.com
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