In an earlier incarnation as a federal minister, back when 20th-century Tory Brian Mulroney was still the boss, Bernard Valcourt gave a speech that conjured up a homespun image of federal social programs.
“I am from New Brunswick in Atlantic Canada,” Valcourt told Toronto’s Empire Club in 1993. “When I speak of the social safety net, I think of it as a fishing net. And when you get caught in it, you never get out.”
As a conservative rhetorical device, “Valcourt’s net” was simple and effective. It pointed out the dangers of overusing economic and social supports, in which people do get trapped.
Many other Canadians and all progressives consider the net vital because it prevents fatal injuries when people fall on hard times. The progressives’ challenge is to find ways to get users out of the nets and back into the productive economy.
Valcourt’s 20-year-old image nicely summarizes the small-c conservative view of social programs today. It also says something about Maritimers and their relationship with the Conservatives now running Canada.
An old-school Maritime Tory, Valcourt should be distinctly unfashionable. Yet he has risen within the ranks of the 21st-century Tories under Stephen Harper. While many former Progressive Conservatives have been shunted aside, Valcourt has made it back to the show.
He might even get far enough back to challenge or replace Peter MacKay as the Tory heavyweight in Atlantic Canada.
As far back as 1993, Valcourt was sounding like a future Harper, at that time just another defeated Reform party candidate. In the Empire Club speech, Valcourt pointed to unemployment insurance as one of the factors “perpetuating dependency, and not just among Atlantic Canadians. We see the culture of dependency all across Canada.”
OK, so that’s changed. Nowadays, only Atlantic Canada has dependency syndrome and every-place else is just fine.
At the time of his speech, Valcourt was minister of Employment and Immigration, trying to reform unemployment insurance and meeting resistance. Worse for him, Canadians had grown tired of the Tories. Mulroney stepped down, Kim Campbell became leader and in the election later that year, the party went down in flames. It was never to rise again.
But Valcourt has. Rehabilitated after 20 years, in February he was named minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development. It’s a challenging portfolio, demonstrating Harper’s confidence in an experienced political operator.
And he hasn’t changed. Valcourt recently sparred with a protester in Moncton over EI reforms, of all things. The protester accused the federal government of hurting seasonal workers with changes tightening eligibility and requiring more proof of active job searching.
Angry that the young man wouldn’t see “the reasonableness” of the changes, Valcourt concluded he was an agent-provocateur from the NDP.
“There are certain people who will listen to facts,” he fumed to the CBC. “Others, you know, they say, ‘My mind is made up, don’t disturb me with the facts.’ ”
Interesting. Many Canadians think “don’t disturb me with the facts” is exactly the central operating principle of the Harper government.
But is Valcourt the old-new MacKay? Is change in the wind in the Conservatives’ East Coast power structure?
The best person to answer that is MacKay himself and he says he’s staying. Yet, he has toiled in Parliament for more than 15 turbulent years, serving in two senior ministries and acting as the Atlantic region’s political overseer. He has paid his dues.
And MacKay is no longer the Maritime minister of everything. From 2006 until 2010, MacKay served either as Foreign or Defence minister as well as minister of ACOA and the Atlantic Gateway.
Keith Ashfield of New Brunswick took over ACOA in 2010 and nobody even talks about the Gateway any more. So MacKay’s role has diminished.
He has also married and any day now will become a father. Parenthood changes people.
Will MacKay still relish the political fight? Perhaps not. And while Valcourt wouldn’t be wise to challenge MacKay directly, it could be that time is on his side. A once-dormant star, and a real conservative at that, might again be rising in the east.
Original Article
Source: thechronicleherald.ca
Author: DAN LEGER
“I am from New Brunswick in Atlantic Canada,” Valcourt told Toronto’s Empire Club in 1993. “When I speak of the social safety net, I think of it as a fishing net. And when you get caught in it, you never get out.”
As a conservative rhetorical device, “Valcourt’s net” was simple and effective. It pointed out the dangers of overusing economic and social supports, in which people do get trapped.
Many other Canadians and all progressives consider the net vital because it prevents fatal injuries when people fall on hard times. The progressives’ challenge is to find ways to get users out of the nets and back into the productive economy.
Valcourt’s 20-year-old image nicely summarizes the small-c conservative view of social programs today. It also says something about Maritimers and their relationship with the Conservatives now running Canada.
An old-school Maritime Tory, Valcourt should be distinctly unfashionable. Yet he has risen within the ranks of the 21st-century Tories under Stephen Harper. While many former Progressive Conservatives have been shunted aside, Valcourt has made it back to the show.
He might even get far enough back to challenge or replace Peter MacKay as the Tory heavyweight in Atlantic Canada.
As far back as 1993, Valcourt was sounding like a future Harper, at that time just another defeated Reform party candidate. In the Empire Club speech, Valcourt pointed to unemployment insurance as one of the factors “perpetuating dependency, and not just among Atlantic Canadians. We see the culture of dependency all across Canada.”
OK, so that’s changed. Nowadays, only Atlantic Canada has dependency syndrome and every-place else is just fine.
At the time of his speech, Valcourt was minister of Employment and Immigration, trying to reform unemployment insurance and meeting resistance. Worse for him, Canadians had grown tired of the Tories. Mulroney stepped down, Kim Campbell became leader and in the election later that year, the party went down in flames. It was never to rise again.
But Valcourt has. Rehabilitated after 20 years, in February he was named minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development. It’s a challenging portfolio, demonstrating Harper’s confidence in an experienced political operator.
And he hasn’t changed. Valcourt recently sparred with a protester in Moncton over EI reforms, of all things. The protester accused the federal government of hurting seasonal workers with changes tightening eligibility and requiring more proof of active job searching.
Angry that the young man wouldn’t see “the reasonableness” of the changes, Valcourt concluded he was an agent-provocateur from the NDP.
“There are certain people who will listen to facts,” he fumed to the CBC. “Others, you know, they say, ‘My mind is made up, don’t disturb me with the facts.’ ”
Interesting. Many Canadians think “don’t disturb me with the facts” is exactly the central operating principle of the Harper government.
But is Valcourt the old-new MacKay? Is change in the wind in the Conservatives’ East Coast power structure?
The best person to answer that is MacKay himself and he says he’s staying. Yet, he has toiled in Parliament for more than 15 turbulent years, serving in two senior ministries and acting as the Atlantic region’s political overseer. He has paid his dues.
And MacKay is no longer the Maritime minister of everything. From 2006 until 2010, MacKay served either as Foreign or Defence minister as well as minister of ACOA and the Atlantic Gateway.
Keith Ashfield of New Brunswick took over ACOA in 2010 and nobody even talks about the Gateway any more. So MacKay’s role has diminished.
He has also married and any day now will become a father. Parenthood changes people.
Will MacKay still relish the political fight? Perhaps not. And while Valcourt wouldn’t be wise to challenge MacKay directly, it could be that time is on his side. A once-dormant star, and a real conservative at that, might again be rising in the east.
Original Article
Source: thechronicleherald.ca
Author: DAN LEGER
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