Chris Selley: Preston Manning’s cachet had faded, but there is no one to replace him – National Post

Preston Mannings retirement as head of the Manning Centre, which will occasion an unlikely rebranding exercise at the Calgary-based think tank-cum-political training school, feels less like the end of an era than the belated acknowledgment of an eras passing. The annual Manning Centre Networking Conferences in Ottawa used to be an electromagnet for conservative leaders, would-be leaders, pundits, strategists, ambitious youngsters and rank-and-file supporters. In recent years, it very noticeably lost its pull.

There used to be big-name keynote speakers. In 2013 those ambitious youngsters went absolutely nuts for Ron Paul, the libertarian ideologue in a land of so very few, and almost as nuts for Nigel Farage, the grinning anti-Europe gadfly. The whole audience did, really, despite delivering messages that had absolutely no relevance (and were in some cases anathema) to Canadian politics. In an age where the constitution is untouchable and a four per-cent disagreement on small-business tax rates counts as a major policy difference, those ambitious youngsters couldnt ever hope to deviate from the mean half as much as Paul or Farage. But they could dream. Manningstock was, in part, a sort of conservative fantasy camp.

The conference used to award significant cash prizes to people with innovative conservative ideas. There were hospitality suites from various conservative think tanks and advocacy groups, with canapes and booze not from the lowest tier on the catering menu. Manning Rocks the Capital was an actual event on the Friday night, and it lived up to its billing. Jamming yourself into a bar full of people you cant hear over the band isnt my idea of a good time, but it was for a lot of ambitious young conservatives. The grownups would drop by after Hys and shake their heads good-naturedly at the bacchanal.

There were policy sessions too, but they were often a bit perfunctory, and they were never the point. The conference was designed as an annual family reunion a place where differences could be set aside, relationships formed and mended, and the conservative movement reinvigorated as a whole.

Its not like that anymore. In 2019 in particular, the event having moved from the Shaw convention centre to the smaller boardrooms and theatres of the adjacent Westin Hotel, Manning did not rock the capital. Manning made the capital a bit sad, if anything. It was a shadow of its former self.

Manningstock was, in part, a sort of conservative fantasy camp

Preston Manning wasnt just about networking. He had ideas, too. And they certainly didnt help sell tickets to his conference. For years he tried to push carbon pricing as a natural conservative approach to climate change, concern for which he packaged as a natural result of conservatives concern for environmental conservation. What little progress he made went straight out the window when carbon pricing became a signature Justin Trudeau policy, and no amount of reason is going to bring it back inside.

At a time when free speech and political correctness have become leading preoccupations within the conservative movement, Manning has continued to preach from his hard-won lessons as leader of the Reform Party. His message, basically, is to muzzle anyone with controversial opinions as best you can, and throw them under the bus if they wont keep quiet. Dont rock the boat, or the media will tip it over. It may well be good advice, but people dont want to go to a conservative conference to be told that their big, controversial or particularly conservative ideas arent welcome.

No doubt, in part, its just generational: Reform ceased to exist nearly 20 years ago. But Manning clearly doesnt command the respect and attention he used to as an elder statesman. And there doesnt seem to be anyone waiting in the wings to replace him someone more associated with the conservative movement and the reformed conservative coalition than the parties that currently represent them. Indeed Manning was never a capital-C conservative; he founded a whole party based on Western disdain for what passed for conservatism on Parliament Hill in the late 1980s. For that reason, he made all the more compelling a figure of unity in a movement, a coalition, that only reformed 16 years ago.

Potential leadership candidates like Erin OToole and Rona Ambrose might play unifying roles within the party in the short term. But after a campaign that left a lot of questions open, not least where and how social conservatives fit into the conservative coalition, Manningstock in its heyday would have provided an excellent chance for everyone to step back from the horserace and discuss these existential questions, in friendly environs, a little more in-depth.

Parties dont need figures like Manning, of course. The Liberals dont have one. But Canadian capital-l Liberalism isnt a movement; its a tool for winning elections. But with its endless boutique tax credits, milquetoast balanced-budget targets, shameless pandering to Quebec nationalists even when they attack individual and religious rights, and just plain dumb ideas like ending clean-needle distribution in prisons, the Conservatives 2019 platform looked a heck of a lot like a tool for winning as well.

It didnt win. It might next time. Whether that left conservatism any further ahead in Canada would have made a good panel topic at some future Manning Networking Conference.

Email: cselley@nationalpost.com | Twitter:

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Chris Selley: Preston Manning's cachet had faded, but there is no one to replace him - National Post