Robin Skies: Conservative purity testing is a race to the bottom

A man is silhouetted walking past a Conservative party logo at a 2018 convention in Halifax. " Photo by Darren Calabrese

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In Canada, the conservative movement is mired in a crippling problem: the destructive, on-again, off-again habit of purity testing, whether ideological or otherwise.

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The phenomenon is hardly new in politics. There have always been people who see politics as a vehicle for asserting tribal status rather than pursuing civic service. That impulse is now beginning to animate parts of the Conservative Party’s base to a damaging degree.

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“Secret Liberal” is a term thrown around more often than I care to count, used as an insult against those who are not part of this or that club within the party and the broader movement. Whatever the club, its members insist that they are the only true, ideologically pure Conservatives and the only arbiters of the change needed to get Canada back on track toward a better future.

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These same supposedly ideologically pure Conservatives justify their civil wars against internal rivals by cooking up grand conspiracies that are somehow always aimed at them in their beleaguered struggle.

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If any of this sounds familiar, it is probably because this resembles the ideologically captured language that has historically animated leftist revolutionary movements since Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published The Communist Manifesto.

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Normally, this would not be concerning, as all political movements struggle at times to overcome their most self-immolating instincts. Unfortunately for the Conservative Party of Canada, federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has decided to dabble in the world of purity testing himself.

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During an appearance at the Calgary Stampede, Poilievre congratulated his friend and former colleague Kerry-Lynne Findlay, saying she was “fresh off a big win against Liberal lobbyists from out east.”

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This, of course, is a reference to her narrow victory over Caroline Elliott in the recent B.C. Conservative Party leadership race.

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In part, Poilievre was likely referring to Caroline Elliott’s campaign manager, Kory Teneycke, a political rival who has criticized him. Herein lies the problem: by purity testing his political rivals, Poilievre made the Conservative tent a little smaller.

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He did so not only by casting suspicion on a senior Ontario Progressive Conservative campaign operative, but also by attacking, whether intentionally or not, Caroline Elliott and her supporters, including several of his own former staff members.

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Among Poilievre’s former staff involved with Elliott’s campaign were Katy Merrifield, who had served as his director of communications, and Anthony Koch, who was his national campaign spokesperson during the 2022 leadership race. Elliott’s team also included Jeff Ballingall, the founder of Canada Proud.