The beginnings, and reasons, for the Reform Party of Canada

Dear Preston Manning ...

In hearing what you had to say on the CBC TV news tonight, during your visit to BC with Christy Clark and the BC Liberals, it seems you have forgotten your populist roots ... the beginnings of the Reform Party of Canada ... and it's reason for coming into existence.

I became a member of the party in 1988, was on the board of the Kamloops constituency association, and worked on several election campaigns for our local candidates. Please take note of the following and see if they seem familiar to you. They are some of the reasons why I joined the party.

Sincerely,

Alan Forseth

From Canada History:

• the National Energy Policy (NEP) had left a deep and bitter taste in many westerns mouths.
• many of the alienated people and groups in Alberta and western Canada began to coalesce around a dynamic speaker
• the main objectives of the party were fiscal responsibility and constitutional reform
• by the time a Federal election was called in 1993 Reform was capitalizing on the collapse of support for the Conservatives in the west and a general dislike of the Liberals which remained from the Trudeau years
• the other conservative issues which they focused in on was fiscal responsibility, balancing the budget and paying down the debt which the Progressive Conservatives had completely failed to address.

From the Canadian Encyclopedia:

• Support waned until rebounding again during the 1993 election. Disillusionment with the traditional political parties in general, and with the Progressive Conservative Party specifically, saw the Reform Party win 52 seats ...
• reducing the size, scope and cost of government

From About.com

• began as a voice of Western Canadian discontent, advocating fiscal responsibility, provincial
• equality and parliamentary reform.

University of Calgary (Political Papers)

• The Reform Party of Canada was born out of a sense of frustration and disillusionment ...

From the Cambridge Journals:

• attention is devoted to its advocacy of direct democracy, new models of representative behaviour and constitutional reform as means of democratizing Canadian politics.

Tonight (Wednesday October 26^th) on the CBC-TV news from Vancouver, with Tony Parsons, a news clip ran in which Preston Manning indicated his support for Christy Clark ... and that he was opposed to what John Cummins and the BC Conservative Party is trying to do.

Preston Manning --- I am GREATLY disappointed in you. The reasons above, that were why the Reform party of Canada came into existence, are the very reasons why there has been a rise in popular support for John Cummins and the BC Conservative Party.

The BC Conservative Party is a grassroots movement of common sense ideas and policies --- first and foremost being the accountability of elected members to the people they represent.

The BC Liberal Party represents everything Preston Manning and the Reform Party of Canada was opposed to because they (BC Liberals) are leaving ... a deep and bitter taste in many westerns mouths ...

The BC Liberals have failed to focus in on ... fiscal responsibility, balancing the budget and paying down the debt ...

The BC Liberals are not ... reducing the size, scope and cost of government...

The rise of popularity in the BC Conservative Party, led by John Cummins, has been ... born out of a sense of frustration and disillusionment ... with the BC Liberals

Christy Clark and the BC Liberal Party is everything the Preston Manning of the 1980's would have opposed – what is different now??

In the program CBC Life and Times, Preston Manning said:
"I do see myself as a political scout. And I use the old western analogy that the scout was the guy who rode ahead of the "main company" and tried to see the dangers that were up ahead or the opportunities that were up ahead. And in a sense I've felt that's been my role politically. And I think our "company" still has a need for scouts. And I'm still very much interested in that scouting function."

There are “dangers up ahead” if we continue to have a government led by the BC Liberals. Those dangers are a lack of accountability to voters --- a lack of responsible fiscal management – a lack of common sense ideas and policies – and a continued disdain and contempt for the thoughts, opinions, and ideas of British Columbian's.

Preston Manning ... the reasons you gave tonight for supporting the BC Liberals – especially the 'not splitting the vote' argument – is a repudiation of what you stood for with the Reform Party of Canada. It is also a rejection of your belief in the commons sense / grassroots ideas of Canadians.

Preston Manning ... I am greatly disappointed in what I heard you say tonight.

I'm Alan Forseth in Kamloops, with the thoughts of one conservative on this round ball we call planet earth.