Conservative philosophy summed up

Duncan Cameron's latest column doesn't add tons that we don't already know about the Harper government. But one quote from a Con party official perfectly encapsulates the Cons' view of government in general...and it isn't one that Canadians likely want to see in power:

(T)he Conservatives are out recruiting members in Quebec. The party already has doubled its membership, from about 10, 000 to over 20,000. The goal is to add 500 members to each riding association. A party official explained that it was difficult to sell a commercial product without advertising, and a Conservative government was the advertising needed to build the party in Quebec.

While there are plenty of areas of disagreement between the NDP, the Libs and the other national parties fighting for seats, there can't be too much doubt that all of them operate to at least some extent from a view that government is capable of being a force for good within society generally, not just a means to achieve greater glory and power for a given political party. (And much of the current dissatifaction with the Libs can be seen to arise out of precisely their drift from that core assumption.)

But for the Cons, the party official's quote says it all. Government ultimately means nothing more than access to a PR machine, to be used to market the Conservative Party above all else regardless of what's best for Canadians generally.

Of course, it's not hard to extrapolate from the Cons' impression of a minority government to see how a future majority would be wielded to benefit the party at the expense of all else. The task now for the opposition parties is to ensure that Canadians recognize that such a product isn't one they want to be buying when the next election rolls around.