A well known, left-wing Tofino councillor has joined the federal Conservative Party for the first time to vote in the current leadership race.
Coun. Greg Blanchette has been a member of Canada’s NDP and Green parties in the past, but recently joined the Conservatives to combat the rising popularity of polarizing leadership candidates.
“Some of them are saying things that are just ludicrous,” he told the Westerly, singling out Kellie Leitch and Kevin O’Leary as “not people who I want to be running my country.”
“I know, certainly, not every Conservative is like that and, I thought, it’s kind of weird that that is happening. There’s really some kind of social dynamic going on that, I think, needs to be nipped in the bud if we can possibly do it,” he said. “I thought, ‘Maybe I can make a bit of a difference,’…I’m not a real die-hard political guy. I don’t live and breathe this stuff, but I’m willing to put a little bit of effort into advancing a more reasonable political climate.”
He suggested the messaging of several candidates is troubling and he’s worried political discourse is “starting to live in a fantasy world” where “evidence means nothing.”
“They’re doing this dog-whistle politics, where they’ll say outrageous things just to get the Facebook clicks. It doesn’t surprise me because that’s the way our world has begun to operate over the last several years. I think a lot of people are alarmed about that and are pushing back at that,” he said.
“Any progress we’re going to make from this point forward is going to involve dialogue between these two different types of human beings. That dialogue is not happening now, to a large extent, and, in large part, it’s because of the people who are getting into power…I want reasonable people in there, on all ends of the political spectrum, so some kind of reasonable dialogue can start to happen.”
He added dialogue is also becoming unreasonable between everyday Canadians as left and right wingers secure themselves in echo-chambers and disregard any information that doesn’t confirm their own beliefs.
“We’ve gotten into our media silos, our Facebook silos, and we’re just convinced that we’re right and the other side is wrong. That’s not a way forward,” he said.
“I’m making an active effort to hear what, not just the other side, but all the other sides are saying and thinking. Usually there’s good solid reasons behind that. I want to hear what those reasons are and have proper dialogue with those people, and they with me, so that we’re not shooting Facebook posts at each other.”
He noted a condition of his entry into the Conservative Party, along with his $15 membership fee, was agreeing with the party’s principles, which he had no qualms signing off on.
“They’re concerned about running a country to the good of all of the people in it. I found there were a few [ideas] I would quibble with, but that’s the same with any party and, I thought, I could certainly sign up for a membership with this party in good faith,” he said.
“I tend to be on the left end of the spectrum myself, but a lot of things that conservatives say, small c conservatives, make a lot of sense to me; things like fiscal responsibility and you’ve got to have a controlled immigration policy, you can’t just throw the doors wide open.”
The Conservative leadership election is scheduled for May 27. Blanchette said he hasn’t made a final decision on who his vote will go to, but expressed support for candidates Michael Chong and Rick Peterson.
He said he hasn’t yet made up his mind on the party he’ll vote for when the general election comes around in 2019, but suggested he’s been impressed by the West Coast’s current NDP MP.
“We’ve got Gord Johns in there now who’s pretty strong. One of the reasons I like Gord, is that he’s all about dialogue. He’s not just blindly pushing the NDP agenda, he’s out there talking to everybody,” Blanchette said. “He’s willing to have the dialogue and to do the work to make stuff happen.”
Ucluelet local Geoff Lyons, who identifies as a Conservative, spoke against the idea of a non-Conservative joining the party to affect the leadership outcome. Lyons wouldn’t speak to his own preferred leadership candidates, but told the Westerly he believes anyone who joins a party should be committed to that party when the general election rolls around.
“My concerns are that I think it’s unethical and I am the type of person that would not reciprocate the other way around,” he said. “I think it’s something that people should ask their conscience, ‘Am I doing it for the right reason, or am I just trying to sabotage something?’”
He said the fact that Blanchette had read the party’s principles before joining did not soften his moral objection.
“I think a person should stick with the party that they’re supporting and are going to vote for and leave the other guys to their own devices,” he said.