Serving Canada’s Purpose

In a world beset by crisis, it's now more important than ever for conservatives to establish a principled, 21st-century vision of Canada.

When we look at the current state of the world economy, and our own political and economic situation here in Canada, it’s easy to get caught up with crises. After all, election threats are commonplace, and who knows which economic forecasts to trust these days.

In this context, conservatives should ask themselves: what is our principled, 21st-century vision of Canada’s future that can unite us and provide inspirational guidance to the country in the days that lie ahead?

We live in a unique time in history – a time of weak social capital, institutionalized individualism, and globalization. And now add to this combination a substantial economic downturn, and the subsequent public anxiety and fear.

Conservatives need to propose a track through these troubled times that is rooted first in the inherent dignity of every human being.

Justice is not simply a question of equitable distribution of wealth. We should instead start with the understanding that all human beings have certain rights. These rights are the core of our liberal democratic ideal; all people have an inherent and inalienable right to life, liberty, and property. They are inherent and inalienable because they are rooted in an underlying moral law, written into our conscience. For this reason, all human life is worthy of respect.

We should also acknowledge that we cannot legislate or regulate heaven on earth into being. Grand, well-intentioned schemes must be confronted with the harsh reality of the world as it actually exists, and we must pursue changes with this reality in mind. The condition of our society is a product of human action but is not a product of human design, so the state can’t simply create a just society. We have to find a way to be just people.

Conservative opposition to massive government intervention corresponds to a shared belief in the common decency of our compatriots and the universal human capacity for social justice. And so, as conservatives we dispute the assumption that the state alone represents our collective will; that serving the public interest requires a commitment to serving the interests of the state; and we challenge the growing assumption that the state should be the sole provider of social goods and benefits.

There is a school of thought that in the good times people want to be left alone but in times of economic downturn people want the safety of collective action. Conservatives have no choice, so the argument goes, but to pursue state intervention, hope to minimize any downside, and peel it back when things improve.

But there is another approach. We could instead find collective security through social institutions. Instead of asking: What is the government going to do for me? We should ask: What am I going to do for my neighbour?

This requires us as conservatives to replenish and maximize the space for the “little platoons” of society for three reasons. First, it is our responsibility to our neighbours. Simply paying our taxes is not fulfilling our obligations to one another; we should be a people who volunteer, vote, donate to charity, and are otherwise civically engaged.

Second, by not fulfilling our obligations to one another, we invite the state in. It should come as no surprise that the state provides for social needs when they go ignored elsewhere. The problem is exacerbated because state intervention crowds out private initiative. To the maximum extent possible we should prefer social institutions as providers of social goods.

Finally, as prominent Harvard scholar Robert Putnam argues in his research, strong social institutions and civically engaged communities are a precondition for improving socioeconomic conditions, not a side-effect. Researchers looking at education, poverty, unemployment, criminality, drug abuse, and health have discovered better outcomes in civically engaged communities.

The left is for the state. The left believes that the state represents our collective will, and is the provider of social goods.

We conservatives are for society. We believe that we have a responsibility to one another that cannot be replaced by government programs, that we are capable of common decency without instruction from government authority, and that strong social institutions are the best providers of social goods.

If conservatives are committed to human dignity and justice, we will find compassionate, empathetic, principled ways to maximize and replenish the role of social institutions in Canada.

Adapted from a speech delivered on March 14, 2009 at the Manning Networking Conference & Exhibition.