The myth of social conservatism as a political liability.

During the 2006 federal election campaign, the claim was circulated by the Liberal party--and propagated by the news media--that social conservatism was both a political liability for those candidates who embraced it, and a set of principles not in keeping with allegedly mainstream "Canadian values." Thanks to hindsight, however, we can see just how fallacious this assertion has proven to be.

We recall that during the 2004 federal election campaign, Paul Martin attempted to score points by campaigning vigorously on the theme that the Conservative party was heavily populated with social conservatives. He and his strategists evidently believed that Canadians would be repelled by such a state of affairs. But the Canadian electorate did not buy Martin's line of reasoning. Instead, it reduced the Liberal government's standing from a comfortable majority to a minority status.

In this year's election, Martin once again attempted to play the social conservative card to his advantage, while figures such as Henry Morgentaler and other social liberals were trotted out to stage press conferences sounding the alarm over threats a Conservative government would supposedly pose to Canada's social fabric. But the electorate rejected the fear-mongering, this time by awarding the Conservative party a minority government.

This pattern was replicated at the local level numerous times across Canada. Perhaps the most prominent example is that of Conservative MP Cheryl Gallant in the Ontario riding of Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke. Gallant had been, according to Liberal and media cant, a major liability for her party in 2004 because of statements she had made equating the committal of abortions with beheadings in Iraq. Yet, she easily recaptured her riding that year by more than 12,000 votes over her nearest opponent. This year, she increased her margin of victory to over 17,000 votes.

In the West, many social conservatives won in 2006 by enormous figures--sometimes in the tens of thousands of votes. In other parts of the country, a number of Conservative "so-cons" such as Dean Allison won by lesser numbers, but still increased their margins of victory as compared to 2004. A number of new Conservative so-cons were added this year, including David Sweet in Ancaster, ON, Dave Van Kesteren in Chatham, ON, Pierre Lemieux in Glengarry, ON and Dean Del Mastro in Peterborough, ON. In Winnipeg, Conservative Rod Bruinooge managed to defeat Reg Alcock.

Although a number of socially liberal Liberals took a drubbing in the 2006 election, many socially conservative MPs from that party were re-elected, including Paul Szabo, Tom Wappel, Paul Steckle, Dan McTeague and Joe Comuzzi, the latter of whom gave up a cabinet post in order to vote against his party on same-sex "marriage" legislation. The lobby organization Vote Marriage Canada reported that almost 60 per cent of the candidates it endorsed as being in favour of retaining the traditional definition of marriage, were elected.

Factors playing into the surge in support for social conservatives in the 2006 election include what Andrew Grenville, senior vice-president with the Ipsos Reid polling firm, has identified as "conscience, corruption and the church." Writing in the March/April 2006 issue of Faith Today magazine, Grenville asserts that Protestant churchgoers this year banded together with striking unanimity and voted Conservative "with a fervour never seen before," while church-going Catholics in Quebec, in a "shocking" manner, abandoned the Liberal party in droves, thus breaking a century-old tradition of allegiance to that party.

"Committed Catholics clearly have felt pangs of conscience over social transgressions like corruption and moral issues such as same-sex 'marriage,' and have swallowed hard and switched their vote," Grenville commented. He added that the two key factors in the turnaround were disgust with Liberal corruption and concern over moral issues such as same-sex "marriage" and abortion. For the first time in the history of polling, church-going Catholics Canada-wide supported the Conservatives over the Liberals (42-40 percent).

Grenville concludes that it is unknown, at this point, whether this development is just a flash in the pan or the cusp of a profound change in Canadian culture. However, we can say that faithful Canadian Catholics demoralized by decades of social, moral and cultural decay--as well as the passivity of the Church hierarchy in the face of this decline--can take some comfort in the indications that we may finally be turning a corner.

Tony Gosgnach is a freelance media person who is also assistant editor of the Interim newspaper.