General George S. Patton once said that, “a good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.� In the past I have opposed the concept of unity between the Progressive Conservatives and the Canadian Alliance on the grounds that such a move would compromise the principles of the Alliance and return us in this country to an era where voters were left with a choice simply between two mildly different branches of the left. Tories and Reformers, I said, were too ideologically diverse to ever unite under a single roof. How could Orchardites ever join hands with the supporters of Stockwell Day? If anything, bringing the Tory party closer to the Alliance could drive disaffected PC voters to the Liberals- especially to the ‘conservative’ Martin Liberals. But, despite all of my former reservations, I’m going to support this merger.

Why the conversion? In short: I think this might be our last chance to save this country and that, just maybe, it might work this time. It’s an odd feeling- I woke up this morning a committed Reformer, a paid-up member of the Canadian Alliance and I’m going to bed feeling less a member of the Alliance and more a member of something that doesn’t yet exist: the Conservative Party. It’s a proud heritage, one which was mostly lost in this country many years ago. When I hear the name ‘Conservative Party’ my mind drifts to Britian, and the glory of heroes such as Churchill and Thatcher. In fact, I’m going to bed as a Conservative in fact: I just bought a Progressive Conservative membership a few hours ago. As a PC’er, I intend to do exactly one thing: vote to dissolve the party. This is a step which I recommend to all real conservatives. In order for this to work two-thirds of Tories will have to vote to dissolve the old party. This will be difficult to achieve unless someone counters the entryist tactics of David Orchard’s followers.

It’s important that we fight now because, if we don’t, I think that we might lose everything. If the next election was to go as originally expected, with the Liberals crushing all except a rump Alliance caucus from the West, it would seem that no alternative government could be formed until another election after that (or, in other words, something like the year 2014). After all, it’s rather unlikely that an Alliance Opposition of as few as thirty or forty members could make the leap into Government in a single election. More likely, a crushing Liberal victory next year will turn Canada into an effective one-party state. Like Japan, where the Liberal Democrats have ruled for nearly five decades without interruption, Canada would become a democratic dictatorship.

What would we look like after another decade of Liberal rule? It is a frightful prospect. We will be poorer than we are. We’ll be less productive when we are today. We’ll be less free. We’ll be even weaker militarily. Only the Lord knows what our social situation will be like. Truly, it is now or never for us.

Desperation is a wonderful motivator. Over the years the Canadian right has been its own worst enemy. We, Reforms and Tories, have been divorced because we hate eachother so. But, perhaps, we might just hate the Liberals more. The short timescale proposed gives us little time to fight amongst ourselves. More than that, out of the battle of the last few years, the broad shape of a joint agenda has emerged. We can restore our prestige. We can cut out the corruption and waste which now seems endemic in our government. We can fight back against many of the Liberals’ worst social policies: gay marriage in particular.

One more factor augers in our favor: the surprising resurrection of the New Democratic Party. The aggressive and strong campaign likely to be run by Jack Layton’s NDP will again force the Liberals to move to the left- especially on social issues. This will offer the new Conservative Party room to stake out a position further to the right than might otherwise have been feasible.

In fact, contrary to what some have suggested, I think it’s just barely possible that the new Conservative Party could form a government after the next election. Likely? No. Possible? Yes. It is, I think, even a possibility that the Liberals could suffer the sort of serious trashing that they deserve.

The expectations set for Paul Martin are too high for any man to meet, let alone Paul Martin. If the things that have been said about Paul Martin during his campaign to become Liberal Leader (which has now lasted something like a decade and a half) the man can walk on water, conjure money from thin air, and heal the sick with his touch. If, as now seems likely, the Canadian economy is hurt in the coming months by the rise in the dollar it is possible that Martin might even become John Turner the Second- the Liberal Finance Minister beloved by Bay Street who is eviscerated the moment the voters get the opportunity.

If we are going to do this, we must be prepared to fight for it. This will have a high cost for me personally: I have been editing a draft of a book on Canadian politics I wrote which, of course, will now require extensive revision which will not, fundamentally, be possible for several months. But so be it. Those of us who, for lack of time or out of a general sense of disgust, having been sitting on the sidelines must now get back into the game. I plan to spend the next few days convincing everyone I know to buy Alliance and Tory memberships. Once the leadership contenders begin to emerge, I intend to rapidly sign on with one.

This will not be easy. It will not be easy to come together, nor will it be easy to fight the Liberals together. We disagree upon many things. All we can do is to hope that those things that keep us together are stronger than those which keep us apart. No one is going to get everything that they want out of this deal, but hopefully we shall all get something. If former Reformers attempt to take undue advantage of this situation the Tories will walk. If the PC’ers try to mess with us, be assured, we will walk. It is even possible that all of this could dissolve in chaos and create an even worse mess than we are now it. However, the risk of failure is no cause to neglect the possibility of success. All we can do is pray that all across our wide land the chorus of sanity and reason will rise and swell when touched, as inevitably they will be, by the better angels of our nature.