FROM: Adam Teiichi Yoshida
TO: The Rt. Hon. Stephen Harper, PC, MP
SUBJECT: Your Glorious Regime

Well, it didn’t turn out quite as we (you or I, it would seem, expected it). Alas, it would seem that – in the words of Thomas Paine – “tyranny, like Hell, is not easily conquered.” That, Prime Minister, is the bad news.

Now, here’s the good news. Despite the defeatism that has seeped into our ranks – spread largely by dedicated supporters whose late hopes of a majority have been so violently dashed – your achievements are remarkable. In two and a half years, you have done the unthinkable twice. You united the seemingly irreconcilable Reform and Progressive Conservative varieties of the right in Canada. Now you have ended Liberal rule and beaten the undefeatable Paul Martin, driving him from public life in the process. We cannot lose sight of this.
Yet, Prime Minister, despite whatever is said in public, our goals are not achieved by this win. Our goal – rhetoric aside – must not be to “make this Parliament work” but rather to prepare for the next election, which is no more than two years away, and to search after the elusive majority.

We are not as far from a majority as it may seem. We are about thirty seats short of our goal. If we can overtake the Liberals and become the voice of Federalism in Quebec, there’s at least another twenty seats up for grabs there. That means we need only another ten or so seats in the rest of Canada to find a majority. This is easily possible if only we regain our losses in British Columbia and make some marginal gains in Ontario.

The question now, Prime Minister, is of how we are to govern in the interim. Shall you seek to compromise with the other parties, cutting deals with the Bloc and the NDP, or shall you seek to lead the nation as though you had a majority?
It is the latter course that I propose.

I. LOGISTICS AND PROFESSIONALS.

It is an old military axiom that “amateurs discuss tactics, professionals discuss logistics.” The same, I believe, is true in politics. This is not 1979 – when Joe Clark’s plan to govern with a minority as though he had a majority led to disaster. Here is the simple fact. If there is another election, we shall win by default for the simple reason that we are the only party which is capable of fighting another election.

The Liberal Party is leaderless. They are $30 million in debt. They’ve just seen their public subsidy slashed by 20%. They’re going to struggle to avoid bankruptcy – let alone to wage an effective campaign. I doubt if they have the capacity to borrow to finance another campaign. I would wager, Prime Minister, that at this very moment there are executives at some of Canada’s major banks sweating it out over the possibility that the huge loans they’ve made to the Liberals might head south.

Similarly, the Bloc is in trouble. They rely upon public subsidies. They’ve just taken a beating. Indeed, the discrediting of the Federal Liberal brand in Quebec is likely to rebound to the benefit of the Provincial Government.

The NDP might be able to fight another campaign – probably can – but aren’t all that relevant under the circumstances.

If you put the new restrictions on individual and corporate contributions in right away, this will worsen the problems of our opponents. They won’t dare to bring down the government because they know that they don’t have the ammunition.

Given this, Prime Minister, there’s no point in cutting deals with the Opposition. Let them threaten – they won’t dare. Stare them down, if need be. Let them bring the Government down, if they dare.

II. A SHORT WINDOW TO ACT.

Prime Minister, the truth is that you didn’t win the last election – the Liberals lost it. We waged a defensive campaign – and wars are not won on the defense. To win a majority, our only choice is to revolutionize this country.

You have a window for change. The Liberals don’t dare to bring us down before, at a minimum, next spring. We can take this chance to pursue new policies which will truly contrast us with the left in this country – which will offer the people, to borrow a phrase, a choice, not an echo.

First, shrink the government. Cut taxes and cut programs. Do both and do them deeply and quickly. Cut the GST, retain the tiny Liberal tax cut, and – once you’ve had a chance to go through the books and find some more money – go further. Double the basic personal exemption.

Second, do something about the fiscal imbalance, and do it quickly. Use this to secure the support of the Bloc. When doing this, don’t simply shift money around the Federal table. Instead, let’s really change this country.

Junk transfer payments. They’re wasteful. Whatever benefits they confer on poorer regions are probably lost in the shuffle of paper and the attrition of money which naturally accompanies its flow through the state.

Instead, radically cut Federal taxes and let the Provinces raise additional revenues as they choose. This will increase flexibility, it will increase Provincial autonomy, and it will leave more overall dollars available for public services. Sure, this will cost us a few Atlantic seats – but it’s not like we won many seats there anyways.

Third, screw Toronto. They’re never going to vote for us. They’re our Alberta. There’s no reason to even bother with them. Stop sending Federal money into that sinkhole – and use it somewhere that it can be put to good use.

Fourth, do something about crime – and do it damned fast. We know what needs to be done. They’re no reason to wait.

Fifth, allow for private health care. Prime Minister, health care remains the top priority of many Canadians – and, now that corruption is no longer an issue, it will soon be the top once again. Make health care work

But, Prime Minister, we need to go further than that. We need to court controversy on issues where the public is on our side, but the organized left is not. The goal here is to shatter the myth that the Liberal Party represents Canadian values, while the Conservatives are somehow un-Canadian. We are patriots too – and we must make sure that the public knows and understands that. We must pursue policies which will place our own unique stamp upon this great land and which outline a vision of this country radically at odds with that of the left-wing elites, but in synch with the people of this country.

III. A TRUE CONSERVATIVE AGENDA.

I propose that we pursue two basic policies – policies which we can get through this Parliament – which can demonstrate the fundamental disconnect which exists between the values of the Liberal Party and the values of the people. We must turn the Canadian values question on its head – we must establish our own credentials on this issue.

Capital Punishment: A majority of the public support the death penalty. A super-majority would, I expect, support a very narrow death penalty for the worst criminals. The Liberal Party and the media would oppose it – hysterically, I suspect.

We need to understand this: corruption will fade as an issue and the Liberals will return (possibly even in the next election) if the public goes on believing that they are the party which are basically in synch with public values and that the Conservatives are a party at odds with those values, but struggling to be acceptable.

If the death penalty were brought in for mass murderers, serial killers, and child killers, it would have the support of the vast majority of the public. It would have strong support that would cut across party lines. The mad shrieks that would emerge from the Liberal-media axis in opposition would therefore serve to remind the public that the Liberals are, their arrogant claims to the contrary, at odds with their values.

The Military: If there’s one way to reclaim the flag, it’s to expand the armed forces and to make sure that we’re identified with the policy. Let’s divide the Armed Forces back into the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force. And let’s launch a decade-long plan to triple the strength and the size of the military in order to ensure that Canada can truly maintain a strong an independent foreign policy.

Inevitably, the Liberals will oppose this. We can use this opposition to show the silliness of their claims to speak for Canada. We should end Canada’s history of being the shouting weakling, shaking our fists and crawling along on our knees.

You would be well-served, Prime Minister, by making a series of speeches to members of the military outlining this vision. They would get good press – and they would help to define the issue in the public eye. State again and again – we are doing this for Canada, to make us a great country again.

Learn the lessons of Reagan, Prime Minister, who reached into America’s past to define the America of the 1980’s. Invoke the memory of the Canada that fought in the World Wars – use the imagery, the background, to remind people of what kind of a nation Canada once was and what kind of nation that it can be. Reclaim the idea of Canada as a power in the world.

I, for one, am optimistic about the future. This is not the end – but we have reached end of the beginning. God bless you, Prime Minister, and God Bless Canada.