The past decade of Liberal mismanagement has fostered discontent. Why should it not be given a strong, brash voice?

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As the Conservatives prepare for their annual convention in Calgary this weekend, hostile voices are trying to undermine them. They are being told to be less hard-edged, to reject populism, to be respectable “team players.”

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Yet rejecting populism would be a disaster, one that would destroy all the rebuilding accomplished by the party since 2022. Roughly four in 10 Canadians back the party, and the base itself is strongly supportive of leader Pierre Poilievre.

Those powering the Conservative coalition, particularly younger people, will not wake up after the convention and decide that they should forget the lost decade that destroyed their aspirations. Life will not become serene for them if the Conservative party caves to the demands of Liberal partisans like Government House Leader Steve MacKinnon, and marches in lockstep with Prime Minister Mark Carney. In MacKinnon’s words, holding the Liberals to account constitutes a form of “obstruction” by the Official Opposition rather than a necessary part of parliamentary democracy.

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On the whole, life is harder........

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