Liberalism and Conservatism - Research Paper Example

? Topic: Lecturer: Presentation: Introduction Liberalism and Conservatism are terminologies used in the 19th Century and continue to be used to refer to the different ideologies held by an individual or a group of people mostly on political issues. Whenever we hear of the word liberal, what comes into the mind is something free, flexible and progressive while conservative represents carefulness, cautiousness and traditional or rigid. Just like the words sound, the words were coined by the 19th century reformers to represent the political ideologies of various governments especially British and North America. Liberalists believe in the ideals of freedom and liberty. John Locke espoused on the principles of liberalism in his Two Treatises of Government that guide political philosophy. One of the principles is that the government exists to serve people and the community it governs and its power is limited by natural rights of individuals and natural law. The role of government is thus to protect private rights. Liberalists thus believe in government involvement in family affairs, welfare state, social justice, government regulation, and emphasize on civil rights (Thompson, 2013). Conservatives on the other hand believe in strengthening of families, individualism, equal justice, low taxes, less government involvement, free market economy and emphasizes on freedom, property and parental rights. However, it all depends on the country in question as each country has its own values and traditions which affect how they interpret different issues. Those who subscribe to liberal political ideals in America are regarded as Democrats while conservatives are the Republicans. In Canada, there are two major parties: conservatives and liberalist just like in Britain. The aim of this paper is to discuss the evolution of conservatism and liberalism in Canada from the early twentieth century to the present looking into the kind of policies the parties subscribing to these ideologies have advocated over the years. These ideologies will then be compared with those of America to evaluate whether they are further or closer to the American version and determine the reasons for such changes. To discuss liberalism and conservatism in Canada, the various parties that have been in existence in Canada since 20th Century will be looked into especially the two major parties: Progressive Conservative Party and the Liberal Party which have dominated Canadian politics for decades. However, we cannot fail to recognize other players such as the New Democratic Party, Reformer Party, and Bloc Quebecois. The Liberal party was subscribing to liberal ideals in the 19th Century and Conservatives to conservative ideals but roles reversed in the 20th Century. The political culture of Canada is linked to North American and European political culture which emphasizes on freedom of religion, liberty, regional autonomy and constitutional law (Harowitz, 1966). This is not surprising bearing in mind that Canada was a British colony and even though it became a sovereign state, it was still under the influence of the British until later 20th Century. Canada has a parliamentary form of government whereby each province is under a Prime Minister and the governor general acted as a link between Canada and Britain. It holds its elections every four years just like America. The premier used to seek permission from the governor general to dissolve parliament until the King-Byang Affair of 1926 which led to the adoption of Statute of Westminster in 1931 which stated that governor generals no longer needed to act on recommendation of British government (Gagnon & Tanguay, 2007). In this affair, Prime minister Sir William Mackenzie King had requested governor general Lord Byng to dissolve parliament in order to serve his own interests but Byng refused, he emphasized the House of Commons of Canada should decide on the issue and not London since Canada a was a sovereign state. The goals of Canadian government according to Hill (2002) include peace, order, and good government. At the initial stages, the Conservative party ruled Canada for decades but it is the Liberal party that has been in power for the longest time to the extent of being referred as the natural governing party. It ruled for 69 years in 20th Century while the conservative party ruled for the first 30 years and lost ground completely in 1993 when it only garnered 2 seats in the House of Commons. The Canadian government has embraced the traditional of liberalism. It thus supports the charter of rights and freedoms, free economy, collective responsibility, individual rights, and is sympathetic to homosexuals. The main issues that dictate politics in this country include the nature of relations with the United States and the Quebec question. Campaigns for the parties thus revolve around these two issues. The first party in power was the Conservative Party which embraced the ideals of conservatism and was led by Sir John A Macdonald. The party was founded in 1867 but underwent various changes before it adopted its current and original name of the Conservative party. It changed its name to Progressive Conservative Party in 1942 after merging with progressive party and was later dissolved in 2003. It later merged with other like minded parties such as the Canadian Alliance to form the new Conservative Party of Canada (Thompson,2013).. The party was faced with hostilities from French-Canadians as the Quebeckers blamed the Conservatives for the execution of Louis Riel a devout catholic and a Quebecker. Liberals capitalized on this hostility to win Quebec support while Conservatives never got Quebec support until later in 20th Century. The Party was also blamed for the conscription crisis of 1917 by the French-Canadians. However, the Quebec conservative party was able to garner support of its province thus dominated the politics of confederation. The problem with the conservative party was that it always formed loose coalitions during election times in order to defeat the liberals. As such, it was not easy to keep most of its campaign promises in designing its policies since it had to please all the supporters. The party comprised of Red Tories and Blue Tories who had very divergent views hence factionalism was prevalent in the party. The Red Tories believe in a moderate economic policy and are against free trade. They agree with it only to a limited extent. The Blue Tories on the other hand, are classical liberals in economic policy thus embracing economic liberalism and individualism. They are more progressive than the Red Tories who comprise the highest percentage of the Conservative Party membership. The party ideology is progressive conservatism and holds a centre-right position on economic issues and a centrist position on social issues. At first, the conservatives were opposed to continentalism or free trade thus imposed trade restrictions such as high tariffs on imports but its position has changed ever since to support of free trade with the U.S to the extent of signing a trade agreement with them. This was after 1984 elections when Brian Mulroney became the Prime Minister and Pierre Trudeau was elected on Liberal Party ticket. The party embraced British imperialism, Canadian nationalism and constitutional centralism (Puddington, 2007). The Tories as the conservatives were commonly called in Canada in line with conservatism ideals opposed government intervention in social and economic matters. Conservatives believe that individuals should be responsible for themselves and as such, should be given the ability to be able to control their lives. If the government is to provide welfare services, it should be aimed at helping the recipients to become independent and not to be dependent on the state. Instead of giving the poor welfare packages and making them dependent like the liberals advocated, conservatives preferred measures to help these individuals cater for themselves in the future. Taxing other people so as to offer social services is thus not warranted thus the reason why conservatives advocated for lower taxes. This was in line with Thatcher and Reagan’s political regimes in Britain. Both effected tax cuts and massive reduction in government spending during their time. However, the Tories introduced goods and services tax and this led to its downfall. In place of social welfare, conservatives supported economic policies of full-employment, social security and low-cost housing (Hill, 2002). Furthermore, the families know best how to handle their children and as such, should be strengthened to perform this role not being turned into state beggars. The Party also supported a government financed Medicare and was a supporter of trade unionism. It changed its position from trade protectionism to free trade thus reversing roles with the Liberal party. The idea of free enterprise was rooted in its policies to allow individual as well as business development. The free trade concept is based on the belief that people are rational and pursue self-interests and in the process, they fulfill the needs of others. For example, a businessman must produce high quality goods at reasonable price to be able to compete with others and the customers benefit from this competition. To the conservatists, competition is thus good for the economy. The other largest party in Canada that ruled for 69 years in the 20th Century was the Liberal party based on liberalism ideals. It was formed by English and French Canadians in 1861 thus the party was both Francophone and Anglophone unlike the Conservative party. The party enjoyed a lot of support from the Quebecs as a result of the hostility that existed between Quebecs and the conservatives. However, the party did not have support of the Catholics due to its insistence on eliminating catholic schools (Hill, 2002). Contrary to the conservatives, it advocated for free trade with U.S and was opposed to British imperialism. Liberals thus pushed for Canadian sovereignty and independence from the British Empire in the belief that the UK and its Dominions have equal status. The support for free trade garnered the party support from farmers in the Prairie Provinces. The liberalist policies in the 20th century cost it its power leaving the leadership to the conservative party for many decades. One of the policies was the push to have Canada be responsible for its foreign and defense policy thus the creation of the navy in 1910. It also established the department of external affairs and appointed secretary of state for the department. The idea of the navy was unpopular with most Canadians and made it lose some support to the conservatives (Farney, 2012). The liberalists were very vocal in advocating a welfare state as they believed the society is responsible for individuals. The welfare was to provide basic needs to those who deserve it. It thus introduced social safety nets such as mothers allowance, old age pensions, and children’s allowance (Farney, 2012). The party also began offering loans for students, universal healthcare and funding for welfare programs. Since liberalism is based on social justice, Pierre Trudeau tailored the social policy to this ideal by pledging to create a just society. Another advancement of the liberalists was the languages Act to cater for bilingualism. Canadians used English or French and this was important in winning elections. As such, Quebecs could benefit from this legislation by becoming independent; they could talk freely in any part of the country if they learnt both languages or if English and French were accorded equal status. Liberalism is based on freedom and liberty. The liberalist thus also created the Canadian Charter of Rights and freedoms to enable all to enjoy their liberty. It also integrated immigrants’ thus promoting multiculturalism. However, contrary to their original stand on trade, they opposed Canada-U.S Free Trade Agreement negotiated by the conservatives (Gagnon & Tanguay, 2007).However, when Jean Chretien assumed office she negotiated the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and eliminated the goods and services tax imposed by conservatives and replaced it with harmonized sales tax. In 2011, the party introduced various social policies such as the pension plan reform and family care plan. It also introduced national food policy to assist the farmers as well as reduction of corporate tax. Liberalists also advocated for increased government intervention and regulation to make sure services reach individuals on the ground and to counter effects of failure of free trade such as environmental pollution and unfair prices or competition. The Canadian version of liberalist and conservative ideas can be compared with those of the Americans. American politics is dominated by two large parties: the Republicans and the Democrats. The Republicans represent the conservative traditions while the Democrats subscribe to liberal ideals. As a liberal nation America strives for equality of all races and classes and as such its policies are directed at equality. For example, it is illegal to discriminate people in the workplace based on their race, color, religion, sex, gender, or physical disability. All humans have natural right to life, liberty and property and this is enshrined in the constitution and represents the ideals of the founding fathers in declaration of independence. On the other hand, even though Canada appreciates equality, it also accepts notions of hierarchical patterns (Harowitz, 1966). Canadian liberalists believe individuals have irrational drives hence have self-serving tendencies. This is due to the fact that British ideologists were the founding fathers of Canada thus Canada aligns more with British than America. America is accustomed to surrendering legitimate ideological diversity but in Canada, ideological diversity is alive and not buried beneath absolutist liberal nationalism (Harowitz, 1966). There is more tolerance among the English-Canadians that is liberalists support multiculturalism and bilingualism. Moreover, Canadian politics is based on such ideological diversities; the Quebecs have been loyal followers of liberalists while the Tories are conservatists. America also has a federal government that stresses nationalism while Canada has parliamentary system where provinces are emphasized. As concerns the Conservative Party in Canada and the Republicans in America, it is apparent that differences exist. As Harowitz puts it “a Republican is always a liberal but a conservative may be one moment a liberal, and the next moment a Tory, and is usually something of both” (157). A conservative thus does not practice pure liberalism but business liberalism. He appreciates that individuals are self-oriented thus pursue selfish goals and as such, there is no way they can be equal but also embraces collectivism. In this case, Canada lacks the American individualism. Conclusion Liberalism and conservatism were ideologists coined by 18th and 19th century thinkers such as Locke. These political ideologies have been used by various political parties to further their interests and as basis for their national policies. In Canada the two largest parties which have been alternating power for decades are the Conservative party and Liberal party according to the ideology they pursue. Liberalists call for more government intervention and regulation, powerful centralized government, social welfare provision, environmental protection, social justice, bilingualism, multiculturalism and legalization of same-sex marriages. The conservatives on the other hand strive for free market economy, low taxes, less government intervention, increased competition, equal justice, limited federal government and more power to states. These ideals are slightly different from American ideologies as it emphasizes on individualism and absolute rights thus pursue equality measures. References Farney, James H (2012) Social Conservatives and Party Politics in Canada and the United States. Canada: University of Toronto Press. Gagnon, Alain-G and Tanguay, A. Brain (2007) Canadian Parties in Transition, 3rd ed. USA: Broadview. Harowitz, G (1966) Conservatism, Liberalism, and Socialism in Canada: An Interpretation. The Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science, 32(2) pp. 143-171. Hill, Tony L (2002) Canadian Politics, Riding by Riding: An In-depth Analysis of Canada’s 301 Electoral Districts. Minnesota: Prospect Park Press. Puddington, Arch (2007). Freedom in the World: The Annual Survey of Political Rights and Civil Liberties. USA: Rowman & Littlefield Thompson, Wayne C (2013) Canada 2013. USA: Rowman & Littlefield. Read More