Adam Daifallah has some great stuff on his site regarding this issue. His theory is for Canadians to mirror the neoconservative movement in the US:
U.S. conservatives have, over the last four decades, built a powerful institutional infrastructure. Well-endowed foundations, funded by various titans of industry, were established to erect think-tanks, underwrite conservative publications and promote a greater appreciation of conservatism in the national discourse.
As I mentioned in previous posts, the process worked to such a great degree that American liberals are building an infrastructure to duplicate this. I guess you could dub it the neoliberal movement (or as they prefer progressive).
In his new long posts blog Jay Currie examines the issue further with "The Conservative Habit of Mind". Here are a couple of my favourite parts:
Conservatives had to wait for the collapse of the Soviet bloc, the rise of the dollar economy in China and the failure of every socialist inspired state in Africa to make their point. In the West they are waiting for the coming bankruptcy of France and Germany and the failure of limitlessly funded healthcare, public education and the social safety net in countries as diverse as Sweden, Britian and Canada to confirm the laws of economic gravity once again.
The mental habit most important to a conservative is empiricism. The capacity to see the world without hopeful or pessimistic illusion. It is the precise opposite of the idealism which drives the Liberal and socialist minds. Conservatives do not believe in magic beans, fairy godmothers or regional economic development programs. Experience has proven each to be in the realm of fable rather than fact.
Humility, skepticism about the perfectibility of society and people, respect for language and reason, modesty, politeness, generosity, valuing the particular above the general, empiricism: not one of these habits of mind needs an institute or a magazine or even an endowed chair at a prestigious university. Not one of them offends any religious, racial or cultural sensibility. Yet these simple traits of the conservative mind offer a full tool box for assessing the policy and politics offered up by the wonks in Dallifalah’s think tanks.
The concept of Canadian-values (as defined by the Liberal Party of Canada) is a very powerful marketing tool. It seems to me that Canadians (in general) are very fair-minded, compassionate people. Sticking up for the little guy is a national identity. Closely tied to the fact that we think of ourselves as the little guy in North American. You know, Trudeau's famous mouse and elephant analogy. Now this identification as the not-American country has lead to rampant to Anti-Americanism. As such, the neoconservative movement is seen as classic Americanism and therefore it is tough for such a movement to gain traction. I am afraid that Jay's point above about economic gravity is true.
