Party Leadership Conventions Present Opportunity to Assess Views

Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper

As of today two federal political
parties are in search of new
leaders. Stephen Harper of the
Conservative Party resigned after
his party's ​defeat in October. On
the other side of the political
spectrum Tom Mulcair was not
able to secure the support to
stay on as leader during a vote
held ​last night. Leadership races
present an opportunity to assess
where a party stands on any
number of issues.

---

Tom Mulcair

And one of those issues is the
monarchy. I have done such
assessments of Liberal, NDP, and
other parties before. However,
this will be the first time assessing
the views of Conservative Party
leadership candidates. This is
important due to the Conservative
Party's strong support for the
monarchy over the last ten years.
An indication that this strong
support is likely to continue into
the future would be a welcome
sign. Finding out the NDP's views
is important for a different reason.

---

The Late Jack Layton

While Tom Mulcair never made
his views on the monarchy clear,
his party has gone back and forth
on the issue. Only in the Green
Party have I found less support for
the monarchy (the lovely Elizabeth
May is a notable exception). The
issue of possibly getting rid of the
monarchy has come up from time
to time. In fact Nathan Cullen, a
candidate to replace Jack Layton
​being a recent example. Jack
Layton, The NDP's previous (and
arguably greatest) leader, firmly
supported the monarchy:

"Some people think the NDP may want to get rid of the
 monarchy but I can assure you that that's absolutely not the
case. My Dad  was a big time monarchist and so am I."

---

So with two leadership elections coming up I plan to contact
every candidate to determine where they stand on this
important Canadian institution. So far I have contacted the
two declared Conservative candidates (Maxime Bernier &
Kellie Leitch) and await replies.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour