The federal Conservative Party does a good job telling Canadians that it wants to promote economic growth, says Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall, but it doesn’t do a very good job explaining why.
Wall, a key Conservative voice outside of Ottawa, joined The West Block‘s Tom Clark over the weekend to talk about what he perceives as the weakest link in the ill-fated Conservative election campaign: namely, a failure to communicate.
“The start of the sentence is: ‘We want economic growth for…’ and then the end of that sentence (is), for what reason?” Wall explained.
“Well, we want it for quality of life, and … I think Conservatives need to communicate to Canadians that we pursue these policies to achieve that economic growth so that government has a broader, more robust tax-base upon which we can frankly invest in programs for those who are vulnerable.”
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Wall used the example of a wait list in Saskatchewan in 2007 that contained the names of 440 people with intellectual disabilities waiting for space in a group home.
“We had some economic strength at the time that was contributing to a strong tax base,” Wall said. “We took $40 million and we eliminated the wait list, so growth meant lower taxes … meant being able to invest in those people who need it and who deserve the dignity of a home. And is that right wing or left wing? I don’t think it’s either of those things, but we have to finish the sentence and say this is why we want economic growth.”
Wall said he doesn’t believe the Conservatives should be gravitating back towards the centre of the political spectrum — a space already inhabited by the Liberal Party of Canada.
“After we tried that for more than one decade, the caucus could meet on an ATV,” Wall said, referring to the disastrous election in 1993 where the former Progressive Conservative Party finished with two seats in the House of Commons.
“It was not a good situation.”
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