A Conservative looks at his party’s future

irony. Mrs. Wilson's technical facility in presenting her statement - through character and symbol rather than through simple exposition - raises her work to the level of ordered, vital, and artistically satisfying fiction. NOTES 1. Hetty Dorval (Toronto: Macmillan, 1947), p. 70. See Desmond Pacey, "Ethel Wilson's First Novel", Canadian Literaturn, no. 29 (Summer 1966), 43-55, later incorporated irito Ethel Wilson (New York: Twayne, 1967). 2. Hetty Dorval, p. 29. 3. Ibid., p. 42. 4. Ibid., p. 30. 5. Ibid., pp. 71-72. 6. Ibid., p. 116. 7. The Innocent Traveller (Toronto: Macmillan, 1960), p. 73. 8. Ibid., pp. 89-90. 9. Ibid., p. 45. 10. Ibid., p. 103. 11. Ibid., p. 104. 12. Ibid., p. 69. Commentary: A CONSERVATIVE LOOKS AT HIS PARTY'S FUTURE J. W. DALY In June last, the Progressive Conservative Party suffered a real and punishing defeat, though by no means a disaster. The exact dimensions of that defeat will, I think, be 48 13. Ibid., p. 181. Regarding the question of point of view, see Desmond Pacey, "The Innocent Eye: the art of Ethel Wilson," Queen's Quarterly, L~n (Spring 1954), 42-52; and H. W. Sonthoff, "The Novels of Ethel Wilson," Canadian Literature, no. 26 (Autumn 1965), 33-42. 14. The Innocent Traveller, p. 215. 15. The Equations of Love (London: Macmillan, 1952 ), pp. 4-5. 16. Ibid., p. 8. 17. Ibid., p. 156. 18. Ibid., p. 281. 19. Swamp Angel (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1962, copyright 1954, introduction by Desmond Pacey), p. 13. 20. The Innocent Traveller, p. 122. 21. Swamp Angel, p. 100. 22. Ibid., p. 95. 23. Ibid., p. 157. 24. lbid., p. 156. 25. Love and Salt Water (Toronto: Macmillan, 1956), p. 106. 26. Ibid., p. 72. 27. Ibid., p. 168. 28. Ibid., p. 203. 29. Ibid., p. 61. governed by the way the party behaves itself in the coming years. Here is one of those cases where, in a sense, we have a chance to remake even the past by understanding how it has put us where we are. To a quite remarkable degree, the election of 1968 could be the rejuvenation of the party or the beginning of its permanent decline. But the uses of adversity are only open to us if we systematically attack the postmortem in stages like this: the immediate results, the causes of the reverse, the immediate practical requirements, and the longer-term policy decisions which must be taken. Nor are these matters of interest only to Tories; the fortunes of that party are inseparably linked with public life as a whole, the causes of those fortunes of Revue d'etudes canadiennes fundamental importance to all Canadians interested in that life. Through the glass of Canadian Conservatism is refracted every issue of our politics - not least the paramount issue of national unity. 1. The Immediate Results It is not necessary to discuss the spectacular failures; pessimism is now a greater danger than optimism. Attention should rather be turned to what is left of strength. Immediately there stand out the two bastions, the Maritimes and Alberta. It is easy to dismiss the former as an ephemeral allegiance to the Maritimer Stanfield. It is that, of course, but that same Maritimer will be the leader in the next election, with the same pulling-power, and so there is good prospect of continuing support there. Since the economic problems are essentially insoluble, Trudeau will not be able to make any great impression, and so there will be no reason for a great decrease in the Stanfield pull (except some in Newfoundland ). This looks like a long-term gain. The Alberta base is even more likely to be overlooked; most commentators virtually ignore it as an unimportant exception to the Prairie losses which draw the eye. It is nothing of the kind; it is an invaluable possession. It is not held by personal and fleeting ties, like Diefenbaker's (which were far less abiding than Stanfield's in the Maritimes ~nyway), but on solid and reasoned conservative conviction. Rather, the Liberal upsurge owed everything to Trudeaumania . Alberta should be more permanently conservative than the Maritimes, a Canadian Texas even in the post Manning era. There...