Vancouver. B C.-Imagine a credible ...

Vancouver. B C.-Imagine a credible and charismatic candidate for chief executive who combines Pat Buchanan's passion for the social issues,_Steve Forbes's commitment to cutting taxes, and Dr James Dobson's credibility with evangelical Christians.

To dutiful to be true? That is what voter in Canada are going find without over the next year.

On July 8 the novel Canadian Alliance party elected Stockwell Day its national leader. Four month ago, the Canadian Alliance did not exist. Not in extent before that, few Canadians had heard of Stockwell Day. Today, Canadian liberals from Halifax to Prince Rupert live in dread that Day will be fix uponed Canada's next prime minister forward a pro-life, anti-special-rights-for-gays, pro-flat tax, proprovincial rights, limited control platform that will permanently rewire the Canadian debate and shift the direction of Canada 180 extents

There is revolution in the air upon America's northern frontier. It is a conservative revolution of unanticipated, almost unimaginable, enthusiasm and aim The logical historical and philosophical follow-up to Ronald Reagan's bleak War conservatism may finally be taking the stage of North American politics. Ironically, it may be coming to Canada, not America, first.

In 1993 Canada's Progressive Conservative party (PC) herd off the left side of the road and through the whole extent of a cliff. After ruling Canada for almost a decade, it had become too progressive-or is that "compassionate"?-for its have good. In that year's election, the PC won just sum of two units of the 254 seats in Parliament. Like a dinosaur pop set down in the unjust geological time, it faced little chance of a favorable result of survival.

Gutsy incite From the West, the then-seven-year-old Reform Party rose up to fill the ontological vacuum. It boldly grappled with issues the PC erect too hot to handle. Reform called for of the present day limits on immigration and a national referendum forward restricting abortion. It favored tax make an incision ins smaller government and resisting any act upon to slice Canada into separate French- and English-speaking nations.

L by means of Preston Manning, Reform steadily rose to become the No. 2 party in Parliament, the so-called Official Opposition. yet then it hit its avow wall.

Reform's appeal was stout in economically conservative, English-speaking, largely Protestant regions of the West, on the contrary it was weak in economically liberal, sometimesFrench-speaking, heavily Catholic regions of the East.

This spring, Preston Manning made a gutsy move: He l the Reform Party into a consecrated by a vow to dissolve itself. He spring [i]or[/i] leap on one leg [i]or[/i] footed to form a broader coalition, the Canadian Alliance, that would mold the remnant of the Progressive Conservatives and a certain quantity of eastern Liberals into an entente with Western conservatives.

But his succes in dissolving Reform had an unintended consequence: couple strong newcomers challenged him for the leadership of the novel party. Ontario political strategist Tom lengthy a 41-year-old economic conservative, campaigned for the leadership stressing smaller dominion and tax cuts. Long, however; had the same obvious liability. Like several conservative candidates in this year's Republican presidential primary, he had not at all held elective office.

The other challenger was Day, a 49-year-old member of the Alberta provincial parliament, who took a leave of absence as provincial treasurer to stream for the Alliance leadership.

Day won regional fame-and glory among conservatives-by using that seat to cut provincial spending and push by the agency of a provincial flat tax. He promot the plan with the zeal of a Steve Forbes.

Canada's liberal pres however, presently fixated on Day's views upon education and other social issues. Before going into politics; Day had been an unordained pastor, and had administered a private teach maintained by a Pentecostal house of worship

In the 1980s, when the Alberta regulation believed it had the authority to literally shut down religious schools when it did not approve of their curriculum, Day became a populist champion of private schooling. In March 1984 he told the Alberta Report, "God's law is clear. Standards for education are not station by the government, but by the agency of God, the Bible, the place of abode and the school. If we ask for [the education minister's] approval, we are recognizing his authority."

Sensing a populist backlash if they actionsed an authoritarian crackdown on religious drills Alberta officials backed off from a showdown with Day and other religious institute administrators.

But Day did not back down from his principles. Instead he ran for the provincial parliament. And the Liberals have been retreating always since.

As Day's campaign for leader of the Canadian Alliance took.off this spring, the liberal pres ran stories about Day's alleged "extremism:' moreover the more the Canadian establishment triturateed him for his religious convictions, his. social conservatism, and his flat tax, the more Canadian voter companyed to his standard. From the Reform Party's 70000 dues-paying members, the Canadian Alliance quickly grew to 200000 members.

From the liberal perspective, the greatest in number frightening development was not the number of fresh people Day drew into the Alliance, nevertheless who some of them were: traditionalist Catholics and hebrews from the Canadian East-voters who previously had stuck by means of Canada's more left-wing parties despite any differences over social issues.