Political scientist Salim Mansur believes the Conservative Party led by Erin O’ Toole can’t win a majority because of its failure to champion conservative causes..Mansur, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Western Ontario, believes the Conservative Party is trying too hard to be like the Liberals..“People will vote for Liberal-lite if the smell of the Liberal Party is so damn bad that they can’t afford to lean toward the Liberals. So they will take a shot with the Liberal-lite for the moment, but as soon as the Liberals go collect themselves in terms of optics, in terms of public relations, they will go back to being Liberals again,” says Mansur..Mansur is not impressed with the party’s decision to remove Jim Karahalios from leadership contention, and leadership candidate Derek Sloan from the Conservative caucus. He says the party ejects “anybody who questions and says that we are on the wrong track…with the issues of freedom of speech, freedom of worship, how this draconian lockdown is basically making rag of a paper out of our Charter of Rights and Freedoms..In an interview with the Western Standard, Mansur says he was removed as the Conservative candidate in London North Centre in 2019 because he stood against mass immigration, multiculturalism, and Islamism—despite being a Muslim himself. .“I spoke with the Conservative players in Toronto, they know me very well. And I said to them, ‘I’m happy to be out, done with your party, done with the bankrupt ideals and values of your party and your leadership. I’m done, but we are friends and I tell you… you write it down, you’re going to lose the 2019 election and you are never going to win another election where you can form a majority government during your lifetime or in my lifetime,” he says..Nearly 18 months later, Mansur’s opinion hasn’t changed..“The entire operation of the Conservative Party is basically focussed on trying to win in Ontario, that is in the GTA. And they’re not going to win it by becoming another Liberal Party. So whatever they do, they’re doomed. They saw it in 2015 and 2019 and they’re going to see it again whenever the election is called.”.Mansur says few Quebecers will vote for a Conservative who is not from their province and both the Conservatives and Liberals have their eyes fixed on Ontario..“Your part of Canada is taken for granted. You don’t have to win west of Ontario to form a federal government. So it is not about the West, it is not about the Maritimes,” Mansur says..“I’m just being crude to give you the mentality of the Liberals. They say, ‘F… the West. Who cares about the West?’ There’s more seats in Toronto than all of Saskatchewan and Alberta combined.”.Mansur, who ran as a Reform Party candidate in 2000, believes Conservatives can win if they appeal to old stock Canadians..“They have to basically do exactly what they refuse to do, because the media is going to call them racists. They have to appease and represent the… dwindling majority… the white Canadian, that is, the Canadians who built this country,” Mansur says..“Those are the issues, which the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star and all of the press, the CBC are now going to call ‘white extremist.’ The issue of pro-life, the issue of religion, the defense of freedom of worship… We have to discuss the issue of migration and immigration because we cannot sustain these numbers. This is basically destroying our economy of the Canadian people who are here. .“And instead of meeting the requirements of Canadians who are at home, Mr. Trudeau and Conservatives are engaged and grandstanding on the UN stage. So does the Conservative Party have a leadership and a focus that is willing to address these issues and talk about these issues? The only people who are doing that is the PPC, but the PPC does not have the media behind it. That is another story.”.Mansur finished fifth in London North Centre as a PPC candidate in 2019 following his removal by the Conservatives. He believes that apart from rhetoric about balanced budgets, his former party lacks conviction..“The Conservative Party does not want any issue that is that is in the context of small-C conservativism or social conservativism…Anything which is the concern of half of the Conservative voters across Canada, those issues have been sort of shelved and censored by the Conservative Party leadership.”.Harding is a Western Standard contributor based in Saskatchewan
