To listen to the homilies of the CBC and Toronto Star, media consumers in the East can be forgiven for writing off Westerners are a bunch of racist, knuckle-dragging hillbillies. It’s a stereotype so embedded in the Laurentian consensus as to be an article of faith. .“Conservatives are racist”, and “Westerners are racist”, ergo, Conservative Westerners will vote based on their racist worldviews. .But for two federal Conservative leadership cycles in a row, Western Conservative voters have defied this alleged truism. Beneath the government-sponsored media’s obsession with the two “front-runner” candidates, ran the insurgency campaign of Leslyn Lewis. The evangelical Christian black woman from Toronto came within a stone’s throw of becoming a possible prime minister. To the old media, Conservatives – most especially Western Conservatives – would never vote for a black woman. .Instead, the CBC filled its airtime with fawning praise of U.S. Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate Kamala Harris; who, depending on the day of the week, is either America’s first Indian-American senator, or America’s first African-American candidate for Vice-President. Almost ignored, was Leslyn Lewis coming close to becoming the first person of colour to lead one of Canada’s two major political parties, and first (elected) female prime minister. .To be fair, Lewis came out of nowhere. She had never before held elected office, or had any public profile beyond her local community. Admittedly, the Western Standard did not take her campaign as seriously as we should have. But unlike the old media, this had nothing to do with Laurentian perceptions of Western Conservatives. But simply – that without any backing by the Tory establishment – that she couldn’t get over the line. Something which ultimately proved true. .So how did the hillbilly Westerners vote? On the first ballot, Lewis carried snow-white Saskatchewan by a commanding lead. In B.C., she was locked in a near three-way tie with Erin O’Toole and Peter MacKay. Same goes for Manitoba. In Alberta, she placed a close second behind Erin O’Toole. .Things became much more interesting on the second ballot. Social conservative Derek Sloan’s down-ballot choices went to Lewis in overwhelming numbers. In every single Western province, Lewis pulled ahead, leading from Victoria to Winnipeg. Her biggest leads were in Confederation’s pariah prairie provinces, Alberta and Saskatchewan. .In fact, had it not been for MacKay’s precious “weighted-by-riding” voting system – which massively waters down Western votes to pump up Quebec and the Atlantic – Lewis would likely be the leader today. On the second ballot, Lewis won the popular vote with more than 60 thousand votes, beating out O’Toole at 59,000 and MacKay at 54 thousand. But the voting system being what it was, she was dropped off the ballot and her voters’ second choices redistributed. Considering the hostility between the two “front runners” (who were in second and third place in the popular vote), chances are that MacKay’s second-choice votes would have gone to Lewis, pushing her over the line. .In consolation to Lewis, she has gone from an ‘also-ran’ candidate in an unwinnable urban Toronto riding, to the clear rising star of the Conservative Party. She is now the party’s clear standard bearer of the conservative-right..This is now the second Conservative leadership election in a row that the West has voted for someone other than their own. .In 2017, Maxime Bernier carried every Western province, less Andrew Scheer’s home of Saskatchewan. The heavily accented Quebecer’s strongest performance was in the hyper-Anglo rural southern Alberta, the beating heart of Wildrose Country. That Bernier won over the most rock-ribbed conservative corner of Alberta was a testament that whatever dislike of Quebec politics, prairie conservatives counted Bernier’s policies and principles first. .Western Conservatives have voted successively for a Francophone Quebecer and a black Toronto woman. They did so in defiance of the Laurentian view of them as backward, toothless rednecks, and because people here vote less on identity politics, and more on policy. .As Publisher of the Western Standard, I owe Leslyn Lewis and her supporters an apology for not taking her seriously enough. The government-sponsored Laurentian media, owe Western Conservative members an apology for considering them too bigoted to vote for her. .Derek Fildebrandt is Publisher of the Western Standard and President of Wildrose Media Corp. dfildebrandt@westernstandardonline.com
To listen to the homilies of the CBC and Toronto Star, media consumers in the East can be forgiven for writing off Westerners are a bunch of racist, knuckle-dragging hillbillies. It’s a stereotype so embedded in the Laurentian consensus as to be an article of faith. .“Conservatives are racist”, and “Westerners are racist”, ergo, Conservative Westerners will vote based on their racist worldviews. .But for two federal Conservative leadership cycles in a row, Western Conservative voters have defied this alleged truism. Beneath the government-sponsored media’s obsession with the two “front-runner” candidates, ran the insurgency campaign of Leslyn Lewis. The evangelical Christian black woman from Toronto came within a stone’s throw of becoming a possible prime minister. To the old media, Conservatives – most especially Western Conservatives – would never vote for a black woman. .Instead, the CBC filled its airtime with fawning praise of U.S. Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate Kamala Harris; who, depending on the day of the week, is either America’s first Indian-American senator, or America’s first African-American candidate for Vice-President. Almost ignored, was Leslyn Lewis coming close to becoming the first person of colour to lead one of Canada’s two major political parties, and first (elected) female prime minister. .To be fair, Lewis came out of nowhere. She had never before held elected office, or had any public profile beyond her local community. Admittedly, the Western Standard did not take her campaign as seriously as we should have. But unlike the old media, this had nothing to do with Laurentian perceptions of Western Conservatives. But simply – that without any backing by the Tory establishment – that she couldn’t get over the line. Something which ultimately proved true. .So how did the hillbilly Westerners vote? On the first ballot, Lewis carried snow-white Saskatchewan by a commanding lead. In B.C., she was locked in a near three-way tie with Erin O’Toole and Peter MacKay. Same goes for Manitoba. In Alberta, she placed a close second behind Erin O’Toole. .Things became much more interesting on the second ballot. Social conservative Derek Sloan’s down-ballot choices went to Lewis in overwhelming numbers. In every single Western province, Lewis pulled ahead, leading from Victoria to Winnipeg. Her biggest leads were in Confederation’s pariah prairie provinces, Alberta and Saskatchewan. .In fact, had it not been for MacKay’s precious “weighted-by-riding” voting system – which massively waters down Western votes to pump up Quebec and the Atlantic – Lewis would likely be the leader today. On the second ballot, Lewis won the popular vote with more than 60 thousand votes, beating out O’Toole at 59,000 and MacKay at 54 thousand. But the voting system being what it was, she was dropped off the ballot and her voters’ second choices redistributed. Considering the hostility between the two “front runners” (who were in second and third place in the popular vote), chances are that MacKay’s second-choice votes would have gone to Lewis, pushing her over the line. .In consolation to Lewis, she has gone from an ‘also-ran’ candidate in an unwinnable urban Toronto riding, to the clear rising star of the Conservative Party. She is now the party’s clear standard bearer of the conservative-right..This is now the second Conservative leadership election in a row that the West has voted for someone other than their own. .In 2017, Maxime Bernier carried every Western province, less Andrew Scheer’s home of Saskatchewan. The heavily accented Quebecer’s strongest performance was in the hyper-Anglo rural southern Alberta, the beating heart of Wildrose Country. That Bernier won over the most rock-ribbed conservative corner of Alberta was a testament that whatever dislike of Quebec politics, prairie conservatives counted Bernier’s policies and principles first. .Western Conservatives have voted successively for a Francophone Quebecer and a black Toronto woman. They did so in defiance of the Laurentian view of them as backward, toothless rednecks, and because people here vote less on identity politics, and more on policy. .As Publisher of the Western Standard, I owe Leslyn Lewis and her supporters an apology for not taking her seriously enough. The government-sponsored Laurentian media, owe Western Conservative members an apology for considering them too bigoted to vote for her. .Derek Fildebrandt is Publisher of the Western Standard and President of Wildrose Media Corp. dfildebrandt@westernstandardonline.com
