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A: I hope so. A lot of my work on democratic reform has been trying to get structural reforms, changing the Senate process and things like that. I still believe that can be done, but the other way is to raise the skill level of the people who are playing the game. I’ve come to the conclusion that well-trained, well-motivated people can make a bad system work. But people who don’t have those qualities can even make a good system not work.

Q: If there is something that concerns you most about the direction of the Conservative Party right now, what is it?

A: I think they’ve got the basic things right. We do national surveys asking people what’s your number one concern, and overwhelmingly over the last couple of years, it’s been the economy, the economy. Then we ask them to rate the federal government on a whole range of issues and they are given better marks [for the economy] than for anything else. One of the areas where I’ve been working on Conservatives to change is on environmental policy. They don’t have to be defensive; conservation and conservative comes from the same root. But I haven’t been that successful in selling that in Ottawa or in Edmonton.

Q: Why not, do you think?

A: One of the problems in Ottawa is that political strategists tend to conceptualize issues as a sword issue or a shield issue. Sword issues are the ones you’re willing to go out and crusade on because you think you can win. Shield issues are when the other guy has got the stronger ground. Unfortunately for Conservatives, areas of environment and healthcare reform got conceptualized as shield issues. You kind of give up before you start and once they get categorized like that, it’s difficult to change.

Q: Tell me about those two pictures on the wall behind you; John A. Macdonald and, is that Louis Riel?

A: Yes. Some people say he was the first western reformer. This picture shows Dominion land surveyors who were coming across the land. The surveyors kept a record in their journal and [Louis Riel] put his foot on their chain and said: “This is our land.” This was the first confrontation between the federal government and the west. And guess what it was over? Resources. Nothing new under the sun.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

National Post