"The big problem for the Conservatives is that Canada isn’t the U.S. and the culture wars are just a shadow of what they are south of the border. Canada is more urban, has fewer evangelicals and there’s no Fox News to pound home the right-wing messaging to the exclusion of every other opinion."

A telephone survey of 5,267 Conservative Party members on Aug. 14-15 indicates that Peter MacKay, seen speaking to reporters as justice minister in Ottawa in 2015, has a 51 per cent to 49 per cent edge in points over Erin O'Toole, when votes are counted to the third — and final — ballot. (iPolitics/Matthew Usherwood)

We didn’t learn much about Peter MacKay’s ideas or policies as he launched his leadership bid for the Conservative Party of Canada last week but we did learn lots about his favourite pastimes.

MacKay says his go-to sports are hockey and bare-knuckle boxing and he can’t wait to challenge Justin Trudeau to a fight under “UFC rules or on the ice, no headgear, no gloves.” At the same time, we now know what MacKay would never be caught doing: Practicing yoga or dancing.

READ MORE: Andrew Scheer: The Death of Everyman

You may wonder why MacKay, a 54-year-old Toronto lawyer and father of three small children, would want to risk severe brain injury as a way of keeping fit, but he clearly had a point to make. If he’s going to become Conservative leader, he has to prove to party stalwarts that he’s no sissy, like that former drama teacher, Justin Trudeau.

Welcome to Canada’s culture wars, brought to you courtesy of the Conservative Party.

Conservatives may be divided on all sorts of questions, like gay marriage and abortion, or the role of government and tolerance for deficits, but they all seem to agree on one thing, their intense hatred of Justin Trudeau and what he stands for. Justin hatred has been a sure-fire money-spinner for the party’s fundraising arm for years but not so good when it comes to winning elections.

You know the lines. In 2015, Trudeau was “just not ready” and “economically clueless.” This past fall, Andrew Scheer renewed the attacks, calling Trudeau a “phoney” and a “fraud.” But above all, it’s always been very personal. Justin is nothing but a part-time teacher, a snowboard instructor, a virtue signaller, a celebrity sock-wearer, a purchaser of upscale donuts.

In contrast, Tory leaders and would-be leaders like Harper, Scheer and MacKay are hockey players or big hockey fans, regular dads who love to drive gas-guzzling pickups, order hotdogs on the Sparks Street Mall and patronize Tim Hortons drive-throughs. “I’m a guy who likes to stay active,” says MacKay. “Trudeau does yoga. I play hockey.”

It’s all too reminiscent of the culture wars that have going on south of the border for years. I recall the U.S. 2004 presidential election campaign where the Republicans managed to destroy John Kerry’s Democratic candidacy by characterizing him as an effete, wine-sipping Eastern liberal as opposed to that down-home regular-guy Texan, George W. Bush.

In fact, both men shared very similar, privileged backgrounds. Both attended New England prep schools (Kerry went to St. Paul’s while Bush was sent to Phillips Academy). Both graduated to Yale. Kerry was an accomplished athlete and decorated officer during the Vietnam War while Bush managed to serve far away from the action in the Texas Air National Guard.

Yet Republican operatives successfully tarnished Kerry’s war record and then portrayed Kerry’s sporting pursuits as somehow fey. They took footage of Kerry wind-surfing (he was also an accomplished cyclist and skier) and mocked him in an ad as a flip-flopper who changed his positions on issues like a sailor in the wind.

There was also Kerry’s French, which he spoke fluently but couldn’t be caught dead speaking for fear of being dubbed as an out-of-touch fancy-pants university type.

Bush, on the other hand, made sure that Americans knew his favourite pastime was brush clearing on the his 1,600-acre Texas ranch. More manly and the hobby of choice for another would-be cowboy on his large ranch, Ronald Reagan. It worked wonders for Bush. Kerry, never the most talented retail politician, went down in flames.

Like Kerry and Bush, it’s remarkable how similar Trudeau and MacKay are in background. Both were born into political families and benefitted handsomely from the name recognition that bestowed them. Neither has ever been mistaken for a member of Mensa. They both started out life with considerable privilege when it came to starting a political career.

So who does MacKay think he’s fooling by trying to make people believe he’s just a buff country boy from Nova Scotia who’s boxed a bit often without a helmet, loves guns and is a man’s man. For that matter, where does Erin O’Toole get the chutzpah to deride career politicians when his father was a provincial member of the Ontario legislature for 20 years and paved the way for his own entry into federal politics? And O’Toole talks of his time in the Royal Canadian Air Force incessantly, he doesn’t mention that he’s simply another corporate lawyer.

And of course, O’Toole is no sissy either. In launching his leadership campaign in Calgary, he touted his approach to leadership by saying, “I speak like a soldier, not a diplomat.” God forbid we should have another wimp like Lester Pearson lead the country.

The big problem for the Conservatives is that Canada isn’t the U.S. and the culture wars are just a shadow of what they are south of the border. Canada is more urban, has fewer evangelicals and there’s no Fox News to pound home the right-wing messaging to the exclusion of every other opinion. So while the Conservative base may despise Trudeau, particularly in Alberta, where the feeling borders on collective psychosis, most Canadians actually don’t mind the guy. In fact, they quite like him.

Many voters in October may have been disappointed in Trudeau, embarrassed by his personal excesses or upset at his handling of the SNC-Lavalin affair. But they didn’t hate him and still don’t hate him. That’s why so many voters in metropolitan areas like Toronto and Vancouver still voted for Justin and the Conservatives ended up squandering a huge opportunity.

READ MORE: This election glass is definitely half full

Until Conservatives figure out a way of appealing to Canadians who may eventually want a change from the Liberals but don’t see Justin Trudeau as the devil, whoever succeeds Andrew Scheer may have lots of years to look forward to at Stornoway.

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