Until around four years ago, I was a relatively prominent voice on Canada’s political right. I hosted a prime-time television show for 16 years, three of them on Sun News. I wrote a syndicated column for the Sun newspaper group for more than a decade, hosted various shows on talk radio, wrote books with a conservative angle, gave speeches, and so on.

It all went terribly wrong when I experienced a political and moral menopause. Instead of buying a Ferrari I exchanged my traditionalist Roman Catholicism for progressive Anglicanism and my Tory attachments for social democracy. Oh dear … the shame.

But more than 20 years on the Canadian right showed me a great deal about the motivations and aspirations of this country’s conservatism. And the paradox of it all — one of the reasons for the recent sprint rightwards on the Right — is that Canada hadn’t really had a political Right until fairly recently.

There’s something deeply Freudian going on here, but it’s not about envy of a certain limb. It’s jealousy of those countries that do have class divides and genuine polarization.

Britain’s Tories were traditionally paternalistic and moderate, until the arriviste Margaret Thatcher radicalized the party. Still, the United Kingdom was always class-conscious; it’s been governed since the 1950s largely by social democrats and has had a militant labour movement. The Americans, of course, are painfully split on issues of race, wealth and geography. Ronald Reagan took the Republicans to the right and Donald Trump has dragged that stance into a wilderness of anarchic and hysterically right-wing populism.

Then there was poor old Canada. The country is relatively easy to govern, wealthy, has a race and immigration climate most nations would die for, was born out of chatter rather than shatter, and simply works. Those of us who live here quite naturally take most of this for granted.

The new conservatism’s relationship with the execrable Rebel Media bunch, led by Levant and home to some of the most irresponsible voices on the Canadian and international Right, is far closer than the party will admit. The new conservatism’s relationship with the execrable Rebel Media bunch, led by Levant and home to some of the most irresponsible voices on the Canadian and international Right, is far closer than the party will admit.

Our only genuine wound is the repugnant way we have treated Indigenous Canadians, and for the longest time that was largely ignored. (The political struggle of bilingualism? Oh please!)

But the West, in particular Alberta and parts of B.C., claimed they felt differently, and Preston Manning seemed to be convinced that he was ordained to be prime minister. I’ve never quite understood his status as an elder statesman and, with all due respect, the reverence with which he is often regarded. The Reform Party destroyed red Toryism in Ottawa. When Manning was moved aside from power he could have retreated into dignified observation from a distance; instead he named a think-tank after himself, which this year gave a platform to some worryingly reactionary and divisive voices. The refusal to let go can be an unsavoury spectacle.

He also opened the door to Stephen Harper, Ezra Levant, Andrew Scheer and the new generation of right-wing commentators and broadcasters. So now we have major Conservative politicians who think it appropriate to travel to the United States to condemn Justin Trudeau over the Omar Khadr decision. Whatever one thinks about the apology and payment (and I support the government entirely on this one), the histrionics and dishonesty that have drenched opposition over this issue simply would not have happened with the old Conservatives.

Kellie Leitch may have won minimal support for her bid to become federal leader but the very fact that her repugnant notions were taken seriously says a great deal. So does the 15 per cent support given to arch social conservatives at the leadership conference, and the elevation of Andrew Scheer — who, in spite of audacious denials, is very much a product of the religious Right.

The new conservatism’s relationship with the execrable Rebel Media bunch, led by Levant and home to some of the most irresponsible voices on the Canadian and international Right, is far closer than the party will admit. Whatever one thinks of the thing, it does have followers — and do we seriously think these people vote anything other than Tory?

Canadian conservatism was once a natural heir to the country’s history, a spoke of the wheel that was a Canadian politics based on commonality, shared virtues and progress. All that has changed.

The new right-wing alliance in Alberta, the angry party in Ottawa, the various media voices denying the self-evident truths of climate change, the whispered but audible mentions of Trump and how his success can be emulated — it’s all very conservative these days, but not very Canadian.

The views, opinions and positions expressed by all iPolitics columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of iPolitics.