Michael Taube: Conservative infighting risks splitting the party

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” the Spanish-American philosopher George Santayana famously wrote in his 1905 work, The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress. While this aphorism is commonly associated with tragic events such as the Holocaust, it can actually be applied to many moments in history.

We’re seeing one such moment in Canada right now. The recent upsurge in Conservative infighting has an ominous resemblance to the split between the Reform Party/Canadian Alliance and old federal Progressive Conservatives. If the raging political and personal fires aren’t put out quickly, the entire Conservative movement could end up in the political wilderness once more.

While most political parties attempt to construct a big-tent philosophy where all individuals, groups and ideas are welcome, there will always be some amount of disagreement in the ranks. Party leaders, politicians and grassroots members don’t always see eye-to-eye on issues. You can’t expect them to, either. There’s more than enough room for intelligent discussion and rigorous debate in a big tent. As long as the conversations remain civil, and the outbursts are controlled and largely held behind closed doors, it’s not terribly difficult for warring factions to co-exist.

That’s not been happening in Canadian Conservative circles of interest as of late.

Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s remarks at the Calgary Stampede BBQ on July 6, for instance, included an eyebrow-raising line about Kerry-Lynne Findlay’s victory in the BC Conservative leadership race being a “big win against Liberal lobbyists from out East.” This was a less-than-subtle dig at Findlay’s opponent, Caroline Elliott, and her decision to hire a large number of political strategists and activists linked to Ontario Premier Doug Ford.

Some equally eyebrow-raising remarks were uttered by Kory Teneycke, who has been Ford’s campaign manager from 2018 to 2025 and who also worked on Elliott’s campaign, on a recent episode of Curse of Politics, which is The Herle Burly’s Political Panel Podcast. While comparing Poilievre and, to a lesser extent, former Conservative leader Andrew Scheer to Prime Minister Mark Carney, he said, “when you elect leaders who are completely and utterly unaccomplished prior to entering politics and who have entered politics in their 20s, you are going to be very vulnerable as the leader of that party to running against somebody who has actually done something with their life.”

Teneycke also said that “why Scheer is still sitting in the caucus is the same reason why Poilievre will end up sitting in the caucus after he’s done being leader, or maybe he’ll be on a podcast peddling kettlebells and talking about his peptide stack, because he is unemployable in any other job.”

To be fully transparent, I’ve known Teneycke and Poilievre for years. I was in the political trenches with them, and we’ve had small disagreements that were patched up quickly. That’s not unique: I’ve engaged in a similar discourse with others, including former prime minister Stephen Harper. Politics not only makes strange bedfellows, but it also makes friends and enemies at a rapid pace that few on the outside could ever understand.

Others have commented about recent Conservative infighting, including Fred DeLorey (former Conservative director of political operations), Nick Kouvalis (political consultant) and Dimitri Soudas (former director of communications to Harper). These individuals, like Teneycke and Poilievre, have every right to express support or concern about the current state of Canadian conservatism. The issue has largely been a poor choice of words and language in some instances, and an inability to use a proper filter or sober second thought in others.

Why is this happening? It’s not my usual style to lift the curtain, but I think it’s necessary to raise it just a touch. Here are some things that I know or have been told on a general level.

Poilievre doesn’t have a personal grudge with Ford, Elliott, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston or anyone else. The reverse also appears to be true. Tensions between the federal Conservatives and Ontario Progressive Conservatives, Nova Scotia Progressive Conservatives and some BC Conservative factions are real, however.

The problem is that ideological and strategic differences, business dealings and personal relations have broken down the lines of communication and civil discourse. The relationship between the federal Conservatives and several right-leaning provincial cousins has become pretty frigid at the highest levels. There were restrictions on working on each other’s election campaigns — or else. Each side believes they know better than the other in terms of how to conduct and win elections. They all refuse to check their (bruised) egos at the door, too.

That’s what caused the BC Conservative leadership race to badly implode — which, in turn, led to the heightened amount of name-calling and personal attacks we’ve seen lately. It’s leading us down a path which is very similar to the Reform/Alliance-versus-PC split that I was more directly involved in.

Canadian Conservatives spent an agonizing 17 years in the political wilderness due to historical grievances, dissension in the ranks and, to be perfectly frank, petty behaviour on all our parts. Things haven’t reached that stage quite yet, but the ripple effect is beginning to appear. That should worry all Conservatives.

Enough is enough. The Conservative infighting must end. Put your differences aside, consider meeting on neutral ground and let cooler heads prevail before it’s too late. Let’s not repeat history, or we’re doomed to face the prospect of many more years of Liberal rule in Canada.

National Post