Flame out

Peter MacKay's departure sends shockwaves through Harper's Conservative party. It also signals the final schism between the Progressives and the Conservatives that were merged about 80years ago. It also signals the final victory of the the movement begun by Preston Manning and his Reform Party which sought to usurp the more moderate Conservatives into leaving for other parties. Its brand is now pure. It not only merged with the old Progressive Conservatives

It should be noted that over the past two decades that the Reform Movement begun its serial rebrandings to take over the Conservative trademark, the Liberal Party and yes the New Democratic Party(NDP) have moved far to their version of their right wing. They are internally more Conservative.

Although on opposite sides of the political frame the path of the NDP and Conservatives are almost identical. Both were founded on, or at least in major part the foundation of Western political reform movements.  The NDP were founded on an alliance of the socialist CCF party and dissaffected Big "L" Liberals.

The stumbling Conservative movement in the Dirty Thirties merged with the Conservative half of the Progressive Party movement into the Progressive Conservative(PC). The merger of the Canadian Alliance (rebranded Reform Party) and old PCs in 2003 reflected two sides of the same coin. In each case the mainstream political hounds melded with the reform movements to gain their brand, and after a period of time expelled those reformers.

In the early 1970's, the NDP expelled Jame's Laxar Waffle which was a sub party conclave of upset socialists within that party that were pushing back the internal policy movement away from socialist leanings. Today's NDP is not a socialist organization. It is the Liberal rump that departed with Hazen Argue in the 1960s that dominates that party.

Similarly, although procedurally different the departure of MacKay symbolically defines the departure of the reform movement known as the Progressives, from the Harper ruled Conservatives. Whether this effects the ultimate result in the next October election is open to question. That election is still a long time away in politics. What can be said is that the century old political reform movements of the CCF and Progressives are now dead and buried with few young champions. Torches are not always past, sometimes they just burn out.