Social conservatism (Canada)

Social conservatives in the European and North American context believe in natural law, and traditional family values and policies. Compared to the situation in the United States, social conservatism has not been not as widespread in Canada. A strong expression of social conservatism is popularly associated primarily with Alberta, long Canada's most conservative province, and with British Columbia outside of the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island; but, though social conservatives are often thought of as residing in rural settings, especially in Western Canada, social conservatism is not limited geographically to any one area or to any one political party. Social conservatives, believing in traditional morality and social mores, desire to preserve these in present-day society, often through civil law or regulation. Social change away from traditional values is generally regarded as suspect, while social values based on tradition are generally regarded as tried, tested and true. It is a view commonly associated with religious conservatives, particularly Evangelicals or conservative Roman Catholics.

Socially conservative values do not necessarily coincide with those of right-wing fiscal conservatism. Fiscally left-leaning politicians may embrace socially conservative values.

Examples of socially conservative political leaders in Canada have been Progressive Conservative leadership candidate David Orchard and Christian Heritage Party leader Ron Gray.

In modern Canadian politics, social conservatives often felt that they were being sidelined by officials in the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. Many of them felt shunned by a party that was largely led and run by Red Tories for the last half of the twentieth century. Many eventually made their political home with the Reform Party of Canada and its forerunner the Social Credit Party of Canada. Despite Reform leader Preston Manning's attempts to broaden the support of the Reform movement through populism, the party was dominated by social conservatives. Manning's reluctance to allow his party to wholly embrace socially conservative values contributed to his deposition as leader of the new Canadian Alliance in favour of Stockwell Day.

The social conservative movement remained very influential in the Canadian Alliance even after Day's defeat at the hands of Stephen Harper in 2002.

In the new [http://www.conservative.ca Conservative Party of Canada] that emerged from a coalition of Canadian Alliance members and Progressive Conservatives, social conservatives are still a force to be taken into account, but many Conservative Party supporters have been disappointed with what they regard as the minimal influence of social conservatism in the Stephen Harper government. In part this minimal influence can be explained by the fact of a minority government, but some would blame it also on Harper's own lack of enthusiasm for the changes social conservatives would advocate.

Oddly, there is a large relationship between fiscal liberalism and social conservatism among Canadian ethnic communities. These communities which traditionally vote Liberal, may now be considered fair game to9 the Conservatives.

Some Canadian websites with socially conservative viewpoints:
* [http://www.familyaction.org Canadian Family Action Coalition]
* [http://www.ccrl.ca Catholic Civil Rights League]
* [http://www.canadianalliance.org Canadian Alliance for Social Justice and Family Values Association]
* [http://www.focusonthefamily.ca Focus on the Family Canada]
* [http://www.realwomenca.com/home.html Real Women of Canada]
* [http://www.socialconservatives.ca SocialConservatives.ca]
* [http://www.socon.ca/index.html Social Conservatives United]