Canadian Alliance

Federal Canadian political party formerly known as the Reform Party, occupying the right wing of the Canadian political spectrum, with Capital Punishment and anti-abortion leanings. The Reform party originated from the ashes of the moderate Progressive Conservative Party as it was destroyed following the reign of Brian Mulroney. The power base of the Alliance/Reform is in the Alienated West, which feel under-represented and bitter about Ontario and Quebec.

Originally, the CA was officially called the Conservative Reform Alliance Party. The acronym spells "CRAP", and this fact has been used to argue that the CA do not always think things through.

In the summer of 2000, the CA held a leadership contest won by Stockwell Day.

Canada's political spectrum (left to right): New Democratic Party Bloc Quebecois Liberal Party Progressive Conservative Party Canadian Alliance

The Reform Party of Canada is one of the bookends that was Brian Mulroney's strategy for building his party--the other became what is now known as the Bloc Quebecois.

The irony of a party founded upon the Alienated West, feeling under-represented, and bitter about Ontario and Quebec, is that in the final stages of its leadership campaign, between Stockwell Day and Preston Manning--the former leader of the former Reform Party--they are fighting it out in Ontario, for Ontario members. And it is doing this with the supporters, and political machine of defeated leadership contender Tom Long, Mike Harris backroom operator.

No matter who wins, he will have to campaign in Ontario for Ontario voters. This is the political map of Canada. For any party to be government, it must win Ontario. The fate of all previous prairie populist parties has been sealed by their failure to do do this.

Reform couldn't. If the Canadian Alliance does this, will it then become the very thing it doesn't want to be?

The Canadian Alliance is looking to be in dire straits at the moment.

Though it is a direct descendant of the Reform party, and indeed is pretty much the same party renamed, as far as I am concerned, there are a few major differences.

First of all, there seems to be more political infighting in the party than there is in the rest of the Canadian government - or at the very least, it's plainly obvious to anyone who watches the news or reads it.

Most importantly is that lately (about a week or so now, so around the start of October, 2001), they have no funding. Unlike the Reform party, led by Preston Manning (RefoOooOOoOOorm!), the party has run up debts. Manning was very firm against this, as he believed the party should be run as the government would be run - debtless - under that party.

The six major Canadian banks, however, have decided that the Canadian Alliance is no longer good for the money - and as such, they are now cut off from any further borrowing until their credit situation improves.

In my opinion, the CA has very little time left, as it has seemingly been mismanaged and misdirected from the start, and has very little holding it together. At least, that's the way it seems, anyway.