OTTAWA - It's been over three and a half years since Conservative partisans convened to chart their party's future course at a founding policy convention in Montreal.
A great deal has happened to Stephen Harper's unite-the-right movement since March 2005 -- including a pair of election victories and the longest running continuous minority government since Confederation.
So when delegates convene for the party's second national convention in Winnipeg this week, in the midst of a global economic crisis and a change of White House administration, one might anticipate that plenty of overdue policy spade work would be in order.
Don't count on it, say longtime party observers.
The "biennial" Winnipeg convention, which runs Thursday through Saturday, promises to be big on congratulatory bonding and organizational networking and rather light on the old-school policy debates that once defined Canada's most passionate conservatives.
"This is not your grandfather's Reform party," said delegate Faron Ellis.
Ellis, a political scientist, heads the Citizen Society Research Lab at Alberta's Lethbridge College, where he has researched the party from its Reform roots through the Canadian Alliance and its merger with the Progressive Conservatives.
"This is at best a brokerage-party style convention," Ellis said of this week's gathering. "Policy, and even governance of the party, is not what it's about."
He notes the total time scheduled for debating party constitution and policy matters is down 30 per cent to eight hours from the 11.5 allotted at the 2005 convention. Moreover, the party has scheduled competing, feel-good events that overlap many of the policy workshops.
Harper will appear only briefly at the start of the convention, likely Thursday evening, before jetting off to Washington for economic talks with global leaders.
Bob Plamondon, whose latest book Blue Thunder: A History of the Conservative Party is to be released in January, said the Winnipeg convention comes at an opportune time for a party celebrating its Oct. 14 election win -- but not so much for a government grappling with any number of tough policy choices.
"Rarely does a convention do a government much good," said Plamondon. "They are rarely important -- but occasionally can cause real headaches."
He cites as an example the Progressive Conservative convention of 1967 that adopted the Deux Nations model for Quebec and the rest of Canada, which complicated the life of Robert Stanfield when he was elected party leader later the same year.
Plamondon suspects Harper and his closest advisers aren't really looking forward to the Winnipeg convention, even as the party faithful rightfully treat it as a celebration.
"The prime minister likes to be in control," he said, and policy conventions can challenge that.
At least one failed, divisive motion has been reprised from 2005.
It's a proposal by Ontario MP Scott Reid to change the party constitution to weight riding participation at conventions by membership numbers. MP Peter MacKay argued vehemently in 2005 that the change would abrogate the PC-Alliance merger deal, which gave equal representation to all 308 riding associations and prevents the merged party from being dominated by delegates from Western Canada.
Reid did not return messages seeking comment on his motion. Whether it makes it to the convention floor will be a telling indicator of just how much of a brokerage party the Conservatives have become.
"I am looking forward to a very exciting convention, and indeed anything that goes to the convention has gone there democratically, and I very clearly believe in the democratic right of all our riding associations," party president Don Plett said in an interview.
"And if stuff gets enough support, it's going to be there."
What happens to policy resolutions after the Tory-blue bunting is stripped from the convention hall is another matter.
Just consider a couple of the successful 2005 resolutions that were ignored by Harper in office and could prove downright uncomfortable in the current governing climate.
Balanced budget legislation? Not a chance.
Eliminate subsidies to for-profit businesses? Not in light of central Canada's manufacturing meltdown.
Party delegates in 2005 also voted to make income tax the top tax reduction target. The GST wasn't even mentioned among five tax-cutting resolutions.
Yet before the year was out, Harper launched a Conservative election platform that highlighted a two-point cut to the GST.
That kind of backroom policy-making would have driven populist Reformers to distraction and almost certainly have resulted in rhetorical blood on the floor at the next party policy convention.
Ellis predicts that won't happen in Winnipeg.
"Like Liberals in the past, being in government makes people happier," he said.
"The compromises you used to fight over and say 'Never!' are easier to swallow when you're in power. For the most part, winning is a hell of a lot more fun than losing.
"It should be a big love-in."
