26 May Shoring up the wrong base?

Paul Withers and Jean Laroche were among the first to speculate that Rodney MacDonald’s promise to lock up 15-year-olds found abroad after curfew was simply an effort to shore up his base.

But is the Progressive Conservative Party base in Nova Scotia really characterized by cranky, youth-hostile, law-and-order right-wingers? Or is that some Reform-influenced caricature of the Conservative base?

The party of John Hamm, Finlay MacDonald, and Robert Stanfield was traditionally long on moderation and centrism. The notion that yahoo sloganeering will discourage longtime Tories from slipping away to the Liberals in hopes of blocking an NDP government looks like a sign of desperation not discernment.