So what happens now?

So it seems the Coalition has backed down for at least a while, and may eventually give up on its plans, but who knows? The developments of the last couple of days don't really affect the intent of our campaign, and we'll be ready and waiting to see what happens next!

Thanks for your continued support

Message from a Conservative MP

Who obviously must remain anonymous.

I have to say I was skeptical about this blog to begin with, coming as it does at a time when party unity must be paramount in all our minds. This evening, however, I am less certain of this. As you may know, the Cabinet today was forced to vote to prorogue Parliament to avoid an opposition coalition, while the Conservative caucus voted against the prorogation. I cannot help but think that, if Jim had been leader, the Cabinet vote would not have been whipped as it was, and caucus would have been properly consulted. In that light, if things go the way it's looking, I will be supporting Jim as the best man for the leadership job. Keep up the good work.

Open Letter to David Higginbottom

Conservatives for Prentice want to express our sincere apologies for the awkward position that we have placed David Higginbottom in. Many of us have had the pleasure of knowing and working with him for a few years now and we know that he is a man of the utmost decency and loyalty.

As he expressed on this blog, the Conservatives for Prentice campaign has put him and other members of the Calgary Centre--North Conservative EDA in a very difficult position. Even though all of us feel strongly that Mr. Prentice would unequestionably be the perfect choice for the next Conservative Leader, understandably many people are not able to openly express this.

We can not express enough that we do not wish to divide the party, our intentions are simply to prepare for the future in the face of a potential illegitimate NDP-Liberal coalition.

Again, we apologize to Mr. Higginbottom

Sincerely,

Conservatives for Prentice

Prentice reaches out to environment critics

h/t Joseph Q. Public:

OTTAWA and TORONTO – Through a series of casual chats on Parliament Hill, Environment Minister Jim Prentice has personally invited his opposition critics to join him at the UN's global climate-change talks taking place next week in Poland.

It is a small but symbolic gesture that signals a clear change in tone on the environment file

If the government had acted more like this while still advancing the Conservative agenda in a less agressive way, we might not be staring into the abyss!

Clearing something up

In response to some comments on previous posts, we want to make clear that this site is not in any way endorsed or supported by Jim Prentice or any of his staff.

Why Now?

Let us start by saying that the authors of this blog have tremendous respect for Stephen Harper and his whole Conservative caucus. But it is looking more and more likely that the Liberals and NDP will form a coalition with the support of the BQ and become the government on December 8th. For more information on this, please see:

Article 1

Article 2

Article 3

As you can see it looks like the Governor General might well say yes to such a proposal from the opposition parties. Such a coalition would be WRONG and would NOT represent the desire of Canadians who made a statement on October 14th that they wanted a Conservative Government. But if it does happen, we believe the Conservative Party has no one to blame but itself. Scrapping public welfare for political parties was the right thing to do, but Stephen Harper made a mistake and underestimated the opposition parties. If our Party loses power after only two months in office since the election, we cannot keep Harper on through another term. We have failed to get a majority government on his watch. And now his mistake could make Stephane Dion the next prime minister, every Conservative's worst nightmare. 

This is not us trying to find fault with Stephen Harper. He has been a good and capable leader who has brought about a Conservative government, something that most people (and most of all the mainstream media) never thought possible. But the problem is that there is something keeping more Canadians from supporting him, maybe spooked by some of the things in his history like the "northern European welfare state" statement (which was taken out of context but still hurt perception of Harper). We believe that Jim Prentice has none of these handicaps and would perform better at connecting with the average Canadian.

If we are still in office after December the 8th, the authors of this blog will continue to support Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his leadership. But if we lose power before Christmas, we will be in favour of a change at the top of the Conservative Party, and our choice for the job will be Jim Prentice!

Why Prentice?

Jim Prentice is the M.P. for Calgary Centre--North, and was first elected in 2004. Read Jim's biography here

Jim Prentice is an experienced politician with the integrity and smarts to be Canada's next Prime Minister. Our Party needs two things above all at this time in its history: to present a strong front on the economic crisis and to keep reaching out to the moderate voters that we made some progress with in the 2006 and 2008 elections.

As industry minister in the last government, Mr. Prentice proved that he would be a steady hand in managing our country's economic affairs. In regards to centrist voters, he has a double appeal:

1. As Indian Affairs Minister, he played a major part in the prime minister's residential schools apology, and made sure that the 2006 Budget had more funding for aboriginal issues than the last four Budgets combined. 
2. As the current Minister of the Environment, he is well placed to reach out to Canadians who are concerned about the environment and climate change.

All in all, Mr. Prentice has what it takes, and we are proud to support him!