McGill-Queen's University Press Blog

Pages from the Conservative Handbook: A Liberal strategist reveals a Conservative's secrets.

Growing up in Calgary, and attending the University of Calgary as I did, I can state that Professor Tom Flanagan was regarded on campus as a cool, cerebral teacher of political science, and not one to be trifled with. He was not, for example, the sort of fellow who would tolerate intellectual laziness or too many papers handed in late. Although I did not know it in those days, Flanagan was also a conservative’s Conservative. He was a true believer. As one of the six actual Liberals in Alberta in those days, I regret not enrolling in his class.

In this engrossing 336-page book, the good professor remains a Conservative, to be sure. But he also reveals himself to be considerably less fearsome, and less intimidating, than he did so many years ago. Most notably, Flanagan is refreshingly candid about the mistakes that his team—the team of Conservative leader Stephen Harper—made in its rise to federal power. Harper’s Team: Behind the Scenes in the Conservative Rise to Power provides us with an honest and (to the denizens of political backrooms, at least) exceedingly helpful handbook on how to win elections.

It is more than a captivating book—it is an important work, too. Unlike most political scientists—who have never stuffed an envelope, never knocked on a door in a canvass and never done any of the other grunt work that makes or breaks political campaigns—Flanagan knows whereof he speaks. He, unlike many who breathe the rarefied air of academe, has practised what he preaches. He has fundraised, he has answered phones, he has worked in the grimy political trenches. He’s done it all. As such, his book stands head and shoulders above the books of most of his academic colleagues—the ones who preach but seldom practise, who talk a lot about that which they have never done. This one is the real deal.

Flanagan’s book provides a significant amount of detail about every aspect of running leadership campaigns, and general election campaigns too. From tour to policy to media to fundraising to speechwriting, it is all here, and useful to every politico, irrespective of political affiliation. And, to Flanagan’s credit, he recalls that lessons are to be learned from campaigns that win, as well as the ones that don’t. As such, Flanagan meticulously dissects the Conservatives’ 2004 election loss, analyzing what went wrong and why. From my point of view, he accepts far too much of the blame for that narrow defeat. In so doing, however, he goes up in the estimation of the reader. He certainly did in my eyes.

Now, before you start to wonder overmuch why this exiled federal Liberal is so impressed by Conservative Tom Flanagan and his book about Conservatives, some disclosure is in order. I have not told many people this story until now. During the early days of the Reform Party—a fledgling political party in which Tom Flanagan was intimately involved—there were many problems. Most notoriously, these problems included a plan by white supremacists and neo-Nazis—most of them involved in the Heritage Front, and most of them in the greater Toronto area—to infiltrate and take over Reform Party riding associations. It was the subject of many newspaper reports and even an investigation by Canada’s Security Intelligence Review Committee.

Around that time, I published a book with HarperCollins called Web of Hate: Inside Canada’s Far Right Network. It was the result of a decade-long investigation into Canada’s racist right. And, around that time, I was also special assistant to one Jean Chrétien, leader of Her Majesty’s Official Opposition. Notwithstanding where I worked—and notwithstanding the fact that we Liberals were much despised by the nascent Reform movement—one day Tom Flanagan and another man contacted me. They wanted to speak to me about a pressing and sensitive matter, the story that the neo-Nazis were seeking to infiltrate and control the Reform Party from within. Flanagan and his friend wanted to know if I would look at the names of new Reform members in the Toronto area and tell them if those people were racists.

"Flanagan and his colleagues were serious about expelling neo-Nazis from the nascent Reform movement. "

It was an astonishing request, given the viciousness of partisan politics and the infrequency of genuine bipartisanship. But the request impressed me a great deal. Flanagan and his colleagues were serious about expelling neo-Nazis—so serious, in fact, that they were willing to contact me, then working in the lair of their sworn political enemy. They were willing to take a political risk to rid themselves of racists.

With Chrétien’s approval, I assisted Flanagan and his friend. And, over the course of a few conversations, I was able to confirm the neo-Nazi or white supremacist involvements of several new Reform members. All were expelled by then-leader Preston Manning.

In the intervening years, I have often wanted to tell that tale. Whenever I encounter a hot-headed young Grit or Tory—the Grit convinced that the Reform Conservatives are a front for extremists; the Tory convinced that Liberals will never hesitate to depict them as bigots to win power—I have wanted to tell that story. Now that Tom Flanagan has written his warts-and-all book—revealing, as it does, my own previously secret unwillingness to participate in a Liberal plot to smear Flanagan and his conservative cohorts—I can tell my own little story about why I think it is unfair to dismiss Flanagan (as some have done) as an anti-aboriginal polemicist. Or someone who is not worth listening to.

Tom Flanagan is worth listening to. Although no longer part of Stephen Harper’s inner circle, the good professor has provided readers with candid and revealing insights into the Conservative rise to power. And, along the way, he has shown himself to be a very fine teacher, indeed.

Harper’s Team is, I think, the best book written to date about the new Conservatives—the ones who wrested power away from the old stalwarts like Brian Mulroney and Joe Clark and the aforementioned Preston Manning, and have in the process crafted a political movement that will be more enduring. If you want to understand the new Conservatives—and if you want an excellent primer on how political campaigns work—this book is invaluable.

It also makes me rue my decision never to join the other students in Tom Flanagan’s class!

- Warren Kinsella, Literary Review of Canada, January / February 2008

Flanagan speaks on upcoming Throne Speech in Lethbridge Herald

From 10 October 2007 --

Expect a few surprises in next week’s Throne Speech. But don’t expect a snap federal election.

That’s the word from political scientist Tom Flanagan, a long-time adviser to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Don’t expect any surprises in this week’s provincial elections, either, he said, Tuesday. Flanagan predicted Premier Danny Williams and his Conservatives would sweep Newfoundland — he was proven correct later in the day — but said Ontario’s Conservatives have blown their chances in that election.

"The Liberals will win a majority in Ontario," Flanagan predicted during a brief appearance in Lethbridge. Author of a recently released political memoir, Flanagan has returned to his political science post at the University of Calgary after years as a senior adviser to Harper and Reform Party leaders as they morphed into Alliance and eventually Conservative colours.

The prime minister will catch some people by surprise when his Throne Speech is read next week, Flanagan said in an interview. "I know his style. There will be a couple of small surprises," at least. "He likes that."

No longer in Harper’s inner circle, Flanagan admitted he doesn’t know what the government’s new agenda will include. But he said there are still election campaign promises to honour, including more tax cuts.

"The government is well off," and it’s time the Conservatives cut corporate taxes as promised. "They should cut that second point off the GST as well," lowering the rate to five per cent ahead of their five-year target. "They can afford to do that earlier."

Flanagan said Harper could also get to work on promises to allow provinces to opt out of federal programs, taking cash instead. "That will be popular in Quebec," where the province already operates its own pension plan.

As for the federal Liberals, their biggest challenge seems to be setting some priorities. Flanagan said it’s not enough to simply oppose everything the government proposes. "They’ve got to put together a platform."

Instead of continually criticizing the Tories for disregarding the Kyoto agreement, for example, Flanagan said Liberal leader Stephane Dion should offer a plan — if he’s elected — to bring Canada up to speed on the issue.

"What is the Liberals’ plan now?" he asked.

First in the Liberals’ priorities, Flanagan suggested, should be getting their house back in order. Dion — who won with less than 20 per cent support — needs to draw more people in the party’s organization and Flanagan said he needs to spend a lot more time fund-raising. "The Conservatives are in a good position," with plenty of talent and money at their disposal. "They’re ready to go any time."

Flanagan, in Lethbridge to speak at a public session organized by the political science department at the University of Lethbridge, also stopped at the campus bookstore to sign copies of his latest book.

"Harper’s Team: Behind the Scenes in the Conservative Rise to Power" was recently previewed as a cover story in Maclean’s magazine. And it’s drawn comment from plenty of readers — including Dion, who believed it offers proof of Harper’s "hidden agenda."

That’s surprising, Flanagan said, because he always advocated moderation and "incrementalism" in moving toward more conservative policies. Many other political figures have also called him to share their views since the book was released this fall.

But not his old boss, Stephen Harper. "I haven’t heard anything from him," said the author. "I think he’s too busy for literary criticism."

- Dave Mabell

Tom Flanagan -- a special to the Globe and Mail

From Saturday's Globe and Mail

September 22, 2007 --

"CALGARY — Admit it – you'd love to see a federal election. Governments may be boring, but campaigning is so much fun. Sadly, this week's Quebec by-elections make a quick call for a national vote much less likely. After doing so badly, neither the Liberals' Stéphane Dion nor Gilles Duceppe of the Bloc Québécois will be in a hurry to pull the plug.

That's because the results were a dream come true for Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Not only did the Conservatives gain a seat while their main opponents each gave up one, the Liberals' loss was right in their leader's backyard. Mr. Dion imposed his candidate on what had been the safest of ridings and then hyped the Outremont race by spending so much time there that he must have damaged his already shaky reputation.

As a result, political junkies waiting for Parliament to reconvene on Oct. 16 can forget about seeing the opposition parties defeat the government right after the Speech from the Throne and spark an election this fall – Mr. Harper's fifth campaign in six years. Much as he might like an early race, election dates are now fixed by legislation and he can't just ask the Governor-General to dissolve Parliament. The opposition must pass a no-confidence vote, and that just got a lot less likely.

And why would he want to go to the polls? Because Stephen Harper is trying to do what no Conservative leader since Sir John A. Macdonald has been able to do – build a viable, long-term political coalition with a broad enough appeal to win elections and, if it falls short, enough strength of character and self-discipline to avoid immolating itself on a bonfire of recrimination. In other words, he wants the Conservatives to replace the Liberals as the natural governing party of Canada.

By winning the last election, Mr. Harper's campaign team demonstrated its ability to learn from experience and to correct its mistakes. And there were plenty of them. When the team came together in 2001, its members were more like "friends of Stephen" than professional campaigners – although passionate about getting their man elected, they had a lot to learn.

For example, at the beginning, the Canadian Alliance campaign's organization was simply unworkable (too many people who didn't know each other in too many cities) and the plan for selling and processing of memberships was inadequate. In 2003, several months were wasted in the Perth-Middlesex riding's by-election (although the loss led directly to the merger with the Progressive Conservatives) and, in 2004, there was a failure to respond to negative ads, poor communication of the platform and the absence of an indigenous campaign in Quebec. As well, there was the late lapse that caused a Conservative slump and a devastating Liberal counterattack at the end of the race.

But the team learned – in politics you have to, or you won't be back – and the learning process has continued since the party came to power. For example, Mr. Harper has seen first-hand how difficult it can be to make good on some campaign promises.

But there are certain things the party still must do if it is to forge the political dynasty the Prime Minister has in mind.

I am no longer directly involved with the party's campaigns; after managing three of them and helping to organize a fourth, I've gone back to my day job as a political-science professor. However, from this tranquil perch, let me summarize what I learned before leaving – my Ten Commandments of Conservative Campaigning.

1. Unity The party contains libertarians, social conservatives, populists, Red Tories, Quebec nationalists and Canadian nationalists, plus many people who don't care much about any of these "isms." They all need each other. They can never win unless they try to understand each other and reach compromises that they can all live with.

2. Moderation Canada is not yet a conservative or Conservative country. The party can't win if it veers too far to the right of the average voter. In times of perceived crisis, a conservative party can win by positioning itself further to the right, as shown by the victories of Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, Ralph Klein, Mike Harris and Gordon Campbell. But Canadians don't perceive themselves in crisis right now.

3. Inclusion The traditional Conservative base of anglophone Protestants is too narrow to win modern Canadian elections. While preserving that base, we have to appeal to francophones, Roman Catholics (44 per cent of the population, according to the 2001 census) and other racial and religious minorities. The key to the long-term success of the Liberals has been their cultivation of minority groups. Conservatives have to take away that advantage.

Conservatives will not win a majority government simply by adding seats in Quebec, although that will be part of the formula. They also must add seats elsewhere and that means doing better with ethnic voters. The suburbs of Toronto, Vancouver and, to a lesser extent, other cities are now filling up with new Canadians who, based on their social values and capitalist work ethic, should be natural Conservative voters, but who are still emotionally tied to the Liberal Party.

Conservatives must break the Liberal hegemony over Italian, Chinese, South Asian and other ethnic voters. That doesn't mean getting all their votes, but it does mean getting a bigger share, in order to win the suburban ridings that a conservative party would ordinarily expect to win.

4. Incrementalism Conservatives must be willing to make progress in small, practical steps. Sweeping visions have a place in intellectual discussion, but they are toxic in practical politics.

Incrementalism is the twin of moderation. Small conservative reforms are less likely to scare voters than grand conservative schemes, particularly in Canada, where conservatism is not yet the dominant public philosophy. In any case, incrementalism is intrinsically the right approach for a conservative party.

Modern conservatism has its origins in Edmund Burke's critique of the sweeping radicalism of the French Revolution. "We must all obey the great law of change," he wrote. "It is the most powerful law of nature, and the means perhaps of its conservation. All we can do, and that human wisdom can do, is to provide that the change shall proceed by insensible degrees."

5. Policy We have to develop well-thought-out policies and communicate them effectively. Since conservatism is not yet dominant, our policies may sometimes run against conventional wisdom. The onus is on us to help Canadians understand what they are voting for.

A political campaign is an extended exercise in rhetoric, mobilizing ethos (character), pathos (emotion) and logos (reason) to persuade millions of people to vote for the candidates of your party. People don't vote just for good ideas; they vote for potential rulers whose character they can trust and who inspire passions of loyalty and support.

Conservative statecraft has to be more than the logical deduction of policies from philosophical premises if it is going to succeed. It has to be an artistic combination of sound policy with the deft communication of conservative values, such as integrity, reliability and fortitude.

6. Self-discipline The media are unforgiving of conservative errors, so we have to exercise strict discipline at all levels.

There must be a complete plan for the campaign, so the leader is not forced to improvise. Staff must avoid the limelight and let the communications department deal with the media. Candidates must talk about the platform, not their personal beliefs, and (except for designated spokesmen) concentrate on local rather than national media. Members and supporters must be careful and dignified in all their communications, even e-mail and Web postings.

The media can be savage with any party that lacks discipline, but they are particularly suspicious of conservatives. There is no point complaining about it; the situation is the same everywhere in the democratic world. But it means that conservative parties must put special emphasis on self-discipline to win elections.

7. Toughness You cannot win by being Boy Scouts. Conservatives have to conduct thorough opposition research and make use of the results, run hard-hitting, fact-based negative ads, and do whatever is legally possible to jam our opponents' communications and disrupt their operations. The Conservatives were ambivalent about playing hardball in 2004. In 2006, however, Tory advertising went for the jugular and it paid off. Their war-room messages also scored heavily against the Liberals (especially with their campaign jet's "beer and popcorn" rejoinder and the income-trust investigation).

Another point for consideration is how to respond when other parties play hardball. Mr. Harper set the right tone during the last campaign in a squabble with the Liberals' Paul Martin about who was in bed with the separatists. When the media asked him if he wanted an apology, he said simply, "I don't go around demanding apologies. I can take a punch."

8. Grassroots politics Victories are earned one voter at a time. Door-knocking, voter identification and Get Out The Vote programs make up the holy trinity that wins close races. Conservatives must extend their lead over other parties in ground-level campaigning and grassroots fund-raising.

All political parties need to raise money, identify supporters and mobilize volunteers, so they all make use of the same methods, to varying degrees. But grassroots politics is particularly critical. A conservative party stresses individual choice and responsibility in a competitive marketplace. That gives it a special responsibility to deal with voters as individuals, to find out what their concerns are, and to give them a stake in the political process by making it easy for them to donate time and money.

Moreover, the Conservative Party draws heavily on the legacy of Preston Manning. His vision of the Reform Party as a neo-populist revival did not lead to forming a government, but it triggered an ongoing organizational revolution of political parties. As Mr. Manning's heirs, Conservatives have to be in the forefront of creating a party that is easy for individuals to join, encourages donation and volunteerism and is committed to winning elections one voter at a time.

9. Technology We are living in the biggest, fastest-moving communications revolution in human history. Each election campaign features new technologies. We must continue to be at the forefront in adapting new technologies to politics.

Right now, Conservatives are the grassroots party of Canadian politics. They have to keep using technology to mobilize the grassroots in ways that no one has ever dreamed of. As students of German philosopher Friedrich Hayek, they believe in the market as a process of discovery. It is only logical for them to be in the forefront of applying to politics the technological marvels produced by human ingenuity in a market economy.

10. Persistence Campaigning is a tough business and mistakes are frequent. We have to correct errors, learn from experience and keep pushing ahead.

The Harper team certainly has no grounds for complacency. The Liberals are cunning and experienced and have enormous bench strength. They are the best-established brand in Canadian politics and the Conservatives still have a lot to learn from them.

The New Democrats and the Bloc Québécois are not national parties in the same sense, but they are equally tough competitors on their own turf. The next election will be not just a street fight but a brawl, as the other parties go all-out to recapture ground taken away from them.

But even if complacency is not in order, the team should have a little confidence, based on its achievements. In just a few years, they were able to stop the supposedly unstoppable Mr. Martin. The next time out, they have a chance to make Mr. Harper the one who is unstoppable.

Tom Flanagan is professor of political science at the University of Calgary and a former Conservative campaign manager. This essay for The Globe and Mail is drawn from his new book Harper's Team: Behind the Scenes in the Conservative Rise to Power, published today by McGill-Queen's University Press. "

*** Harper's Team is currently being sold in book stores.

Harper's Team in the Quill & Quire

From Vol. 78, No. 8, October 2007 --

"Harper’s Team is a lively and intriguing firsthand account of Stephen Harper’s rise to power, as well as a valuable historical document that does not pretend to be unbiased. With an infectious excitement about the process, Tom Flanagan, a University of Calgary political science professor who played a key role in Harper’s two leadership campaigns and his national campaigns, recounts the trials of fighting an election. His account of the democratic process in action quickly becomes the foundation for a subtly anti-democratic treatise on political strategy.

Flanagan, a committed classical liberal inspired by Friedrich Hayek, the guru of Thatcherism and Reaganomics, is clearly thrilled to have broken from campus life and bloodied himself in the political fray, and he is ecstatic that his team has emerged victorious. This book is above all a victory song, one that recounts tales of courage and perseverance; of near-misses, mistakes, and painful blows endured and overcome; and of shrewd strategy and finely executed tactics.

It is perhaps the glow of the victor’s fervour that has caused him to forget himself and reveal the truth he worked so hard to mask. He writes as though his readers are political allies who share his enthusiasm, ready to employ his market strategies, his "Ten Commandments," in the final push of what he calls a "domesticated civil war." What else could explain his ability to deride the Liberal claim that Harper has a "hidden agenda" while simultaneously outlining the man’s agenda and the techniques he has used to hide it?

Flanagan reveals that, for him, Harper’s electoral victory is a major step toward the ultimate goal: "The work is far from done. Canada is not yet a conservative or Conservative country." He argues, however, that conservatives must not frighten off the voters by stating or implementing their agenda too suddenly. In politics, one must appear to be moderate, initiate conservative policies incrementally, and, once a position of power is attained, "you control the government, you choose judges, appoint the senior civil service, fund or defund advocacy groups, and do many other things that gradually influence the climate of opinion."

Flanagan’s look behind the scenes tells us about the agenda Harper is concealing and the methods he uses to conceal it. Clearly, his hope is that by the time Canadians realize where Harper is leading them, he will have already achieved his goal."

- Robert Meynell, a Senior Public Policy Research Fellow at the Dominion Institute