Social Conservatism - A Mainstream Value

Rebecca Walberg analyzes the election results in her Ottawa Citizen article, discovering quite an interesting trend: candidates that were open about about their conservative position on social issues tend to have stronger support than those who choose to distance themselves from "controversial" social issues. While the Conservative party tends to take the Social Conservative votes for granted, there are fewer SoCons willing to vote for someone who doesn't share their values just because the other front-runner is much worse:

When voters feel disenfranchised by a lack of candidates whose values they share, they tend to stay home, and this is part of the story of the 2008 election.

Overall voter turnout was 59 per cent, an unprecedented low for a federal election. The CPC lost 11 ridings by fewer than 1,500 votes, six of which had turnout below even this year's dismal average. Potential Conservative voters who stayed home rather than support a party that does not support them played a decisive role in these ridings, and doubtless in many others.

In a perfect world, parties would let their MPs and candidates express themselves freely as a matter of principle. An increasingly informed electorate expects to engage its potential representatives on all issues, not only those pre-approved by the federal government.
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If principle won't sway the Conservative party to adopt this philosophy next election season, perhaps the "Bruinooge effect" will. There is largely untapped support among Canadian voters for social conservatism and for politicians who defend traditional morality and aren't ashamed to say so.

If the CPC won't court their vote, they will stay home until someone else does.

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Let's see if the party's national council is willing to learn from its own mistakes. Let's see what direction the party chooses at its convention next week. If they choose not to appeal to their Socially Conservative base - they better don't complain when the CHP or some other group of disgruntled Conservatives takes those voters away from them. (Or - when they just stay home.)