Conservatives Should Be Less 'conservative'?

The National Post today tells us that Stephen Harper's next move should be to make the Conservative Party of Canada less 'conservative' at least when it comes to social policies:

The fact is that Canada is a socially liberal nation: If he hopes to win in the future, Mr. Harper will need to leave no doubt about his party's positions on issues such as abortion and gay rights -- perhaps even going so far as embracing gay marriage as a means to take the bigot card away from the Liberals. At the very least, Mr. Harper must make it perfectly clear that the more extreme members of his caucus -- the Cheryl Gallants and Randy Whites of this world -- are firmly on the party's margins.

Do the writers at the Post have no sense of history? What lead to the splitting of the old Progressive Conservative Party? Eh? The fact that social conservatives did not have a home there is what split the PC Party apart. So why does the Post think silencing their voices now will lead to different results?

And the idea that the Conservative Party should embrace gay marriage in order to 'take the bigot card away from the Liberals' is laughable. Do the writers think the Liberal Party would then just say 'Oh yeah the Conservatives are nice guys now, go ahead and vote for them since they aren't scary anymore.'? The Liberal's of course would just raise the bar to another level. Gay marriage itself is an issue where the Liberal's pulled this stunt. They were against it, and I will note were elected while being against it, until they decided to use it as a wedge issue.

So this suggestion by the Post is obsurd both by the facts that first you CAN be elected and be against gay marriage, and second that the Liberal's will NOT stop calling conservatives bigots and racists.

The Post has jumped on the bandwagon by saying the Conservative Party of Canada failed during the past election. Sure alot of people were expecting a Conservative Party minority government but so what? The party won 99 seats and probably would have won plenty more if Ontarians didn't get a case of the worries at the last minute. Does this suggest that the Conservative Party should radically alter its platform? I personally don't see how anyone can make the case that they should.

Ontario just a few years ago was a conservative powerhouse so to speak. Why can't it be again? As well, being from the Maritimes, I can tell you that Maritimers will vote for 'conservative' issues when presented with the option. Quebec will probably be a harder nut to crack so I'll leave Quebec for someone more qualified to comment on the region. Anyways...

The Conservative Party should not change course now. How old is the party again? Less than a year. Give it time. The members of the party should go to Parliament and do their jobs. Be consistant and honest. Don't talk down to people. Don't propose to do anything rash when in power but don't hide your convictions either.

The Conservative Party led in the polls for much of the election campaign. Just because they didn't win as many seats as the pundits expected does not mean a radical overhaul of party policy is necessary.

And finally, why does the Post think another liberal party under a conservative banner would be good for Canada? I voted for the Conservative Party in the last election because that party met more of my needs as a citizen then any of the others. If the Conservative Party of Canada emulates the Liberals why does the Post think I will vote for them?