Millennials could rewrite conservatism
EVERY SANE PERSON IN THE WORLD WISHES TO PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT AND OBJECTS TO ITS POLLUTION. — CONRAD BLACK
As their party prepares to select a new leader this month, a young group of elected Conservatives are emerging as the new faces of conservative politics in Canada. It’s a major political development that will have significant implications for the future of the Conservative party in particular and the state of conservatism more generally.
Conservative politics, like much of Canadian society, have been shaped by the baby boom generation for more than 40 years. The economic, cultural and political clout of those born between roughly 1946 and 1965 has overwhelmed the generations before and after them. We live, fundamentally, in the world that they created.
The boomers’ enduring influence has forestalled an intergenerational handoff. Millennials, who were born between 1981 and 1996, may now be the country’s largest generation but they’ve still struggled to establish themselves and rise to positions of leadership in academia, business and other parts of society.
Conservative politics have been no different. Of the Harper government’s final cabinet in 2015, for instance, nearly 60 per cent of ministers were baby boomers. There were only two, Pierre Poilievre and Michelle Rempel Garner, who could plausibly claim millennial status.
But things are changing. As the coronavirus has come to define our politics, a new millennial generation of Conservative politicians is playing an oversized role in the unfolding conservative response.
In Ottawa, several young Conservative members of Parliament have distinguished themselves during this extraordinary period. Michael Barrett ( b. 1984) has been front and centre, working closely with Poilievre to prosecute the case against the Trudeau government on the WE Charity scandal. Garnett Genuis ( b. 1987) has been a powerful champion for human rights, advocating for a stronger government response to the horrific treatment of Uyghur Muslims in China. Raquel Dancho ( b. 1990) has proven to be a dynamic communicator and a strong parliamentary performer. Dane Lloyd ( b. 1990) has shown a capacity for policy entrepreneurship. And a dozen or so other millennials have helped to establish this elected group as a growing power within Conservative party politics.
It’s not limited to the federal level either. Millennials such as Ontario’s education minister Stephen Lecce ( b. 1986) and Alberta’s post-secondary education minister Demetrios Nicolaides ( b. 1982) have similarly been central to their respective governments’ short-term responses to the coronavirus as well as to their long- term recovery plans.
The age of a new millennial generation of elected Conservatives seems to have finally arrived. Their rise is notable for two reasons.
The first is that millennial Conservatives weren’t generally part of t he intra- conservative conflicts that predated the creation of the Conservative party in 2003. Most weren’t even members of the two legacy parties.
The Conservative party is all they’ve known.
Speculation about the fracturing of the party following the upcoming leadership vote would thus be anathema to them. They have no interest in squabbling about ideological or personal gripes from 20 years ago. Party unity is their default setting, and defeating Justin Trudeau is their overriding priority.
The second is that this cohort of Conservatives is a bit philosophically and temperamentally different. Millennial Conservatives didn’t come of age during the big ideological debates about the role of markets versus the state in the 1970s and 1980s. Some weren’t even alive during the Reagan presidency. Instead their conservatism has been shaped by 9/ 11, their exposure to campus radicalism, and the internet. So while they support basic conservative ideas about low taxes and limited government, they’re not necessarily defined by them.
They’re probably on balance more socially conservative ( with the exception of opposition to same- sex
THEY DIDN’T COME OF AGE DURING THE BIG IDEOLOGICAL DEBATES ABOUT THE ROLE OF MARKETS VS. THE STATE.
marriage) than the typical Conservative MP and more in step with contemporary conflicts about speech, sexuality, and the rise of cancel culture. This is a group that’s as comfortable taking the fight to social media on matters of culture and identity as it is debating flat taxes and free trade.
It’s still too early to tell how these millennial Conservatives will choose to exercise their growing influence within Conservative ( and conservative) politics. They’ve shown that they have ambition, a keen understanding of conservative ideas and constituencies, and the skill set to build something new and dynamic.
But thus far their political and policy pronouncements have affirmed rather than challenged the Conservative party’s conventional playbook.
How millennial Conservatives choose to confront new and emerging questions about supply chains and industrial policy, big t ech monopolies, Canada’s place in the world, the urban- rural economic divide, and so on, could reshape the direction of the Conservative party for a post- COVID world.
It’s up to them to seize the moment. If they do, they can write the future of Canadian conservatism.