For many years, Canada’s two major political parties were more distinguished by brand than philosophy.
Like Coca-Cola and Pepsi, Progressive Conservatives and Liberals were selling similar products. They looked the same but had different flavours. While some consumers were loyal to only one, others were happy to move back and forth between the two.
Here in the Maritimes, the PCs and Liberals were parties of the centre; one slightly to the right, the other slightly to the left.
But Canada’s politics and parties have changed. The gap between them has widened as they have moved further from the centre. If that’s now obvious in federal politics – where the Conservatives no longer even call themselves progressive – it ‘s maybe even more so in New Brunswick, where the brand names haven’t changed but the philosophies have.
Unlike many “progressive conservatives,” Blaine Higgs is a real conservative – fiscally and socially. …