Let Them Call Us Names

An open letter to my fellow delegates to the Conservative Convention

Dear Fellow Conservatives:

I am invigorated by the hopeful and positive message which permeated the halls of our happy gathering. Away from the main conference, Canadians from across this great country exchanged ideas at lunch tables, listened to one another’s regional issues over coffee, and worked to understand the diversity that is our nation. The positive message is this: we are greater together and the best is yet to come. It is now each of our responsibility to use full voices to echo that message in our own communities.

There will be those who, when they return to the echo chamber of linear television and print media, despair that no matter what we do there is an insurmountable challenge ahead in convincing Canadians to join us on our path to restoring the promise of this land whose vast expanse of land is matched only by its immense natural endowment of wealth.

To the recently dispersed delegates, to the politically agnostic, and even to the partisans of other parties I say this:

In the crucible of war, Winston Churchill admonished a terrified Britain: “Do not let us speak of darker days: let us speak rather of sterner days.” To paraphrase Churchill further, these are not dark days; these are great days – the greatest days our Party has seen; and we must thank God that we have all been given a role to play in making these days decisive ones in the history of our country.

Let them call us names. It doesn’t matter what they call us for so long as we know what we answer to: the call of duty to advance this great nation’s interests and to carry on - nay, to fulfill - the mission that began centuries ago.

Let us not be discouraged by polls even if talking heads would have us out of the race before a vote is cast. It is then that I know the power of our movement will be revealed. Sometimes, we are tested by a delayed revelation. Recall that in June of 2024, it was not until the wee hours of the morning, after a quasi-victory speech by the Liberal candidate, and media assuming the status quo that our power was revealed. And that revelation changed the course of recent history.

Let us not regret our past or attempt to shut the door on it. Let us look forward and continue to articulate a positive, expansive, and hopeful vision for this great nation. Let us celebrate our core identity as Canadians; not hide it or attempt delete our proud heritage as we have seen under Liberal leadership. Let us dedicate ourselves to carrying a hopeful message from Cape Spear to Tofino and from Pelee Island to Ellesmere Island.

In two hundred years, let history record that we held fast - that we kept our promises and our faith - and that we resisted and rejected the cunning and the ruthless cynicism of the smiling elites that held our values, our history, and our destiny cheap; that we flatly refused to let our country accept the yoke of servitude and shame; that we earned and held the privilege to govern, and that we did so justly, honourably, and in a manner that lit a path across this pioneer ground for those yet to come.

Conservatively yours,

Don Stewart, CFA

Former Member of Parliament