Greg Kaza’s article on Canadian Red Tory and former prime minister Brian Mulroney (“Bush’s Red Tory,” Vital Signs, August) was well informed and insightful almost throughout. But near the end, Mr. Kaza erroneously stated that Reform Party leader Preston Manning “has no intention of abandoning his conservative base.” In fact, he already has. Except for one issue—government spending and the related areas of taxation, deficit, and debt—the Manning party is barely distinguishable from Canada’s others.

Former supporters differ on when the Reform Party went off the rails. For some, it was during the 1997 federal election campaign, when Reform joined the status quo parties in refusing to discuss immigration. Since then, Manning has made it his priority to merge Reform with the Red Tories of the Progressive Conservatives to create a new group called United Alternative, which he desperately hopes will be acceptable to corporate donors and the Toronto media. Typical of this supposed populist’s leadership style, Manning threatens to expel Reform MPs who oppose the plan. Consequently, the party is on the verge of splitting.

This project has so preoccupied Manning that he has had little to say about anything else, except to proclaim his wholehearted support for Canada’s participation in bombing the Serbs.

Some Canadians say this is a disappointing end to a party that once held promise. Others say the party’s direction was apparent soon after its founding in 1987. But it would take an extreme optimist—or liberal—to say that Manning has done Canadian politics any good.

        —Greg Klein
Calgary, Alberta