Arthur Milnes
Northern News Services

NNSL (Feb 26/99) - The idea of a new national political party is drawing yawns from Northern politicos.

"I think it's just a ploy by Reform to gain seats in Ontario," Western Arctic PC Association president Dave Ramsay said when asked how he felt about the weekend's Unite the Right conference in Ottawa.

"I think it is the last gasp of a party trying to make itself into something it's not -- national."

More than half of the delegates -- mostly Reformers, some Tories and others -- voted Sunday to start a new political party in order to battle the governing Liberals.

Numerous commentators and partisans from all sides have suggested in recent years that the rise of Reform has simply split the conservative vote in Canada. Many also argue Reform has risen as high as it can because voters in seat-rich Ontario will never support a party led by Manning.

The idea of uniting Canada's Progressive Conservatives and Reformers has been a hot topic since 1997. In the federal election that year, Reform failed to win even a single of Ontario's 101 seats.

Mike Watt, who ran under Reform's banner in the Western Arctic in 1997, agrees.

"I think we've reached as far as we can with Mr. Manning," he said. "Unfortunately, much of it (anti-Manning feelings) is image more than anything but it is still there."

Watt also said he fears a merge with the Tories might moderate some of the very policies and positions which brought him to Reform in the first place.

"I'm more of a social conservative," he said. "I'm a family type of guy. I support those family values. So, I don't like the trend towards gay marriages and that sort of thing."

Overall, Watt said he is cautious about the possibility of a new party.

From the governing side, Western Arctic Liberal Association president Ruth Spence said a stronger force in Canadian politics would benefit all. She doesn't think this merger is the one to do it, she said.

"I'm quite in agreement we need a strong opposition," she said. "But I don't think this group has a hope in hell. I don't think these two (Reform and PC) will ever be able to get together."

"I don't want to be in power because we're the only choice, I want to be in power because we're the best."

As for Ramsay, he says his party has no interest in spending more time on the opposition benches with Reformers.

"As a party, we recognize ourselves as number 2," he said. "We're not an opposition party. We want to be the government again."