Matt Fenwick, over at his non-eponymous Jerry Aldini website, has an excellent idea re: bridging the gap between the conservative and libertarian wings of the CPC:

There’s no way to make everyone happy here, so let’s shoot for “grudging acceptance”, and try to avoid effectively disenfranching [the so-cons who make up] 20% of Canadians and two-thirds of the CPC base. I’ll keep banging my cheap drum and ask this question:

Which of these outcomes is less preferable to you:
(A) Permitting gays and lesbians to marry
(B) Permitting the government to seize more responsibility for raising your children

Maybe I’m wrong, but my read on this is that whether you are a deeply religious social conservative, or a pur laine libertarian, your answer is (B). In the past 5 years, I’ve witnessed the leftish worldview of dozens of young parents collide with their own desire to do what’s best for their kids, and the kids thing wins every time.

Put another way, the CPC can become loud and proud promoters of family values, without getting caught up in crap like boobs on TV. Loudly oppose the daycare “system”, offering parents the choice (and increased resources through lower taxes etc.) to do what’s best for their own family. The Liberals can demagogue this issue however they like, but if it’s on the front page, it’s a winner for the CPC, and more importantly, for Canadian families.

So, for those of you who think cutting some poor b*st*rd’s capital gains taxes will cause the Canadian economy to explode into shards of Taxalicious Inequitude, here’s an alternative plan that would serve equally well my goal of ensuring the CPC policy platform does not turn out to be all-gay-marriage-plus-did-I-mention-my-fetus: rather than forcing institutional daycare on Canadians, government should reduce the crushing tax burden on parents to allow them to raise their own families in the way they deem best.

Someone pithier than I can probably easily turn this into an election slogan. I’d nominate the very funny Mike Brock, but then it would probably turn out to be something like “if you want the government raising your kids, then you are useless. I seriously don’t want anything to do with you, you pinko son of a bitch.”*

Heh.