Published November 25, 2009 

What follows is an edited excerpt of a speech given to the Ontario Libertarian Party earlier this month.

In 1985, I began working for the National Citizens Coalition (NCC), Canada's leading conservative organization. I wrote news releases, dealt with the media, wrote fundraising letters and gave speeches.

I was a conservative, but after a while, being surrounded by conservatives aroused the contrarian in me: I wanted to be different. But what new philosophy could I adopt?

The answer came one day when I was talking to NCC president David Somerville, a dyed-in-the-wool conservative. The topic of libertarians popped up. He didn't like them. In fact, David contemptuously dismissed libertarians as "sex-crazed, drug addicts."

My reaction: "Where do I sign up?"

What really converted me, though, was an individual named Arthur Finkelstein.

Arthur was an American political consultant who worked for the NCC, giving political, media and fundraising advice. He was, truth be told, one of the chief reasons behind the NCC's success.

Arthur worked for just about every major Republican candidate in the 1980s and 1990s. He worked for Ronald Reagan, Jesse Helms, George Pataki and Al D'amato and for many other freedom-oriented causes.

And Arthur was a libertarian. He once told me one of the highlights of his life came when he interviewed Ayn Rand for his school newspaper.

Indeed for Arthur politics was really all about promoting freedom. He was not a hired gun, not a mercenary. He would only take on clients who would do the right thing.

That's why he worked for the NCC. He wanted to help us make Canada a freer and better place.

Arthur also firmly believed you could win an election while sticking to conservative values. He didn't buy into the notion that the only way conservatives could win was to moderate their views or dilute their principles. He believed all you needed to do was package and market your ideas in a way that would win support for conservatism.

It was through proper messaging that Arthur managed to win elections for numerous conservative candidates often against great odds. Unfortunately, Arthur left the NCC in 1996. It was a sad day for the organization. A sadder day for me.

But I vowed that I would continue to carry on Arthur's tradition of tough, principled pro-freedom messaging. And I guess that's why I became so critical of the Harper government when it became obvious that it was abandoning conservative principles and values.

I knew why the Tories were doing it. They believed a true conservative party couldn't win power. They saw it as a choice between principle or power and they chose power.

But as Arthur taught me, that's a false choice. Power and principle are not mutually exclusive. You can win power and stick to your principles.

The real problem with the Conservatives is they don't have an Arthur Finkelstein on their staff -- someone who knows how to communicate conservatism in a winning manner. And unfortunately, when a party starts to turn its back on its principles, it can end up in some strange ideological places. Just consider where the Conservative Party is today.

Earlier this year, I was amazed when Prime Minister Stephen Harper basically threw libertarians and fiscal conservatives under the bus. He implied they have no place in the Conservative party. This from a man who was once head of the NCC!

But of course, that gives the Libertarian Party an opportunity to scoop up some of these homeless libertarians and conservatives. And that's the value of the Libertarian Party: It gives voters who believe in freedom an alternative to the Conservative party.

What's more, the Libertarian Party is also performing a valuable role in helping to win the war of ideas. And when you think about it, that's the important fight -- more important even than winning elections.