NDP: ‘small C’ Conservatives !?!?!?

I admit I was taken aback when I saw what part of the interview the Herald chose to emphasize. However, upon reflection, I'm glad they did. It offers the opportunity to open discussions on a wide variety of topics. (Full story)

First, just what was said? The story quotes me fairly accurately:
"Take the Conservative Party of Canada, for instance. Mark Sandilands . . . says the Conservative party has changed so much, it’s really no longer very conservative. Yet many people still vote Conservative out of habit.
There is, however, a party that believes in old-fashioned conservative values.
“Now, the NDP is the small C Conservative Party,” Sandilands says.
Sandilands, who officially opened his new campaign office Friday at 519 7 St. S." (Click on the link in the headline to read the whole story.)
What I also said is that the Conservatives, who are no longer Progressive (and in fact deserve a new label: UPC for Unprogressive Conservative Party), are closer to being libertarians. A libertarian is someone who "who, in general, supports government policies that favor individual liberty in all matters, whether economic, personal, or social (http://www.csun.edu/~dgw61315/libFAQ.html); in other words, those who don't believe government should have much of a role at all the lives of people. Contrast that with long gone Conservatives such as John A. MacDonald (let's build a national railway), John Diefenbaker (let's develop the North and let's have a Bill of Human Rights), or even RB Bennett (let's have a national broadcaster and call it CBC). Do you know which US president freed the slaves? Abraham Lincoln. Which party? Republican.

How about balancing the books? Figures from the federal Department of Finance confirm that, on average, NDP provincial/territorial governments stayed out of deficit 49% of their years in office from 1984-85 to 2005-06, compared to 39% for Conservatives and only 23% for Liberal governments. (Interestingly, this study seems to have been taken out of the Department of Finance online material.)

New Democrats believe in the moral stance that we are our brothers' keepers, that we are responsible custodians or even sharers of this planet, and that one shouldn't take more than a fair share.