Goodbye to the Western Standard

The free market eats one of its own

Originally published in FFWD October 25, 2007 by Drew Anderson in Viewpoint

Woe is the state of conservatism in the world, when those that preach fiscal responsibility seem to have the hardest time keeping their operations in the black, governments and a magazine among them.

Western Standard, the ranting right-wing rag that purported to represent the opinions of our corner of the world, was unable to attract enough attention in its worldview to keep it afloat. According to publisher Ezra Levant, speaking recently to the Globe and Mail, it will likely carry on in some form on the Internet, but we are thankfully without its continued presence at our newsstands. Why is it that conservatives, who constantly lecture on fiduciary responsibility, whether it be from the podium or in print, have such a hard time keeping their own finances in order?

The Conservative provincial government is the highest spender per capita in the country. To give it credit, it is debt-free, but that is largely due to excessive spending cuts in the ’90s, and the sea of oil we happen to live upon. The increased infrastructure, health and social spending we see today is an attempt to make up for those very same cuts, made by the same party, though with a different face. The Conservative provincial government, as indicated by the recent royalty review, has also done a poor job of ensuring Albertan’s financial interests were protected in the extraction of our natural resources. It hasn’t even kept proper records on finances in the tar sands.

Each year, the Conservative provincial government announces larger-than-expected budget surpluses, something now imitated by its federal counterpart and ideological brothers in arms. These surprise surpluses are never really a surprise, and are just a political ploy to curry favour with the electorate by unveiling extra funds, while hiding the fact those funds were available in the first place for social spending. Regardless, it doesn’t instill confidence in their ability to mind the books.

It’s almost too obvious to point out the situation south of us, where a conservative president has turned a large surplus into a terrifying deficit and helped speed his country towards a recession.

In the same Globe interview, Levant says that his magazine’s end is not an indication of a downturn in conservative support in Alberta and across Canada. This point is open for debate, especially in light of the inadequacies of our own government becoming more and more clear. What isn’t open for debate is the fact that Levant’s magazine, for whatever reason, couldn’t pay the bills.

The Western Standard operated for only three years as a print publication, taking up the reins of the also defunct Alberta Report magazine. Alberta Report was started by Ted Byfield, a well-known right-wing curmudgeon who also helped found the Reform Party. That magazine, after passing into the younger right-wing hands of Link Byfield, was also unable to sustain the finances necessary to continue, despite once boasting an impressive distribution.

Perhaps Levant should have followed Byfield’s strange lead and started the Standard as a quasi-religious endeavour, paying its commune-living writers $1 a day. Surely that would have bought some much-needed time and helped build up revenue.

Maybe Levant should have instituted his own spending cuts, like the conservative governments he lauds Levant could have reconsidered his driving practises and pumped some of the money he pours into his Hummer back into the magazine. That car isn’t fiscally responsible no matter how you look at it. But cuts aren’t for conservative leaders or pundits, they are for the rest of us.

Levant, a former National Post columnist and communications director for Stockwell Day’s disastrous stint as Canadian Alliance leader, banked on his showmanship and ability to antagonize in order to keep his marginal magazine afloat.

Decisions like printing the Prophet Muhammad cartoons that sparked such outrage around the world were nothing but irresponsible attention-seeking, couched in free-speech rhetoric. It turns out that being a jerk on a national level doesn’t help sell magazines, it just makes you look like a jerk.

In the Globe and Mail article, Levant says the publication was never purely an economic enterprise, but a moral one as well. It’s a good thing, too, because it never did turn a profit. Many would also argue his claim about the moral returns he insists it engendered.

This is what he had to say to Fast Forward in August 2006, while defending some of the blogs that were supported on his magazine’s website: "Sometimes people are rude and bigoted and sometimes people are anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic and that entire spectrum is allowed on our website, because unlike in Fast Forward, I believe that in the marketplace of ideas the good ideas will beat out the bad ideas." Turns out that in the marketplace of ideas, or just in the plain old-fashioned marketplace of which Levant is such a fan, being a jerk is just being a jerk, and being conservative does not mean you’re good with your money.