I used to like the Post a lot. It wasn't ever fully conservative, but had a good mix of conservatives to listen to and liberal voices to roll my eyes at. Lately it seems that everyone has cucked out. And what do I find on today's front page? Not just a post saying Dominion has been deboonked, but Brian Mulroney telling us how good Biden will be. The only one still worth a damn is Rex Murphy.
Where is everyone getting their news these days?
Maybe it wasn't them who changed.
There's probably more truth in this than you'll get credit for. The National Post was always as anti-Trump. For years Conrad Black was the only one who ever had anything positive to say about him. As to the WuFlu it's hard to say where they would have lined up if this happened 5 years ago.
Still though, I don't feel like my opinions have drifted all that much. On social issues I more or less think the same things I believed in 2005 when I was voting NDP. On wealth redistribution I moved more right. I don't want anyone to starve but maybe there's a limit on how much 'free stuff' is too much. On regulatory/legal issues I came to realize that the government just isn't as effective a tool to fix the world as some would like to believe. I don't think any of these ideas are fringe. Why does it seem like it's so hard to find anyone in the public space that agrees?
Because the values you hold are liberal and conservative. But the problem is that one side will call you a fascist and the other side will call you a commie.
Also, nowadays with social media, people from different countries interact way more. If you're a Conservative from Canada and you hang out in English speaking conservative forums, then 90% of your interactions will be with American Conservatives. And Canadian Conservatism was never American Conservatism. Look at the policies of the CPC and compare them the Republicans. The CPC is closer to the Democrats. They were always closer to the Democrats. The CPC introduced social programs, like for example the Child Benefits, which would be labeled socialist or communist in the US. And they introduced them decades ago.
So in my opinion, young Canadian Conservatives are rather influenced today by American politics and not Canadian politics. That's why there is probably a disconnect between Conservative Media in Canada (which is run by Canadian Conservatives) and young Conservatives in Canada (which are heavily influenced by American Conservatism).
You may be right that the CPC is more aligned (culturally) with the Republicans, but I would make the case that they are more aligned with the Reagan/Bush/McCain Conservatives than the Trump Republicans. Trump pushed Conservatism towards populism and away from "traditional" conservative values as you describe it. The current leader of the Republican party is a man who was married to three women, cheated on every one of them and paid porn stars to fuck him while his wife was alone at home taking care of their newborn son. This is as far from traditional values as it gets. There is no constraint with Trump, something you allege is a core principle of Conservatism. Canadian Conservatism is constraint. Look at Scheer. The guy had to quit because he took money from the party to pay for the private school of his children. This was and is a no go with Conservatives in Canada. If Trump had young children and took money from the Republican Party, do you really think that he would have been kicked out? No. Same goes for all the other non-traditional aligned stuff Trump did.
I live in Saskatchewan. In a riding the Conservatives won with almost 80% in the last election. Almost anybody here thinks that Trump is piece of shit. The majority of Conservatives in Canada would absolutely reject the current state of Conservatism from the US. The only Conservatives in Canada that are attracted to Trump's style are young Conservatives from the cities. They have absolutely no clue what the base of Canadian Conservatism makes up. And these young city Conservatives make up a negligible amount. They have no influence on Canadian Conservatism.
Furthermore you will have to take into account the role of the church. In the US churches, especially Evangelical Churches, have tremendous amount of power. In Canada ... absolutely zero influence. The Church in Canada died in Quebec with the Quiet Revolution.
Because politics turned into sports. Trump isn't a Conservative. But he can play one for his fans.