Conservative Party of Canada Parti conservateur du Canada | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Founded | July 1, 1867 (1867-07-01) |
| Dissolved | December 10, 1942 (1942-12-10) |
| Merger of | Parti bleu Upper Canada Tories |
| Succeeded by | Progressive Conservative Party of Canada |
| Ideology | |
| Colours | Blue |
TheConservative Party of Canada (French:Parti conservateur du Canada) was a majorfederal political party inCanada that existed under that name from 1867 before being renamed theProgressive Conservative Party in 1942. The party adhered totraditionalist conservatism and its main policies included strengthening relations withGreat Britain,nationalizing industries, and promoting high tariffs.
The party was founded in the aftermath ofCanadian Confederation and was known as the "Liberal-Conservative Party" until it dropped "Liberal" from its name in 1873. Primarily under the leadership ofJohn A. Macdonald, the Conservatives governed Canada from 1867 to 1873 and from 1878 to 1896. During these two periods of governance, the party strengthened ties with Great Britain, oversaw the construction of theCanadian Pacific Railway, significantly expanded Canada's territorial boundaries, and introduced theNational Policy of high tariffs to protect domestic industries.
During its third period of governance from 1911 to 1921, the Conservative Party introduced theincome tax andwomen's suffrage for federal elections, and most notably oversawCanada's involvement inWorld War I. In 1917, the partyintroducedconscription, triggering a national divide known as theConscription Crisis. As a result of the crisis, the party joined with pro-conscription Liberals to become the "Unionist Party", which existed until 1920. The Conservatives were defeated in the1921 election.
The Conservatives briefly formed government in 1926 and from 1930 to 1935. During the latter period, the Conservatives were faced with theGreat Depression, although the party was widely unpopular for its handling of it, leading to their defeat in1935. In 1942, the Conservatives attempted to broaden their base by electingManitoba ProgressivePremierJohn Bracken as their new leader atthat year's leadership convention. Bracken agreed to become the party's leader on the condition that it change its name to the "Progressive Conservative Party of Canada".
The roots of the party are in the pre-ConfederationProvince of Canada. In 1853, thebleus fromCanada East and theTories and moderatereformers fromCanada West joined together in a coalition government under the dual premiership ofAllan MacNab andA.-N. Morin. It was out of this coalition that the Liberal-Conservative Party was formed.
Macdonald became the leader of the Conservative Party and formed the first national government in 1867. The party brought togetherultramontane QuebecCatholics, pro-tariff businessmen,United Empire Loyalists, andOrangemen. One major accomplishment of Macdonald's first government was the creation of theCanadian Pacific Railway which also led to thePacific Scandal that brought down the government in 1873.[5]
The Liberal-Conservatives under Macdonald returned to power in 1878 by opposing the policy offree trade orreciprocity with the United States and promoting, instead, theNational Policy which sought to promote business and develop industry with high tariff protectionist measures as well as settle and develop the west.[6]
The principal difference between the Conservatives and the Liberals in this period and well into the twentieth century was that Conservatives were in favour ofimperial preference (a protectionist system in which tariffs would be levied against imports from outside theBritish Empire) and strong political and legal links with Britain while Liberals promoted free trade andcontinentalism (that is closer ties to the United States) and greater independence from Britain.[7]Macdonald died in 1891 and, without his leadership, the Conservative coalition began to unravel under the pressure of sectarian tensions between CatholicFrench Canadians and British imperialists who tended to be anti-French and anti-Catholic. The government's mis-handling of the grievances that aroused theRed River Rebellion and theNorth-West Rebellion, and its hanging of their leaderLouis Riel), and theManitoba Schools Question exacerbated tensions within the Conservative Party and suppressed much of the support among Quebecois for the Conservative party, a problem only smoothed over by the 1980s.
Free trade between Canada and the U.S. was the major issue of the1911 election.Wilfrid Laurier's Liberals, in favour of increased trade with the U.S., were swept from power.Robert Borden led a new Tory administration that emphasised a revitalisedNational Policy and continued strong links to Britain. Borden had built a base in Quebec by allying with anti-Laurier Quebec nationalists, but, in government, tensions between Quebec nationalists and English Canadian imperialists made any grand coalition untenable.[8]
World War I created a further strain as most Quebecers (plus pacifists and many workers, farmers and socialists across the country, especially immigrants) were unenthusiastic about Canadian involvement in what they saw as a foreign, and particularly British, conflict, while Borden's supporters, most living in English Canada, supported Canada's war effort and its policy ofconscription of men for the war (seeConscription Crisis of 1917).[9]
The attempt to turn the Conservatives into a hegemonic party by merging with Liberal-Unionists failed as most Liberals either joined the newProgressive Party of Canada or rejoined the Liberals under its new leaderWilliam Lyon Mackenzie King. One critical issue in this split was free trade - farmers were particularly hostile to Tory tariff policy and free trade was a key issue in the creation of the Progressives while the Conscription Crisis destroyed any remaining Conservative base in Quebec for generations, leaving them with even less support than they had before the Union government.
Borden's successor,Arthur Meighen formally attempted to make the Unionist coalition permanent by creating the "National Liberal and Conservative Party" but most Liberals ended up returning to their old party and some Conservatives balked at what they saw as an attempt to destroy the Conservative Party.John Hampden Burnham, MP forPeterborough West, quit the government caucus to sit as an Independent Conservative and resigned his seat in order to contest it in a by-election on his position.
Meighen's party was defeated by the Liberals in the election of 1921 coming in third behind the Progressives. At March 1922 caucus meeting the party voted to revert to its original name of the Liberal-Conservative Party.
The Liberals were reduced to aminority government in the1925 election. The Conservatives won a plurality of seats in theHouse of Commons, but King was able to stay in power with the support of the Progressives and form aminority government. King's government was defeated in a vote in the House of Commons within months and Prime Minister King askedGovernor GeneralByng to call a new election, but Byng refused and asked Meighen to form a government.
Meighen's government was defeated three days after taking office by a vote in the Commons, leaving no choice but a new election. The general election produced a Liberal victory. Wiseman argues that Liberals emphasized Canadian nationalism while Conservatives "exuded British imperialist pride". The "King–Byng Affair" played primarily to Canadian nationalist sentiment because it was felt the Governor General, a British government appointee, had overstepped his bounds and that this was a sign of excessive British influence in Canadian politics. The political impact of the King–Byng Affair therefore favoured the Liberals.[10]
Meighen was replaced as Tory leader byR. B. Bennett, a millionaire Calgary businessman at the1927 leadership convention, the first time a Tory leader was chosen by this method. Bennett led the Conservatives to power in the1930 election, largely as a result of the inability of the Liberal government (or any government in the western world) to deal with theGreat Depression. Bennett promised to end the economic crisis in three days by implementing the old Conservative policy of high tariffs and imperial preference.
When this policy failed to generate the desired result Bennett's government had no alternative plan. The party's pro-business, pro-bank inclinations provided no relief to the millions of unemployed who were now becoming increasingly desperate and agitated. The Conservatives seemed indecisive and unable to cope and rapidly lost the confidence of Canadians becoming a focus of hatred, ridicule and contempt. Car owners who could no longer afford gasoline reverted to having their vehicles pulled by horses and dubbed them "Bennett buggies".[11][12]
R. B. Bennett faced pressure for radical reforms from within and without the party:
Bennett attempted to prevent social disorder by evacuating the unemployed torelief camps far away from the cities but this only exacerbated social tensions leading to the "On-to-Ottawa Trek" of unemployed protesters who intended to ride the rails from Vancouver to Ottawa (gathering new members along the way) in order to bring their demands for relief to Bennett personally. The trek ended in Regina on July 1, 1935, when theRoyal Canadian Mounted Police, on orders from the Prime Minister, attacked a public meeting of 3,000 strikers leaving two dead and dozens injured.
In desperation, Bennett had attempted to save his government by reversing itslaissez-faire policies and, belatedly, implementing "Bennett's New Deal" based on theNew Deal ofFranklin Delano Roosevelt. Bennett proposed progressive income taxation, a minimum wage, a maximum for work week hours, unemployment insurance, health insurance, an expanded pension program, and grants to farmers. The Conservatives' conversion to the concept of awelfare state came too late, and the Conservatives were routed in the October1935 election, winning only 40 seats to 173 for Mackenzie King's Liberals.[12]
The Bennett years left the Conservatives in the worst shape they had ever been – not only did enmity towards the Conservatives continue in Quebec as a legacy of theConscription Crisis of 1917, but they were now reviled in the West for their perceived insensitivity to the needs of farmers in theDust Bowl and Westerners turned to Social Credit or the CCF making the Conservatives their fourth choice. The Conservatives would have to wait twenty years before their fortunes in Western Canada revived.[13]
Bennett's successor,Robert Manion, was chosen at the1938 leadership convention which also officially changed the name of the party from the Liberal-Conservative Party to the National Conservative Party.[14] The Conservatives fought the1940 election under Manion with a different name, "National Government".
With the election taking place duringWorld War II, the party ran on a platform of forming a wartimenational unity government. Manion proposed to have Liberal and Labour supporters of the coalition concept run as "National Government" candidates nominated through open riding conventions in which members of any party would be allowed to vote. The concept did not pan out and, in practice, the National Government candidates were all Conservatives. Despite the new name, the party failed to gain any seats, and Manion was personally defeated in hisriding.
The idea for running under a "National Government" platform was likely inspired by theUnion Government which the Conservatives formed duringWorld War I in coalition with some dissident Liberals.
After Manion's defeat, the Conservatives again turned toArthur Meighen for leadership. Senator Meighen was appointed the party's leader for the duration of the war in November 1941 by a unanimous vote at a national conference of several hundred party delegates after a motion to hold aleadership convention was defeated. He resigned from the Senate and attempted to enter the House of Commons from a safe Conservative seat but was trounced by the CCF in a February 1942by-election in York South. His party's agitation for a re-enactment of conscription inWorld War II only further alienated Quebec from the Conservatives. Meighen resigned as leader following his defeat.
Later that year, the Conservatives attempted to broaden their base by electingManitoba ProgressivePremierJohn Bracken as their new leader at the1942 leadership convention. Bracken agreed to become the party's leader on the condition that it change its name to the "Progressive Conservative Party of Canada".
| Name | From | To | Riding as leader | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sir John A. Macdonald | July 1, 1867 | June 6, 1891 | Kingston, ON (1867–18, 1887–91); Victoria, BC (1878–82); Carleton, ON (1882–88) | 1st Prime Minister |
 | Sir John Abbott | June 16, 1891 | November 24, 1892 | Senator for Inkerman, QC | 3rd Prime Minister |
 | Sir John Sparrow David Thompson | December 5, 1892 | December 12, 1894 | Antigonish, NS | 4th Prime Minister |
 | Sir Mackenzie Bowell | December 21, 1894 | April 27, 1896 | Senator for Hastings, ON | 5th Prime Minister |
 | Sir Charles Tupper | May 1, 1896 | February 6, 1901 | Cape Breton, NS | 6th Prime Minister |
| Sir Robert Laird Borden | February 6, 1901 | July 10, 1920 | Halifax, NS (1900–04, 1908–17); Carleton, ON (1905–08); Kings, NS (1917–21) | 8th Prime Minister |
| Arthur Meighen | July 10, 1920 | September 24, 1926 | Portage la Prairie, MB (1908–21, 1925–26); Grenville, ON (1922–25) | 9th Prime Minister |
 | Hugh Guthrie(interim leader) | October 11, 1926 | October 12, 1927 | Wellington South | |
| R. B. Bennett | October 12, 1927 | July 7, 1938 | Calgary West, AB | 11th Prime Minister |
 | Robert Manion | July 7, 1938 | May 14, 1940 | London, ON | Resigned after lost seat in 1940 election |
 | Richard Hanson(interim leader) | May 14, 1940 | November 12, 1941 | York—Sunbury, NB | |
| Arthur Meighen | November 12, 1941 | December 9, 1942 | Senator for St. Marys, Ontario | Resigned after defeat in attempt to enter House of Commons viaYork South by-election |
| Name | From | To | Position | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alexander Campbell | July 1, 1867 | January 26, 1887 | Government Leader. Opposition Leader from November 5, 1873, to October 7, 1878 | |
| SirJohn Joseph Caldwell Abbott | May 12, 1887 | October 30, 1893 | Government Leader | also Prime Minister from June 16, 1891, to November 24, 1892 |
| SirMackenzie Bowell | October 31, 1893 | March 1, 1906 | Government Leader | also Prime Minister from December 21, 1894, to April 27, 1896 |
| SirMackenzie Bowell | October 31, 1893 | March 1, 1906 | Opposition Leader | |
| SirJames Alexander Lougheed | April 1, 1906 | November 2, 1925 | Opposition Leader, Government Leader from October 10, 1911, to December 28, 1921 | Unionist Party from 1917 to 1920 |
| William Benjamin Ross | January 1, 1926 | January 10, 1929 | Opposition Leader. Government Leader from June 28 to September 24, 1926 | |
| Wellington Bartley Willoughby | January 11, 1929 | February 3, 1932 | Opposition Leader. Government Leader from August 7, 1930 | |
| Arthur Meighen | February 3, 1932 | January 16, 1942 | Government Leader until October 22, 1935. Opposition leader until 1942 | Former prime minister (1920-1921, 1926). Also National Conservative Leader (2nd time) from November 13, 1941 |
| Charles Colquhoun Ballantyne | January 16, 1942 | December 10, 1942 | Opposition Leader | Became Senate Leader when Meighen resigned to run for a seat in the House of Commons. Conservative Party becameProgressive Conservative Party of Canada as of December 11, 1942. Ballantyne served as first Progressive Conservative Senate leader until 1945. |
| Election | Leader | Party name | # of candidates nominated | # of seats won | +/– | Election Outcome | # of total votes | % of popular vote | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1867 | John A. Macdonald | Conservatives,Liberal-Conservatives | 112 | 100 / 180 |  100 | 1st | 92,656 | 34.53% | Majority |
| 1872 | Conservatives, Liberal-Conservatives, oneConservative Labour | 140 | 100 / 200 |  | 1st | 123,100 | 38.66% | Minority | |
| 1874 | Conservatives, Liberal-Conservatives, oneConservative Labour | 104 | 65 / 206 |  35 | 2nd | 99,440 | 30.58% | Opposition | |
| 1878 | Conservatives, Liberal-Conservatives | 161 | 129 / 206 | 64 | 1st | 229,191 | 42.06% | Majority | |
| 1882 | Conservatives, Liberal-Conservatives | 168 | 136 / 215 | 7 | 1st | 208,544 | 40.39% | Majority | |
| 1887 | Conservatives, Liberal-Conservatives | 203 | 111 / 215 | 25 | 1st | 343,805 | 47.41% | Majority | |
| 1891 | Conservatives, Liberal-Conservatives | 212 | 117 / 215 | 6 | 1st | 376,518 | 48.58% | Majority | |
| 1896 | Charles Tupper | Conservatives, Liberal-Conservatives | 207 | 98 / 213 | 19 | 2nd | 467,415 | 48.17% | Opposition |
| 1900 | Conservatives, Liberal-Conservatives | 204 | 79 / 213 | 9 | 2nd | 438,330 | 46.1% | Opposition | |
| 1904 | Robert Borden | Conservatives, Liberal-Conservatives | 205 | 75 / 214 | 4 | 2nd | 470,430 | 45.94% | Opposition |
| 1908 | Conservatives, Liberal-Conservatives | 211 | 85 / 221 | 10 | 2nd | 539,374 | 46.21% | Opposition | |
| 1911 | Conservatives, Liberal-Conservatives andNationalist Conservatives | 212 | 132 / 221 | 48 | 1st | 636,938 | 48.90% | Majority | |
| 1917 | Unionist Party | 211 | 152 / 235 | 20 | 1st | 1,070,694 | 56.93% | Majority | |
| 1921 | Arthur Meighen | National Liberal and Conservative Party | 204 | 49 / 235 | 103 | 3rd | 935,651 | 29.95% | Third Party |
| 1925 | Conservatives | 232 | 114 / 245 | 65 | 1st | 1,454,253 | 46.13% | Opposition | |
| Minority | |||||||||
| 1926 | Conservatives | 232 | 91 / 245 | 23 | 2nd | 1,476,834 | 45.34% | Opposition | |
| 1930 | R. B. Bennett | Conservatives | 229 | 137 / 245 | 46 | 1st | 1,836,115 | 47.79% | Majority |
| 1935 | Conservatives | 228 | 39 / 245 | 98 | 2nd | 1,290,671 | 29.84% | Opposition | |
| 1940 | Robert James Manion | National Government | 207 | 39 / 245 | | 2nd | 1,402,059 | 30.41% | Opposition |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
.svg)
