List of conservative parties in Canada

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This is a list of conservative parties in Canada. There are a number of conservative parties in Canada, a country that has traditionally been dominated by two

conservative. The span between the 2015 Newfoundland and Labrador provincial election and the 2016 Manitoba provincial election was the first time since 1943 when no party with the word "Conservative" in its name formed the government in either a provincial or federal jurisdiction.[1][2]

The federal conservative movement

Progressive Conservatives

Main articles: Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942) and Progressive Conservative Party of Canada

The

Canadian confederation and was known under various names but was generally referred to unofficially as the Tories or "Conservative Party". In 1942, it became "Progressive Conservative" upon the election of Liberal-Progressive Premier of Manitoba John Bracken
as leader in that year.

The Conservatives, and later the Progressive Conservatives, formed the

official opposition
under the names "Liberal-Conservatives", "Unionists", "Conservatives" or Progressive Conservatives".

The demise of the Progressive Conservatives and rise of Reform

In 1993, the Progressive Conservatives went from

New Democratic Party
.

The Reform Party was a

first past the post electoral system
the Reformers won many more seats due to their strong regional support in the West versus the thin national support for the PCs across Canada.

In the 1997 election, the PCs and Reform continued to run approximately at par in popular vote and both increased their share of seats: Reform from 52 to 60 and Progressive Conservatives from two to 20. Despite this, neither rivalled the Liberals for power and the Reformers tried to "unite the right" with their United Alternative initiative. This talks were non-starters for many Progressive Conservatives who saw themselves as the national party of Sir John A. Macdonald, however the United Alternative did attract some provincial Blue Tories and renamed itself the "Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance", known publicly as the Canadian Alliance.

In the

Peter Mackay was elected at the 2003 PC leadership convention. Mackay began a process of talks which led to the merger of the PCs with the Alliance and the creation of a new Conservative Party of Canada. This alienated many Red Tories
, including Clark, who refused to join the new party.

Today's Conservative Party of Canada

The successful merger of the Progressive Conservatives and the Canadian Alliance was followed by moderate success in the 2004 election in which the new party won 99 of 308 seats, an increase from its total of 72 of 301 seats prior to the election and 78 seats won between the two parties in 2000. Detractors pointed to the fact, however, that the new party received 7% less in popular vote than the total of the two forerunner parties in 2000. The Liberals, however, were reduced to a minority government.

Outgoing Canadian Alliance leader

too far to the right". These claims were bolstered by former PC Prime Minister Clark's lukewarm endorsement of the Liberals, having said Canadians would be best to choose "the devil you know (Liberal leader Paul Martin
) than the devil you don't (Harper)".

Martin had come into office on December 12, 2003, following a long battle with his predecessor,

finance minister under much of Chrétien's term and was expected to dominate politics and win a commanding majority, perhaps of record size, once he was at the helm. The merger of the conservative movement was not viewed as a large impediment to this goal when it occurred almost simultaneously with Martin's rise to power. However, the sponsorship scandal
, which saw some Liberal supporters fraudulantely acquire government funds, and particularly Martin's response to it caused him to slip in the polls.

During the 2004 campaign, Harper actually led in the polls for some time, but Martin launched a successful series of

attack ads painting Harper to the right. This campaign was actually given a boost by Harper, who began to muse about winning a majority government, when polls showed most Canadians were uncomfortable with such a prospect, and by some Conservative candidates who made statements on controversial social issues
.

Harper briefly mused about giving up the leadership following the election defeat but carried forward with considerable optimism despite trailing the Liberals significantly in the polls. The

motion of confidence in the government were prevented by the high-profile crossing of the floor by Belinda Stronach. Stronach had finished second to Harper in the leadership race just a year before but joined the Liberals saying Harper was risking national unity by trying to defeat the government with the aid of the Bloc Québécois
.

During the summer, the Conservatives slipped back in the polls again and there were renewed questions of Harper's leadership and the potential success of the new party. One poll showed that 60% of Canadians thought Harper should resign.[3] In the fall session of Parliament, despite trailing in opinion polls, Harper tried again to defeat the government. This time he was joined by all opposition parties and his motion of no confidence was passed on November 28, 2005.

Harper set out on a campaign focussed heavily on policy which allowed him to dominate the headlines for the first weeks of the campaign. The Liberals opted to campaign low key until after the Christmas holiday season. By January, the Liberals began their campaign in earnest, but by this time Harper had begun to capture the minds of Canadians and the Liberals were struck by a Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigation into an income trusts scandal. The Conservatives began to take a lead in the polls, and following a strong showing in the debates among the main party leaders by Harper, the Conservatives surged into a convincing lead. The Liberals again launched a series of attack ads against Harper, however polls showed that Canadians had grown comfortable with Harper over the course of the first few weeks in which he ran a positive campaign virtually unopposed by the Liberals.

In the 2006 election held on January 23, the Conservatives won a bare plurality of seats, besting the Liberals 124 to 103. They formed a minority government with just 40.3% of the seats in the House of Commons. In 2018, sitting Conservative MP Maxime Bernier (Beauce) quit the Conservative Party to form his own right-leaning party: the People's Party of Canada.

Unrepresented federal conservative parties

Provincial parties

A number of Canadian provinces still have "Progressive Conservative" parties, or parties that once used that name and remained so independently of the federal change. Each party remains the largest conservative one in its respective province.

Progressive Conservatives (PCs)

The

Victor Albert Stephens—in a 1978 by-election. The United Conservative Party which forms the government in Alberta, was a merger of the "Progressive Conservative Association" and the Wildrose Party
.

Quebec provincial conservatives

In Quebec, the

Quebec Conservative Party founded in 2009. The Action démocratique du Québec was a conservative split from the Quebec Liberal Party and existed from 1994 until 2012 when it merged with the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ). At its peak in the 2007 Quebec election, the ADQ won over 30% of the vote and formed the official opposition. Équipe Autonomiste
was formed by former ADQ supporters after its merger with the CAQ.

Other provincial conservative parties

The following conservative parties have seats in provincial

legislatures
:

Provincial conservative parties unrepresented in legislatures

Other conservative movements

The

third parties in the House of Commons of Canada
for several decades.

References

  1. ^ Coyne, Andrew (December 2, 2015). "Andrew Coyne: Conservatives need rebirth before they can rebuild". National Post. Retrieved December 4, 2015.
  2. ^ Cosh, Colby (November 10, 2015). "Colby Cosh: Is conservatism on the way out?". National Post. Retrieved December 4, 2015.
  3. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-01-18. Retrieved 2006-01-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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