Unionist Party (Canada)

Unionist Party centre-right
Politics of Canada Political parties Elections

The Unionist Party was a centre-right political party in

. It was opposed by the remaining Liberal MPs, who sat as the official opposition.

The Unionist Party continued to exist until 1922, at which time the Conservative elements re-formed the Conservative party.

Formation

In May 1917, Conservative Prime Minister Borden proposed the formation of a national unity government or coalition government to Liberal leader Sir Wilfrid Laurier in order to enact conscription and to govern for the remainder of the war. Laurier rejected this proposal because of the opposition of his Quebec MPs and fears that Quebec nationalist leader Henri Bourassa would be able to exploit the situation. Public opinion in Quebec was heavily against conscription, influencing the Liberal opposition to it due to the large number of Liberal MPs from Quebec.^[1]

As an alternative to a coalition with Laurier, on October 12, 1917, Borden formed the Union government with a

or socialist party.

Borden then called an election for December 1917 on the issue of conscription (see also Conscription Crisis of 1917), running as head of the "Unionist Party" composed of Borden's Conservatives, independent MPs, and members of the Liberals who left Laurier's caucus to support conscription.

Supporters of the Borden government ran for

". Prime Minister Borden pledged himself during the 1917 campaign to equal suffrage for women. He introduced a bill in 1918 for extending the franchise to women; it passed without division.

This tactic split the Liberal Party: those who did not join the Unionist Party ran as Laurier Liberals. The election resulted in a landslide election victory for Borden.

Borden attempted to continue the Unionist Party after the war and when Arthur Meighen succeeded him in 1920, he renamed it the "National Liberal and Conservative Party" in the hope of making the coalition permanent. The Unionists had never been officially a single party, and therefore lacked the structure of an official party and Meighen hoped to change this.

In the

.

Following the defeat of Meighen's government, the "National Liberal and Conservative Party" changed its name to the "Liberal-Conservative Party of Canada", although it was commonly known as the "Conservative Party".

During

, but did not repeat the success of the Unionist party and failed to form government.

See also

• Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942)
• Laurier Liberals
• List of political parties in Canada
• Lloyd George ministry, contemporary UK government supported by most Conservative and Liberal MPs except the Independent Liberals

External links

• Union Government at The Canadian Encyclopedia

References