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Progressive Conservative Party of Canada

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{{Infobox_Canada_Political_Party | party_name = Progressive Conservative Party of Canada | party_wikicolourid = Progressive Conservatives | status = defunct | class = fed | party_logo = Image:Pclogo.jpg 200px | leader = n/a| president = n/a| foundation = July 1, 1867 (Canadian Confederation Confederation)| dissolution = December 7, 2003
Merged with the Canadian Alliance into the new Conservative Party of Canada Conservative Party | ideology = Progressivism Progressive Conservatism| headquarters = n/a| int_alignment = International Democrat Union| colours = Blue, usually with Red trim| website = n/a| }} The '''Progressive Conservative Party of Canada''' (PC) (In French: '''Parti progressiste-conservateur du Canada''') was a Canada Canadian centre-right conservative political party that existed from 1867 to 2003. Although the party officially ceased to exist after 2003, several members of the Canadian Senate continued to sit as members of the Progressive Conservative caucus, and the conservative parties in most Canadian provinces still use the Progressive Conservative name. Progressive Conservatives were colloquially known as Tories. (Many Canadians also simply referred to the party as the "Conservatives".) Canada's first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, was a Conservative and the federal Tories governed Canada for over forty of the country's first seventy years of existence. However, the party spent the majority of its history in opposition as the nation's number two federal party, behind the Liberal Party of Canada Liberals. The party suffered a decade-long decline following the Canadian federal election, 1993 1993 federal election, and was formally dissolved on December 7, 2003, when it merged with the Canadian Alliance to form the new Conservative Party of Canada Conservative Party. Between the party's founding in 1867, and its adoption of the "Progressive Conservative" name in 1942, the party changed its name several times. It was most commonly known as the Conservative Party of Canada (historical) Conservative Party. Several loosely-associated provincial Progressive Conservative parties continue to exist in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador. As well, a small rump of Senators and party loyalists opposed to the merger, continue to sit in Parliament as independent Progressive Conservatives. The Yukon association of that name was renamed in 1990 as the Yukon Party. The British Columbia Progressive Conservative Party changed its name to the British Columbia Conservative Party in 1991. The party adopted the "Progressive Conservative" party name in 1942 when Manitoba Premier (Canada) Premier John Bracken, a long-time leader of that province's Progressive Party of Canada Progressive Party, agreed to become leader of the Conservatives on condition that the party add ''Progressive'' to its name. Despite the name change, most former Progressive supporters continued to support the Liberal Party of Canada Liberals or the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation, and Bracken's leadership of the Conservative Party came to an end in 1948. A major weakness of the party since 1885 was its inability to win support in Quebec, estranged significantly by that year's execution of Louis Riel. This problem was exacerbated in the Conscription Crisis of 1917. Even though the Quebec Conservative Party dominated politics in that province for the first thirty years of Confederation at both the federal and provincial levels, in the 20th century the party was never able to be a force in provincial politics, being out of power starting in 1897, and ultimately dissolved into the Union Nationale in 1935 which took power in 1936 under Maurice Duplessis. In 20th century federal politics, the Conservatives were often seen as insensitive to French-Canadian ambitions and interests and were never able to win more than a handful of seats in Quebec with a few notable exceptions: * the Canadian federal election, 1930 1930 election, in which Richard Bedford Bennett surprisingly led the party to a thin majority government victory by securing twenty-four seats in rural Quebec. * the Canadian federal election, 1958 1958 election, in which John George Diefenbaker John Diefenbaker led the party to a landslide victory with the assistance of the Union Nationale's electoral machine; and * the elections of Canadian federal election, 1984 1984 and Canadian federal election, 1988 1988, when the party leader Brian Mulroney, a fluently bilingual Quebecker, was able to build an electoral coalition that included Quebec nationalists. It never fully recovered from the fragmentation of Brian Mulroney's broad coalition in the late 1980s resulting from English Canada's failure to ratify the Meech Lake Accord. Immediately prior to its merger with the Canadian Alliance, it held only 15 of 301 seats in the Canadian House of Commons and never held more than 20 seats in Parliament between 1994 and 2003.

Ideology
The Progressive Conservative Party was generally center-right in its political ideology. From 1867 on, the party was identified with Protestant social values, British Empire British Imperialism, Canadian Nationalism, and constitutional centralism. This was highly successful up until 1920, and to that point in history, the party was the most successful federal party in the Dominion. As such, Canadian conservatism has historically more closely resembled that which was practiced in the United Kingdom and, to an extent, Europe, than in the United States. The "Tory" approach worked well for the party up until 1917, when, as was common amongst 19th century conservative movements, Canadian Tories opposed the rollback of government intervention in social and economic matters advocated by the liberals of the era. In contrast to so-called "American conservative" counterparts, however, they did not undertake as dramatic an ideological turnaround in the first half of the 20th century by continuing to follow mercantilism and nascent notions of the welfare state. Like their Liberal rivals, the party defined itself as a "big tent", welcoming a broad variety of members who supported relatively loosely-defined goals. Unlike the Liberal Party, there was a long history of ongoing factionalism within this tent. This factionalism arose from the party's lack of electoral success, and because the party often reached out to particular political groups in order to garner enough support to topple the Liberals. These groups usually remained semiautonomous blocs within the party, such as Quebec nationalists and Western Canadian Reformers in the 1980s. In later years, observers generally grouped the PC Party's core membership into two camps, "Red Tory Red Tories" and "Blue Tory Blue Tories". Red Tories tended to be traditionally conservative, that is, "tory" in the Benjamin Disraeli Disraelian sense in social policy, placing a high value on the principles of ''noblesse oblige'', communitarianism, and One Nation One Nation Conservatism - and were thus seen as moderate (in the context of classical economic thought) in their economic policy. For most of their history they were trade protectionism protectionists, engaging in free-trade economics in only a limited fashion, as in British Empire Economic Conference Empire Free-Trade. Historically they comprised the largest bloc of the original Canadian Conservative party. Notable Red Tories include Sir John A. Macdonald, Sir Robert Borden, John Farthing, George Grant (philosopher) George Grant, John Diefenbaker, E. Davie Fulton, Robert Stanfield, Dalton Camp, W.L. Morton, Bill Davis William Davis, Joe Clark, and Flora MacDonald. Blue Tories were originally members of the tory elite drawn from the Commercial classes in Montreal and Toronto. Prior to World War Two, they were generally tory in social policy, and classic liberalism classically liberal in economic policy. From 1964 on, this cadre came to identify more with neo-liberal influences in US Republican Party (United States) Republican party, as espoused by Barry Goldwater, and Ronald Reagan, and the Thatcherite leadership in the British Conservative Party (UK) Conservative Party, as represented by Sir Keith Joseph and Margaret Thatcher. They have come to be termed, in the Canadian lexicon - Neoconservatism and neoliberalism in Canada neoconservatives. From 1891 to 2003, Red Tories generally dominated the highest rungs of the party and its leadership. The emerging neoconservatives of the 1970's were significantly reduced in numbers in the party by the late 1980s, and many of the disaffected drifted towards neo-liberalism - and single-issue parties with a neoconservative bent, such as the Reform Party of Canada. When the PC party held power at the federal level, it never truly embraced Reaganomics and its crusade against "big government" as vociferously as was done in the USA and the UK. Canadian neoconservatives lean towards radical individualism and economic classic liberalism liberalism. Support for the Canadian Alliance and its predecessor the Reform Party of Canada derived principally from this group, and that support carried forward into the new Conservative Party of Canada. The success of the neoconservative movement in appropriating the label "Conservative" has brought into debate the very definition of conservatism in Canada today. Although adhering to economic philosophies similar to those originally advanced by 19th-century liberals (known confusingly as both neoliberalism and neoconservatism), the Canadian Alliance agreed to the name "Conservative Party of Canada" for the new party in order to market themselves better to the electorate. They have also retained the appellation "tory," despite the fact that there is little evidence that they embrace any of the principles that are seen as core to the tory tradition in Canada since 1796.

History
In the early days of the Canadian confederation, the party supported a mercantilism mercantilist approach to economic development: export-led growth with high import barriers to protect local industry. The party was staunchly monarchist and supported playing a large role within the British Empire. It was seen by some French Canadians as supporting a policy of cultural assimilation. The Conservative Party dominated Canadian politics for the nation's first 30 years of existence. In general, Canada's political history has consisted of Tories alternating power with the Liberal Party of Canada Liberals, albeit often in minority governments supported by smaller parties. Image:johndiefenbaker.jpeg John_George Diefenbaker.html" title="Meaning of right right|thumb|250px|[[John George Diefenbaker.html" title="Meaning of thumb|250px|[[John George Diefenbaker">right|thumb|250px|[[John George Diefenbaker">thumb|250px|[[John George Diefenbaker">right|thumb|250px|[[John George Diefenbaker After a long period of Liberal dominance following the Tories ill-fated depression era mandate from 1930-35, John Diefenbaker won a massive electoral victory for the Tories in 1958. Diefenbaker was able to win most of the parliamentary seats in Western Canada, much of those in Ontario, and, with the support of the Union Nationale provincial government, a large number in Quebec. Diefenbaker attempted to pursue a policy of distancing Canada from the United States. His cabinet split over Diefenbaker's refusal of American demands that Canada accept nuclear warheads for Bomarc missiles based in North Bay, Ontario, and La Macaza, Quebec. This split contributed to the Tory government's defeat at the hands of Lester Pearson's Liberals in the Canadian federal election, 1963 1963 election. Diefenbaker remained Progressive Conservative leader until 1967, when increasing unease at his reactionary policies, authoritarian leadership, and perceived unelectability led to the Progressive Conservative leadership convention, 1967 1967 leadership convention where Nova Scotia Premier Robert Stanfield was elected out of a field of eleven candidates that included Diefenbaker and Manitoba Premier Duff Roblin. By the late 1960s, following Quebec's Quiet Revolution Quiet Revolution, the Progressive Conservatives recognized the need to increase their appeal to Canada's francophone population. At the same time, the Tories finally began their move away from mercantilism towards a neoliberalism neoliberal platform. Both movements culminated with Brian Mulroney becoming prime minister after the Canadian federal election, 1984 election of 1984. Mulroney had declared himself an opponent to free trade with the United States during the Progressive Conservative leadership convention, 1983 1983 leadership campaign. But a growing continentalist sentiment among Canadian business leaders and the impact of the "Reagan Revolution" on Canadian conservative thought led Mulroney to embrace free trade. His government endorsed the recommendation of the 1985 Royal Commission on the Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada that Canada pursue a free trade deal with the United States. Traditionally, it had been the Liberal Party that held a continentalist position and the Conservatives who opposed free trade with the United States in favour of economic links with Britain. With the dissolution of the British Empire and the economic nationalism of the Liberal Party of Canada Liberals under Pierre Trudeau, the traditional positions of the two parties became reversed. It was with this background that Mulroney fought and won the Canadian federal election, 1988 1988 election on the issue of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement. A number of economic issues contributed to the fall of the Progressive Conservative party at the federal level in the Canadian federal election, 1993 1993 federal election: * Canada suffered its worst recession since the Second World War, * unemployment rose to the highest levels since the Great Depression, * the federal government faced high and persistent deficits, and * the Tories had introduced a much-hated new tax, the GST (Canada) GST. The second major factor leading to the Mulroney government's demise was that the party's base in Quebec came from Quebec nationalists, who withdrew their support after the failure of the Meech Lake Accord Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accord Charlottetown Constitutional Accords. Many Quebec Tories, including a number of MPs, left the party to form the Bloc Québécois with like-minded Liberals. The third major factor was the rise of ''western alienation'' in the four provinces of western Canada as a result of attempts by both Tories and Liberals to woo Quebec. Western Canadians turned their support to the Reform Party of Canada and its successor, the Canadian Alliance. Following Mulroney's resignation, his successor as Tory leader and as prime minister was Kim Campbell, who led the party into the disastrous Canadian federal election, 1993 election of 1993. The steep decline in the party's popular support and the impact of the Plurality voting system first past the post (FPTP) system used in Canada resulted in the collapse of the Conservative parliamentary caucus: the Conservatives went from being the majority party to holding only two seats in the House of Commons, which was not enough to maintain official party status despite garnering 16% of the popular vote. (A former Conservative MP won reelection in Quebec after not being allowed to run for the party due to fraud charges.) Campbell herself was defeated, as was every member of the Cabinet except Jean Charest, whom Campbell had defeated in the 1993 Progressive Conservative leadership convention race to succeed Mulroney. Campbell resigned as party leader in December, and Charest, as the only surviving member of the previous Cabinet, was quickly appointed inteirm leader and confirmed in the post in 1995. Charest led the party back to official party status in Canadian federal election, 1997 the 1997 election winning 20 seats, all in the Maritimes and Quebec. However, the PCs would never win more than 20 seats again, and only two west of Quebec (not counting by-elections and switches from other parties). The rise of the Canadian Alliance was doubtless damaging to the Tories, though there remains some debate as to the precise degree. Many observers argue that from 1993 to 2003 the "conservative" vote was split vote split between the two parties, allowing Liberal candidates to win ridings formerly considered to be Tory strongholds. This assessment led to the growth of the United Alternative movements of the late 1990s. Others insisted that a legitimate ideological gulf existed between the more ideological Alliance and the more moderate Red Tory-influenced PC Party, pointing to surveys that indicated many Tory voters would rather select the Liberals as their second choice rather than the Alliance. Charest stepped down from the leadership in 1998 to become leader of the Liberal Party of Quebec. Joe Clark returned as leader. In the Canadian federal election, 2000 2000 election Clark was able to garner the 12 seats necessary for official party status, but no more. Clark realized that as long as the right was divided, there was no chance of dislodging the Liberals. However, he wanted a merger on his terms. He got his chance in 2001, when several dissident Alliance MPs, the most prominent one being Alliance deputy leader and party matriarch Deborah Grey, left the Alliance caucus. The dissidents felt that Alliance leader Stockwell Day hadn't learned from mistakes made in the last election. While some of them rejoined the Alliance later, seven of them, led by Chuck Strahl of British Columbia and including Grey, refused and formed the Democratic Representative Caucus The DRC quickly entered a coalition with the Progressive Conservatives, which lasted until 2002 when Stephen Harper ousted Day as Alliance leader. Harper wanted a closer union with the PCs, but Clark turned the offer down, and all but two of the DRC members rejoined the Alliance. One of the two, Inky Mark, eventually joined the PCs. Two by-election victories later in 2002 increased the PC caucus to 15 members and fourth place in the Commons. However, Clark was unable to gain any ground in Ontario and resigned on August 6, 2002. Clark's successor, Peter MacKay, ran for leadership on an explicit promise that he would not permit a merger with the Alliance; however, he proceeded to negotiate a merger with the Alliance, which was announced on October 15, 2003. The two parties united to form a new party called the Conservative Party of Canada. The union was ratified on December 5 and December 6 by both parties, and the new Conservative Party was formally registered on December 7. On March 20, 2004, former Alliance leader Harper was elected leader of the new party and appointed MacKay as his deputy.

Rump PC caucus
Following the merger, a rump Progressive Conservative caucus remained in Parliament, consisting of individuals who declined to join the new Conservative Party. In the Canadian House of Commons House of Commons, Joe Clark, André Bachand (Progressive Conservative MP) André Bachand and John Herron (New Brunswick politician) John Herron sat as PC members. In the Canadian federal election, 2004 2004 election, Bachand and Clark did not to run for re-election, and Herron ran as a Liberal, losing to Rob Moore in his riding of Fundy—Royal. Scott Brison, who had joined the Liberal caucus immediately upon departing the Conservative Party, was reelected as a Liberal in the 2004 election. In the Canadian Senate Senate, C. William Doody William Doody, Lowell Murray and Norman K. Atkins Norman Atkins also declined to join the new party, and continue to sit as Progressive Conservative senators. On March 24, 2005, Prime Minister Paul Martin appointed nine new senators, two of whom, Nancy Ruth and Elaine McCoy, were designated as Progressive Conservatives. Thus there may be Progressive Conservative senators until 2021 when McCoy, the youngest of the five, attains the mandatory retirement age of 75, or later if subsequent senators designate themselves Progressive Conservatives. Nancy Ruth has since left to sit with the Conservative Party. Adding the death of Senator Doody on December 27 2005, this reduced the number of PC Senators to three.

Progressive Canadian Party
On January 9, 2004, a group claiming to be loyal to the Progressive Conservative Party and opposed to the merger, which they characterized as an Alliance takeover, filed application with the Chief Electoral Officer to register a party called the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. The application was refused on the grounds that the name could no longer be utilized. They group resubmitted with the name Progressive Canadian Party, and a new "PC Party" was recognized by Elections Canada on March 26. It secured sufficient backing to be registered as an official party on May 29. The Progressive Canadian party aims to be perceived as the successor party to the Progressive Conservatives. However, it is not clear how broad its support is among former Progressive Conservatives. In particular, no prominent anti-merger Progressive Conservatives such as Joe Clark or David Orchard are associated with the Progressive Canadian party, nor are any sitting MPs or senators. The most prominent member to join is former MP and junior cabinet minister, Heward Grafftey, who polled near or below Craig Chandler in the final PC Party leadership race.

Progressive Conservative Prime Ministers of Canada
*Sir John A. Macdonald *Sir John Abbott *Sir John Sparrow David Thompson John Thompson *Sir Mackenzie Bowell *Sir Charles Tupper *Sir Robert Laird Borden *Arthur Meighen *Richard Bedford Bennett, 1st Viscount Bennett Richard Bedford Bennett¹ *Arthur Meighen *John George Diefenbaker *Joe Clark *Brian Mulroney *Kim Campbell ¹ Created Viscount Bennett following his retirement from office.

Tory leaders since Confederation:

(Liberal-) Conservative Party of Canada
*Sir John A. Macdonald (July 1, 1867 - June 6, 1891) *Sir John Abbott (June 16, 1891 - November 24, 1892) *Sir John Sparrow David Thompson John Thompson (December 5, 1892 - December 12, 1894) *Sir Mackenzie Bowell (December 21, 1894 - April 27, 1896) *Sir Charles Tupper (May 1, 1896 - February 5, 1901) *Sir Robert Laird Borden (February 6, 1901 - July 9, 1920) *Arthur Meighen (July 10, 1920 - September 24, 1926) *Hugh Guthrie (October 11, 1926 - October 11, 1927 ''interim leader interim'') *Richard Bedford Bennett (October 12, 1927 - July 6, 1938) *Robert Manion (July 7, 1938 - May 13, 1940) *Richard Hanson (May 14, 1940 - November 11, 1941 ''interim leader interim'') *Arthur Meighen (November 12, 1941 - December 9, 1942)¹

Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
*John Bracken (December 11, 1942 - July 20, 1948)² *George Drew (October 2, 1948 - November 29, 1956)³ *John George Diefenbaker (December 14, 1956 - September 8, 1967) *Robert Stanfield (September 9, 1967 - February 21, 1976)⁴ *Joe Clark (February 22, 1976 - February 18, 1983) *Erik Nielsen (February 19, 1983 - June 10, 1983 ''interim leader interim'') *Brian Mulroney (June 11, 1983 - June 12, 1993) *Kim Campbell (June 13, 1993 - December 13, 1993) *Jean Charest (December 14, 1993 - April 2, 1998) *Elsie Wayne (April 2, 1998 - November 13, 1998 ''interim leader interim'') *Joe Clark (November 14, 1998 - May 30, 2003) *Peter MacKay (May 31, 2003 - December 8, 2003)

=Footnotes
= ''¹ On this occasion, Meighen failed in his attempts to win re-election to the House of Commons, so Hanson remained Leader of the Opposition throughout Meighen's term'' ''² Bracken did not win election to the House of Commons until 1945, so Hanson remained Leader of the Opposition until January 1943, when he was replaced by Gordon Graydon'' ''³ On two occasions when Drew was too ill to perform his duties, William Earl Rowe served as Leader of the Opposition'' ''⁴ Michael Starr served as Leader of the Opposition until November 5, 1967, when Stanfield, who had previously been Premier (Canada) premier of Nova Scotia, won election to Parliament''

Election results 1945-2000
{| border="1" cellpadding="2" |- ! Election ! # of candidates nominated ! # of seats won ! # of total votes ! % of popular vote |- ! Canadian federal election, 1945 1945 | 203 | 65 | 1,448,744 | 27.62% |- ! Canadian federal election, 1949 1949 | 249 | 41 | 1,734,261 | 29.62% |- ! Canadian federal election, 1953 1953 | 248 | 50 | 1,749,579 | 31.01% |- ! Canadian federal election, 1957 1957 ! 256 ! 109 ! 2,564,732 ! 38.81% |- ! Canadian federal election, 1958 1958 ! 265 ! 206 ! 3,908,633 ! 53.56% |- ! Canadian federal election, 1962 1962 ! 265 ! 114 ! 2,865,542 ! 37.22% |- ! Canadian federal election, 1963 1963 | 265 | 93 | 2,582,322 | 32.72% |- ! Canadian federal election, 1965 1965 | 265 | 95 | 2,500,113 | 32.41% |- ! Canadian federal election, 1968 1968 | 262 | 72 | 2,548,949 | 31.36% |- ! Canadian federal election, 1972 1972 | 265 | 107 | 3,388,980 | 35.02% |- ! Canadian federal election, 1974 1974 | 264 | 95 | 3,371,319 | 35.46% |- ! Canadian federal election, 1979 1979 ! 282 ! 136 ! 4,111,606 ! 35.89% |- ! Canadian federal election, 1980 1980 | 282 | 103 | 3,552,994 | 32.49% |- ! Canadian federal election, 1984 1984 ! 282 ! 211 ! 6,278,818 ! 50.03% |- ! Canadian federal election, 1988 1988 ! 295 ! 169 ! 5,667,543 ! 43.02% |- ! Canadian federal election, 1993 1993 | 295 | 2 | 2,178,303 | 16.04% |- ! Canadian federal election, 1997 1997 | 301 | 20 | 2,446,705 | 18.84% |- ! Canadian federal election, 2000 2000 | 291 | 12 | 1,566,994 | 12.19% |}

See also
*Conservative Party of Canada (historical) *Conservative Party of Canada Conservative Party of Canada (modern) *Progressive Conservative leadership conventions *Conservative parties in Canada *List of political parties in Canada *Politics of Canada *Prime Ministers of Canada *Official Opposition (Canada) {{Canadian Conservative Parties}} Category:1867 establishments Category:2003 disestablishments Category:Federal political parties in Canada Category:Conservative parties fr:Parti progressiste-conservateur du Canada pl:Progresywno-Konserwatywna Partia Kanady {{catmore}} Category:Conservative Party of Canada Category:Federal political parties in Canada Category:Conservative parties

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