Conservative Party of Canada

For the historical political party, see Conservative Party of Canada (pre-1942)

Template:Infobox Canada Political Party The Conservative Party of Canada (French: Parti conservateur du Canada), colloquially known as the "Tories", is a conservative political party in Canada, formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in December 2003. The party currently forms the Government of Canada (since February 6, 2006), and its current leader is Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

History

Predecessors

Sir John A. Macdonald, the first Prime Minister of Canada, leader of the Liberal-Conservative Party, one of the party's predecessors.

The Conservative Party is political heir to a series of conservative parties that have existed in Canada, beginning with Liberal-Conservative Party founded in 1854 by Sir John A. Macdonald and Sir George-Étienne Cartier which became the Conservative Party in the 1880s. Like them (and the Conservative Party of the United Kingdom) it carries the nickname "Tory", and its members are known as "Tories". It is also legal heir to the older parties by virtue of assuming the assets and liabilities of the former Progressive Conservative Party.

The first incarnation of the Conservative Party was much different than the Conservative Party of today, especially on economic issues. The early Conservatives were known to espouse economic protectionism and British imperialism, by emphasizing Canada's ties to the United Kingdom while vigorously opposing free trade with the United States of America which was supported by the Liberal Party of Canada. The Conservatives also sparred with the Liberal Party's connections with French Canadian nationalists including Henri Bourassa which claimed Canada was two nations, English Canada and French Canada connected together through a common history. The Conservatives would go on with a popular slogan "one nation, one flag, one leader" and supported assimilation of French Canadians, aboriginals, and immigrants. The Conservative Party's links to British heritage would remain intact until the 1960s with the change in social values held by Canadians.

Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, leader of the PC Party from 1956 to 1967.

The Conservative Party's appeal waned to western Canadians in difficult times from the 1920s to 1940s, as it was seen as an establishment which ignored Western Canada. The Conservative Party was challenged in the west by the rise of a number of protest parties including the Progressive Party of Canada and the Social Credit Party of Canada. The Progressives once outplaced the Conservatives in 1920, and became Official Opposition, though soon after, the party collapsed. Former Progressive John Bracken became leader of the Conservative Party in 1942 and had it renamed the Progressive Conservative Party. Social Credit was a powerful political force provincially, especially under Premier of Alberta Ernest Manning while federally, it was stalled by the selection of western leaders by the PC Party, such as John Diefenbaker and Joe Clark who were seen by westerners as challengers to the Liberal governing establishment. Social Credit's association with western Canada diminished over time and dissipated in the early 1980s. While none of these parties succeeded in gaining power, the dividing of opposition forces to the Liberals was especially damaging to the Conservative Party throughout its history, and allowed the Liberals to win election after election with strong urban support bases in Ontario and Quebec, which has earned the Liberals the unofficial title by political pundits of being Canada's "natural governing party". Conservative governments therefore were seen by pundits as caretaker governments, until the Liberal Party corrected its past mistakes.

Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, leader of the PC Party from 1983 to 1993, helped move the party to endorse and initiate free trade with the United States.

In 1984, the PC Party's electoral fortunes made a massive upturn under its new leader, Brian Mulroney, an anglophone Quebecker and former President of the Iron Ore Company of Canada, who mustered a large coalition of westerners aggravated over the National Energy Program of the Liberal government and Quebeckers who were angered over Quebec not having distinct status in the Constitution of Canada signed in 1982. This led to a huge landslide victory for the PC Party. PCs abandoned protectionism which the party had held strongly to in the past which had aggravated westerners and businesses in the past and fully espoused free trade with the United States and integrating Canada into a globalized economy, which was initiated with the signing of the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement (FTA) of 1989 and oversaw much of the key implementation process of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which added Mexico to the Canada-U.S. free trade zone.

In the late 1980s and 1990s, federal conservative politics became split by the creation of a new western-based protest party, the populist and social conservative Reform Party of Canada created by Preston Manning, son of Alberta Social Credit Premier Ernest Manning. The party was very controversial in Canadian politics, it advocated deep decentralization of government power, abolishment of official bilingualism and multiculturalism, democratization of the Canadian Senate, opposed abortion, opposed extending rights to homosexuals and suggested a potential return to capital punishment, and advocating significant privatization of public services. Despite controversial aspects of Reform, Westerners felt betrayed by the federal Conservative Party, seeing it as catering to Quebec and urban Ontario interests over theirs. In 1989, Reform made headlines in the political scene when it elected its first MP, Deborah Grey in a by-election in Alberta, which was a shock to the PCs which had almost complete electoral dominance over the province for years. The second major event was when Mulroney accepted the results of an unofficial Senate election in Alberta, which elected a Reformer, Stanley Waters and appointed him to the Senate. Waters' appointment made him the first elected Senator in Canada.

File:The New Canada.gif

Photograph of then-Reform party leader Preston Manning on his 1992 book, The New Canada.

By the 1990s, Mulroney had failed to bring about Senate reform as he had promised (appointing a number of unelected Senators in 1990), social conservatives were distatisfied with Mulroney's social progressivism and Canadians in general were furious with high unemployment, high debt and deficit, unpopular implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in 1991, and money wasted on the constitutional reform failures of the Meech Lake and Charlottetown accords. In 1993, the Progressive Conservative Party was decimated from government to having only two seats, due to vote-splitting in Canada's single member plurality electoral system, especially in the west and Ontario with the Reform Party. The 1993 results for the PC Party were the worst electoral disaster in Canadian history, winning only 2 seats, in which the PCs never fully recovered. In 1993, federal politics became divided regionally, the Liberal Party took Ontario, the Maritimes and the territories, the separatist Bloc Quebecois took Quebec, while the Reform Party took Western Canada and became the dominant conservative party in Canada.

With the right-wing vote split, the Liberal Party won three successive majority governments which led the Reform Party and elements of the Progressive Conservative Party to advocate "uniting the right" which was completed in 2003, when the Canadian Alliance (formerly the Reform Party) and Progressive Conservative parties agreed to merge into the present-day Conservative Party, with the Alliance faction conceding its populist ideals and some social conservative elements.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay and many other high-profile former PCs, including the former Progressive Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney see the CPC as a natural evolution of the conservative political movement in Canada. MacKay has suggested that the CPC is a reflection of the reunification of conservative ideologies under a "big tent." MacKay has often said that fractures have been a natural part of the Canadian conservative movement's history since the 1890s and that the merger was a reconstitution of a movement that has existed since the Union of Upper and Lower Canada.

Merger

On October 15, 2003, after closed-door meetings were held by the Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative Party, Stephen Harper (then the leader of the Canadian Alliance) and Peter MacKay (then the leader of the Progressive Conservatives) announced the Conservative Party Agreement-in-Principle, thereby merging their parties to create the new Conservative Party of Canada. After several months of talks between two teams of "emissaries", consisting of Don Mazankowski, Bill Davis and Loyola Hearn on behalf of the PCs and Ray Speaker Senator Gerry St. Germain and Scott Reid on behalf of the Alliance, the deal came to be.

On December 5, the Agreement-in-Principle was ratified by the membership of the Alliance by a margin of 96% to 4% in a national referendum conducted by postal ballot. On December 6 the PC Party held a series of regional conventions, at which delegates ratified the Agreement-in-Principle by a margin of 90% to 10%. On December 7, 2003, the new party was officially registered with Elections Canada. On March 20, 2004, Stephen Harper was elected leader.

The merger was the culmination of the Canadian "Unite the Right" movement, driven by the desire to present an effective right-wing opposition to the Liberal Party of Canada, to create a new party that would draw support from all parts of Canada and would not split the right-wing vote. The splitting of the right-wing vote contributed to Liberal victories in the 1993 federal election, 1997 federal election and the 2000 election.

The merger process was controversial. David Orchard had a written agreement from Peter MacKay at the 2003 Progressive Conservative Leadership convention excluding any such merger and led an unsuccessful legal challenge to it. Orchard (under the PC party leadership election rules) is still owed at least $70,000 by the newly merged Conservative Party. This debt has been recognized as legitimate by the Conservative Party lawyers; however, its reimbursement is on hold pending the outcome of legal matters between the party and Orchard.

At the time of the merger four sitting Progressive Conservative Members of Parliament — André Bachand, John Herron, former Tory leadership candidate Scott Brison, and former Prime Minister Joe Clark — decided not to join the new Conservative Party caucus, as did retiring PC Party president Bruck Easton. Clark and Brison argued that the party's merger with the Canadian Alliance drove it too far to the right, and away from its historical position in Canadian politics. Brison, at first, voted for and supported the ratification of the Alliance-Tory merger, then crossed the floor to the Liberals [1]. Soon afterward, he was made a parliamentary secretary in Paul Martin's Liberal government, and became a full cabinet minister after the 2004 federal election. Herron also ran as a Liberal candidate in the election, but did not join the Liberal caucus prior to the election. He lost his seat to the new Conservative Party's candidate Rob Moore. Bachand and Clark both left Parliament at the end of the session.

One former Alliance MP, former Alliance leadership candidate Keith Martin, also left the party on January 14. He retained his seat in the 2004 election, running under the Liberal banner. In the 38th Parliament (2004-2005), Martin served as parliamentary secretary to Bill Graham, Canada's minister of defence. He was reelected a second time in the 2006 general election.

Additionally, three senators, the late William Doody, Norman Atkins, and Lowell Murray, declined to join the new party and continue to sit in the upper house as a rump caucus of Progressive Conservatives. The Martin Liberals exacerbated the Tory split in the Senate by appointing, in February 2005, provincial Progressive Conservatives Nancy Ruth and Elaine McCoy as senators and additional members of the rump PC Senate caucus. Ms. Ruth, however, later did join the new Conservative party in March 2006.

In the early months of the Conservatives' existence two Conservative MPs also became publicly disgruntled with the leadership, policy, and procedures of the new party. Former Progressive Conservative MP Rick Borotsik became openly critical of the new party's leadership during its initial months of existence and officially retired from politics at the end of the parliamentary session of spring 2004.

Former Canadian Alliance MP Chuck Cadman rejected the new party's riding nomination procedures in March after losing his local riding's Conservative nomination to an outside challenger. His membership in the Conservative party was revoked in late May. Cadman ran as an independent candidate in the federal election of June 2004. He was re-elected as the only independent in the new parliament but died of cancer in July 2005.

Additionally, after the 2004 federal election, Tory Senator Jean-Claude Rivest left the Conservatives to sit as an independent member of the Senate, citing his concerns that the new party was too right-wing and insensitive to Quebec needs and interests.

Leadership election

Main article: Conservative Party of Canada leadership election, 2004

With 17,296 votes and 56.2% party support, Stephen Harper was chosen as leader of the new party on March 20 2004, defeating former Ontario provincial Tory Cabinet minister Tony Clement (2,887 votes, 9.4%) and former Magna International CEO Belinda Stronach (10,613 votes, 34.5%) on the first ballot.[2]

Some Conservative activists had hoped to recruit former Ontario Premier Mike Harris for the leadership but he declined, as did New Brunswick Premier Bernard Lord and Alberta Premier Ralph Klein. Outgoing Progressive Conservative leader Peter MacKay also announced he would not seek the leadership of the new party as did former Democratic Representative Caucus leader and Canadian Alliance Member of Parliament (MP) Chuck Strahl. Jim Prentice, who had been a candidate in the 2003 PC leadership contest, entered the CPC leadership race in mid-December but dropped out in mid-January due to an inability to raise funds so soon after his earlier leadership bid.

General election of 2004

Two months after Harper's election as national Tory leader, Liberal Party of Canada leader and Prime Minister Paul Martin called a general election for June 28, 2004. However, in the interim between the formation of the new party and the selection of its new leader, factional infighting and investigations into the Sponsorship Scandal significantly reduced the popularity of the governing Liberal Party. This allowed the Conservatives to be more prepared for the race, unlike the 2000 federal election when few predicted the early election call. For the first time since the 1993 federal election, a Liberal government would have to deal with a united conservative front. The Liberals attempted to counter this with an early election call, as this would give the Conservatives less time to consolidate their merger.

During the first half of the campaign, polls showed a rise in support for the new party, leading some pollsters to predict the election of a minority Conservative government. An unpopular provincial budget by Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty hurt the federal Liberals' numbers in Ontario, as did a weak performance from Martin in the leaders' debates. The Liberals managed to narrow the gap and eventually regain momentum by targeting the Conservatives' credibility and motives, hurting their efforts to prevent a reasonable, responsible and moderate alternative to the governing Liberals.

Several controversial comments were made by Conservative MPs during the campaign. Early on in the campaign, Ontario MP Scott Reid indicated his feelings as Tory language critic that the policy of official bilingualism was unrealistic and needed to be reformed. Alberta MP Rob Merrifield suggested as Tory health critic that women ought to have mandatory family counseling before they choose to have an abortion. BC MP Randy White indicated his willingness near the end of the campaign to use the notwithstanding clause of the Canadian Constitution to override the Charter of Rights on the issue of same-sex marriage, and Cheryl Gallant, another Ontario MP, compared abortion to terrorism. The party was also criticized for issuing press releases accusing both Paul Martin and Jack Layton of supporting child pornography, although both releases were recalled within a few hours.

Harper's new Conservatives emerged from the election with a larger parliamentary caucus of 99 MPs while the Liberals were reduced to a minority government of 135 MPs, requiring the Liberals to obtain support from at least twenty-three opposition MPs in order to guarantee the passage of Liberal government legislation. The Conservatives' popular vote, however, was actually lower than the combined Alliance and PC popular vote in the 2000 federal election.

Montreal policy convention: March 2005

In 2005, some political analysts such as former Progressive Conservative pollster Allan Gregg and Toronto Star columnist Chantal Hébert suggested that the then-subsequent election could result in a Conservative government if the public were to perceive the Tories as emerging from the party's founding convention (then scheduled for March 2005) with clearly defined, moderate policies with which to challenge the Liberals.

The convention provided the public with an opportunity to see the Conservative Party in a new light, appearing to have reduced the focus on its controversial social conservative agenda (although most Conservatives continue to oppose same-sex marriage). It retained its populist appeal by espousing tax cuts, smaller government, a grassroots-oriented democratic reform, and more decentralization by giving the provinces more taxing powers and decision-making authority in joint federal-provincial programs. The party's law and order package was an effort to address the perception of rising homicide rates, which had gone up 12% in 2004. Statistics Canada.

Stronach defection

On May 17, 2005, MP Belinda Stronach, surprised many when she crossed the floor from the Conservative Party to join the Liberal Party. Some believed Stronach's departure would damage the Conservative Party's chances to attract socially liberal voters, particularly in Ontario. Others have raised suspicions about the timing and opportunism of Stronach's decision, noting that she became a cabinet minister immediately after crossing the floor, and that the departure came mere days before a crucial non-confidence vote in the house. In addition, numerous Conservatives, such as Ontario Progressive Conservative Member of Provincial Parliament Bob Runciman made vitriolic public statements in reaction to this development, such as calling Stronach "a dipstick". These comments were decried by some as sexist and proof that the Party's moderate image was misleading. Others believed the comments were more a reaction to her decision to cross the floor, and had nothing to do with her gender.

In late August and early September 2005, the Tories released ads through Ontario's major television broadcasters that highlighted their policies towards health care, education and child support. The ads each featured Stephen Harper discussing policy with prominent members of his Shadow Cabinet. Some analysts suggested at the time that the Tories would use similar ads in the expected 2006 federal election, instead of focusing their attacks on allegations of corruption in the Liberal government as they did earlier on.

An Ipsos-Reid Poll conducted after the fallout from the first report of the Gomery Commission on the sponsorship scandal showed the Tories practically tied for public support with the governing Liberal Party [3], and a poll from the Strategic Counsel suggested that the Conservatives were actually in the lead. [4] However, polling two days later showed the Liberals had regained an 8-point lead [5].

See also: Conservative Party candidates, 2004 Canadian federal election

See also: Conservative Party of Canada Campaign Chairs

General election of 2006

On November 24, 2005, Opposition leader Stephen Harper introduced a motion of no confidence which was passed on November 28, 2005. With the confirmed backing of the other two opposition parties, this resulted in an election on January 23, 2006, following a campaign spanning the Christmas season.

The Conservatives started off the first month of the campaign by making a series of policy-per-day announcements, which included a Goods and Services Tax reduction and a child-care allowance. This strategy was a surprise to many in the news media, as they believed the party would focus on the sponsorship scandal; instead, the Conservative strategy was to let that issue ruminate with voters. The Liberals opted to hold their major announcements after the Christmas holidays; as a result, Harper dominated media coverage for the first few weeks of the campaign and was able "to define himself, rather than to let the Liberals define him". The Conservatives' announcements played to Harper's strengths as a policy wonk[6], as opposed to in the 2004 election and summer 2005 where he tried to overcome the perception that he was cool and aloof. Though his party showed only modest movement in the polls, Harper's personal approval numbers, which had always trailed his party's significantly, began to rise relatively rapidly.

On December 27, 2005, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced it was investigating Liberal Finance Minister Ralph Goodale's office for potentially engaging in insider trading before making an important announcement on the taxation of income trusts. The revelation of the criminal investigation and Goodale's refusal to step aside dominated news coverage for the following week, and it gained further attention when the United States Securities and Exchange Commission announced they would also launch a probe. The income trust scandal distracted public attention from the Liberals' key policy announcements and allowed the Conservatives to refocus on their previous attacks on corruption within the Liberal party. The Tories were leading in the polls by early January 2006, and made a major breakthrough in Quebec where they displaced the Liberals as the second place party (after the Bloc Quebecois).

In response to the growing Conservative lead, the Liberals launched negative ads suggesting that Harper had a "hidden agenda", similar to the attacks made in the 2004 election. The Liberal ads did not have the same effect this time as the Conservatives had much more momentum, at one stage holding a ten-point lead. Harper's personal numbers continued to rise and polls found he was considered not only more trustworthy, but also a better potential Prime Minister than Paul Martin. In addition to the Conservatives being more disciplined, media coverage of the Conservatives was also more positive than in 2004. By contrast, the Liberals found themselves increasingly criticized for running a poor campaign and making numerous gaffes.[7]

On January 23 2006, the Conservatives won 124 seats, compared to 103 for the Liberals. The results made the Conservatives the largest party in the 308-member House of Commons, enabling them to form a minority government. On February 6, Stephen Harper was sworn in as the 22nd Prime Minister of Canada, along with his Cabinet.

Further information: Canadian federal election, 2006

Further information: Conservative Party candidates, 2006 Canadian federal election

The Harper Government (2006-present)

The Federal Accountability Act in response to the sponsorship scandal, President of the Treasury Board, the Honourable John Baird introduced the bill to the Canadian House of Commons on April 11, 2006. The bill was passed in the House of Commons on June 22, 2006, and was granted royal assent on December 12, 2006.

The 2006 Canadian federal budget was presented to the House of Commons by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty on May 2, 2006. The government announced that the Goods & Services Tax would be lowered from 7% to 6% (and eventually to 5%); income tax cuts for middle-income earners, and $1,200-per-child childcare payment (the "Universal Child Care Benefit") for Canadian parents. On June 6 2006, the budget was introduced for third reading in the House of Commons and was declared passed by unanimous consent as the result of procedural confusion. (The Bloc Quebecois had previously indicated that it would support the budget, and its passage was never in doubt.)

On October 31, 2006, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced that the government would begin taxing income trusts in 2011, which backtracked on one of their campaign promises. There had been an increasing number of corporations converting to income trusts which would result in them paying lowered taxes; Flaherty argued that income trusts would cost the government hundreds of millions in lost revenue and shift the burden onto ordinary people. The Conservatives are supported on the matter by the NDP.

On November 22, 2006, Harper introduced his own motion to recognize the Quebecois as forming a "nation within a united Canada." Five days later, the Harper's motion passed, with a margin of 266-16; all federalist parties, as well as the Bloc Quebecois, were formally behind it.

During three by-elections held on September 17, 2007, mayor Denis Lebel captured the seat of Roberval for the Conservatives, taking it from the Bloc, while Bernard Barre ran a close second in Saint-Hyacinthe-Bagot. This raised the Conservative total in the House of Commons to 126 members. Some believe these results indicate that the Conservatives have consolidated their position as the main federalist option in Quebec, outside of Montreal.[8][9]

Ideology, principles, and policies

The new Conservative Party is an amalgam of two contrasting views about conservatism in Canada. Historically, the Progressive Conservatives touted traditional Red Tory ideals like state funded social programs, rejected closer ties with the United States and attempted to model Canada after centuries-old British institutions. Western Canadian conservatism, embodied in the Canadian Alliance party, was more inspired by U.S.-based conservatism; it espoused closer ties with the United States, Blue Tory conservatism, privatization, smaller government as well as reform and overhaul of political institutions (on the American/Australian model) and a decentralized federalism (a limited government in Ottawa with stronger provinces, as also advocated by Brian Mulroney). The new party generally supports a market economy approach to the economic sphere. The Conservative Party also provides a home for a multitude of other conservatives, such as libertarian conservatives, environmental conservatives, Canadian republicans, and many others.

Since most of the MPs for the new party as well as the grassroots supporters come from the western provinces, its policy has significant influence from Reform Party of Canada philosophy, even though the new party has shed much of Reform's social conservative image, and is more focused on economic, military, "law and order" and democratic reform/ethics-in-government issues. Unlike the old Progressive Conservatives, it more reflects a strong Blue Tory ideology. Prime Minister Stephen Harper is known as an avid fiscal conservative and a strong supporter for a strong military within the context of a joint command for the Canadian Forces co-operating and co-planning with the U.S. under the umbrella of a central command, modelled after NORAD. He has embraced some social conservative positions, such as opposition to same-sex marriage, though not to same-sex civil unions.

The Right Honourable Stephen Harper, 22nd Prime Minister of Canada

The merger symbolizes the latest chapter in the evolution of conservatism in Canada, as the historical Conservative Party, which was founded by United Empire Loyalists, was vehemently opposed to free trade and further integration with the United States, aiming instead to model Canadian political institutions after British ones. Then under the leadership of Brian Mulroney, the party emphasized market forces in the economy and reached a landmark free-trade deal with the United States. Some critics argue that the current incarnation of conservatism espouses pro-American views, aspires to emulate American capitalism, less government involvement in the economy and more grassroots-oriented Jeffersonian democratic reform.

Being conservative both fiscally and socially, the Conservative Party generally favours lower taxes, smaller government, more decentralization of federal government powers to the provinces modelled after the Meech Lake Accord, a tougher stand on "law and order" issues and more spending on the military, and harmonizing standards and regulations with those of the United States. It is also opposed to the legalization of cannabis and has had a free vote on whether the House wanted to reopen the issue of same-sex marriage, which was defeated. As the successor of the western-based Canadian Alliance, the party also supports reform of the Senate to make it "elected, equal, and effective" (the "Triple-E Senate"), as well as several other substantial reforms to reduce the present power of the Prime Minister's Office, such as establishing fixed election dates every four years and giving individual MPs more leeway in representing their constituents. In addition, in the wake of the sponsorship scandal and the resulting high-profile Gomery Inquiry the Conservative Party has advocated government accountability and transparency reforms.

During the 2006 election, the party also campaigned on [10]:

• Cutting the Goods and Services Tax from 7% to 6% immediately after election and to 5% later on.
• Tax incentives for people to learn trade skills (such as welding and baking) and for businesses to hire new apprentices.
• Promote privatization of Crown corporations.
• Amend the Constitution to add "ownership of private property" to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
• Support of and some reforms in the "traditional industries" including agriculture, fishing, mining and forestry.
• Making participation at the Wheat Board voluntary rather than mandatory.
• In light of a Quebec judge ruling of October 2004, that the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission's (CRTC) restrictions on broadcasts of U.S.-based channels contravenes the Charter of Rights - limiting the CRTC mandate and giving individual choice to subscribe to foreign and U.S.-based channels, more individual freedom.
• Mandatory minimum prison sentences for various serious crimes, including drug trafficking, weapons-related and violent offences, as well as ending the practice of house arrest in some cases.
• Dismantling the gun registry program, using the surplus to hire more police, to facilitate a crackdown on organized crime including white collar crime.
• Creation of a mandatory DNA databank for sex offenders; raising the age of consent from 14 to 16 years; tougher stance on child pornography.
• Strengthening of border with armed border guards, port and airport security while at the same time, co-operating more closely on security issues with the U.S.
• Giving every parent $100 per month for each child under the age of 6, as part of the national child care program.
• Adding pension income-tax deductions for seniors.
• Reducing waiting times in hospitals.
• Investing in transportation infrastructure and introducing tax credits for monthly transit passes.
• Defending the local industries against foreign trade challenges, including the softwood lumber dispute with the United States.
• Better relations with the United States.
• Giving small businesses tax incentives, and ending subsidies for big business.
• Fixing the "fiscal imbalance" between Ottawa and the provinces; shifting major taxing and decision-making powers to the provinces, with the co-operation of Jean Charest, the Liberal, federalist premier of Quebec.
• An ethics and accountability bill to limit the ability of the political parties to raise money from the rich, and levelling the playing field for all parties equally, making it more grassroots. That omnibus bill would also create an independent budgetary office.
• Democratic reform — Triple-E Senate, fixed election dates, freer votes in the House. Shifting more powers from the PMO to cabinet and individual MPs.
• Increasing defence spending beyond previous Liberal commitments, especially in the Arctic Region of Canada. This includes three armed heavy icebreakers, additional Canadian Rangers, acquiring new strategic airlifters and several other programs.
• Compensation of $20,000 to survivors and their spouses who paid the Chinese head tax

Party leaders

See also: Cabinet of Canada, Prime Minister of Canada, and List of Canadian Tory leaders and Tory Prime Ministers

• Senator John Lynch-Staunton (December 8, 2003 – March 20, 2004) (interim)
• Stephen Harper (March 20, 2004 – present)

Electoral results (2004-2006)

Election	# of candidates nominated	# of seats won	# of total votes	% of popular vote	result
2004	308	99	3,994,682	29.6%	Liberal minority government
2006	308	124	5,374,071	36.3%	Conservative minority government

Provincial parties

Main article: Conservative parties in Canada

The Conservative Party, while officially having no current provincial wings, largely works with the former federal Progressive Conservative Party's provincial affiliates. There have been calls to change the names of the provincial parties from "Progressive Conservative" to "Conservative". However, there are other small "c" conservative parties which the federal Conservative Party has close ties with, such as the Saskatchewan Party, the Action démocratique du Québec (ADQ), and to some degree, the right-wing BC Liberals (even though there is a fringe British Columbia Conservative Party).

The federal Conservative party has the support of many of the provincial Conservative leaders. In Ontario, provincial PC Party leader John Tory and former interim provincial opposition leader Bob Runciman have expressed open support for Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party of Canada, with former Mike Harris cabinet members Jim Flaherty, Tony Clement, and John Baird now ministers in Harper's government.

Support between federal and provincial Conservatives is more tenuous in some other provinces. In Alberta, relations have been strained between the federal Conservative Party and the Progressive Conservative. Part of the federal Tories' loss in the 2004 election was often blamed on then Premier Klein's public musings on health care late in the campaign. Klein had also called for a referendum on same-sex marriage. With the impending 2006 election, Klein predicted another Liberal minority, though this time the federal Conservatives won a minority government[11]. After the 2007 budget was announced the two conservative governments in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland accused the federal Conservatives of breaching the terms of the Atlantic Accord. As a result relations have worsened between the two provincial governments, leading Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams to publicly denounce the federal Conservatives.

While officially separate, federal Conservative Party documents, such as membership applications, can be picked up from most provincial Progressive Conservative Party offices. Several of the provincial parties also contain open links to the federal Conservative website on their respective websites.

Conservative leader Stephen Harper has attended multiple provincial Progressive Conservative party conventions as a keynote speaker and he has encouraged all federal party members to purchase memberships in their provincial conservative counterparts.

See also

See also: List of political parties in Canada

External links

• Conservative Party of Canada official website
• Conservative Party of Canada — 2006 Election Platform