Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
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Parti progressiste-conservateur du Canada |
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|---|---|
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| founding | 1942 |
| fusion | December 7, 2003 (incorporated into: Conservative Party of Canada ) |
| Alignment |
Conservatism (under Diefenbaker and Mulroney ), Liberal Conservatism (under Clark and Campbell ) |
| International connections | International Democratic Union |
The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada ( English Progressive Conservative Party of Canada , French Parti progressiste-conservateur du Canada ) was a conservative political party in Canada , which existed from 1942 to 2003. It emerged from the first Conservative Party founded by John Macdonald , the first Prime Minister of Canada, and integrated parts of the disbanded centrist Progressive Party .
The party represented center-right positions on economic issues , while tending to be at the center of the political spectrum on social issues. Four prime ministers come from the ranks of the progressive conservatives, whose members were colloquially known as Tories , who ruled the country for a total of 16 years. The party was denied a longer term in office, mainly because it was generally not very popular in the French-speaking province of Québec .
Under Brian Mulroney , the progressive conservatives won more than half of all votes for the last time, but controversial domestic politics resulted in a devastating election defeat in 1993. The party was unable to recover from this setback. Finally, at the end of 2003, it merged with the Canadian Alliance to form the new Conservative Party .
ideology
The ideology of the progressive-conservative party was generally center-right. In addition, Canadian conservatism was more similar to that of the UK than that of the US . Like its liberal rivals, the party defined itself as a kind of "big tent". Its members had diverse views and supported relatively loosely defined goals. The progressive conservatives were often affected by wing fighting. The factionalism had to achieve its origins in the fact that the party needed to integrate diverse political groupings to more votes than the Liberals. These groupings usually formed semi-autonomous blocks within the party, e.g. B. Québec nationalists or Western Canadian reformers.
The core of the party also consisted of two core groups, the "Red Tories" and the "Blue Tories". The numerous “Red Tories” represented tended towards traditional conservatism in the sense of Benjamin Disraeli , with an emphasis on liberal values in societal and social issues, but with a conservative orientation of economic policy (preference for protectionism over free trade ). “Blue Tories”, on the other hand, were considered more conservative in social and social policy and, before the Second World War, advocated classical liberalism in the economic sector. From the mid-1960s onwards, this group tended increasingly towards the economic liberalism of the American Republicans and towards British Thatcherism .
history
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In 1935 the Conservatives had suffered a severe election defeat and in 1940 they did similarly poorly. The party was under leadership and found itself in a difficult financial situation. In addition, there was the defeat of party chairman Arthur Meighen in a by-election. It was widely expected that Canadian politics would tend to move to the left after the end of World War II. Because of this, the Conservatives tried to gain a foothold in the middle of the political spectrum. In December 1942 they elected John Bracken of the Progressive Party of Manitoba as their new chairman. Bracken integrated the remaining provincial offshoots of the Progressive Party and pushed through the renaming as Progressive-Conservative Party.
After a long period of liberal dominance, the progressive conservatives won an overwhelming election victory under John Diefenbaker in 1958 . They won almost all seats in Western Canada , the majority in Ontario and - with the support of the Union nationale - for the first time a considerable number in Québec . After Diefenbaker refused to station American nuclear weapons on Canadian soil, the government fell apart in 1962. The Progressive Conservatives lost the election the following year and the Liberals returned to power. The increasing dissatisfaction with his reactionary politics, his authoritarian leadership style and the ineligibility, especially in Québec, finally led to his being voted out of office in 1967.
Robert Stanfield , former Prime Minister of Nova Scotia and new party president, saw the need to regain the confidence of the Francophones. The progressive conservatives also began to move away from mercantilist economic policies and embark on a neoliberal course. However, Stanfield did not succeed in helping his party to an election victory. The minority government of his successor Joe Clark lasted only nine months.
Brian Mulroney , originally from Québec, achieved an overwhelming election victory in 1984 with an absolute majority of the seats in all provinces. Under the impression of Reaganomics in the USA, the progressive conservatives now advocated free trade with the USA, which they had always rejected in the previous decades. Despite the neoliberal course in economic policy, the party remained true to its socially progressive course. To please the nationalists in Québec, Mulroney promised changes to the constitution that would guarantee greater autonomy.
Various factors (mainly economic) led to the collapse of the party. Canada was experiencing the worst recession since World War II, unemployment was at its highest since the Great Depression , the government had amassed a huge mountain of debt, introduced the unpopular value added tax, and was vulnerable to corruption. In addition, the Quebec nationalists stopped their support after the failure of the Meech Lake Accord and the Charlottetown Accord . A third factor was the growing alienation of the western Canadian provinces, which felt neglected because of their over-focus on the needs of Québec.
Mulroney's successor Kim Campbell led the progressive conservatives in 1993 to the worst defeat of a ruling party at the federal level in Canadian history. The party not only lost an absolute majority, but sank to almost insignificance with just two seats won. The electoral base in the West had turned almost unanimously towards the Reform Party ; in Québec the Liberals and the Bloc Québécois, formed from dissident progressive conservatives, shared the seats among themselves, while voters in Ontario and the Atlantic Provinces turned to the Liberals. Every member of the government lost his seat, except for Jean Charest , who was elected as the new party chairman. Although the party experienced a revival under Charest, it never won more than 20 seats.
Charest resigned in 1998 to take over the chairmanship of the Parti libéral du Québec . For the next five years, former Prime Minister Joe Clark served for the second time as Chairman of the Progressive Conservatives. Stephen Harper , chairman of the Canadian Alliance , which emerged from the Reform Party in 2000 , suggested that the division of conservative forces in Canada should be overcome and a new party should be founded. Because he feared that it would position itself too far to the right, Clark rejected this proposal and resigned as chairman. His successor Peter MacKay, however, conducted secret negotiations with Harper. On October 15, 2003, he announced the upcoming merger. The delegates from both parties accepted them. On December 7, 2003, the Progressive Conservative Party was officially dissolved and became part of the new Conservative Party .
Four MPs in the House of Commons , including Joe Clark and Scott Brison , refused to join the new party and continued to view themselves as progressive conservatives. They have since given up their mandate or have joined the Liberals. The party is still represented in the Senate by two MPs, although officially it no longer exists. This strange constellation could last until 2021, when Elaine McCoy will be the last to reach the age limit of 75 and step down.
Election results
Results of the House of Commons elections :
| choice | seats total |
candidates data |
Weighted seats |
be right | proportion of |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1945 | 245 | 203 | 66 | 1,448,744 | 27.62% |
| 1949 | 262 | 249 | 41 | 1,734,261 | 29.65% |
| 1953 | 265 | 248 | 51 | 1,749,579 | 31.02% |
| 1957 | 265 | 256 | 111 | 2,564,732 | 38.81% |
| 1958 | 265 | 265 | 208 | 3,908,633 | 53.66% |
| 1962 | 265 | 265 | 116 | 2,865,542 | 37.22% |
| 1963 | 265 | 265 | 95 | 2,582,322 | 32.72% |
| 1965 | 265 | 265 | 97 | 2,500,113 | 32.41% |
| 1968 | 265 | 262 | 72 | 2,548,949 | 31.36% |
| 1972 | 264 | 264 | 107 | 3,338,980 | 35.02% |
| 1974 | 264 | 264 | 95 | 3,371,319 | 35.46% |
| 1979 | 282 | 282 | 136 | 4,111,606 | 35.89% |
| 1980 | 282 | 282 | 103 | 3,552,994 | 32.49% |
| 1984 | 282 | 282 | 211 | 6,278,818 | 50.03% |
| 1988 | 295 | 295 | 169 | 5,667,543 | 43.02% |
| 1993 | 295 | 295 | 2 | 2,186,422 | 16.04% |
| 1997 | 301 | 301 | 20th | 2,446,705 | 18.84% |
| 2000 | 301 | 291 | 12 | 1,566,998 | 12.19% |
Party leader
| Surname | Chair | prime minister |
|---|---|---|
| John Bracken | December 11, 1942 - July 20, 1948 | |
| George Drew | October 2, 1948 - November 29, 1956 | |
| John Diefenbaker | December 14, 1956 - September 9, 1967 | June 21, 1957 - April 22, 1963 |
| Robert Stanfield | September 9, 1967 - February 22, 1976 | |
| Joe Clark | February 22, 1976 - February 19, 1983 | June 4, 1979 - March 3, 1980 |
| Erik Nielsen | February 19, 1983 - June 11, 1983 (interim) | |
| Brian Mulroney | June 11, 1983 - June 13, 1993 | September 17, 1984 - June 25, 1993 |
| Kim Campbell | June 13, 1993 - December 14, 1993 | June 25, 1993 - November 4, 1993 |
| Jean Charest | December 14, 1993 - April 2, 1998 | |
| Elsie Wayne | April 2, 1998 - November 14, 1998 (interim) | |
| Joe Clark | November 14, 1998 - May 31, 2003 | |
| Peter MacKay | May 31, 2003 - December 7, 2003 |
See also
Web links
- Conservative Party ( English, French ) In: The Canadian Encyclopedia . (Chapter on Progressive Conservatives)
Individual evidence
- ^ Results of past general election - Elections Canada