Conservative Party

V

The Liberal Era, 1921-1957

After the war, the Conservative Party lost support among Canadian voters. The conscription issue had angered many French Canadians, who believed the war was a result of British ambition for world power. Relatively weak support from French Canadians was a problem that the party struggled to overcome ever since. The party also suffered from its policies favoring nationalization of railroads and high tariffs, which alienated western Canada. The Liberal Party ran the federal government for most of the next 40 years. Even though a Liberal government introduced conscription in World War II (1939-1945), the Conservatives were perceived in Québec as being the most enthusiastic supporters of that policy. As a result, the party was unable to gain support among French Canadians.

VI

John Diefenbaker

It was not until 1958 that the party—now called the Progressive Conservative Party—again succeeded in developing broad-based national support. In the 1957 election, the party won more seats than any other party in the House of Commons, and John Diefenbaker of Saskatchewan became prime minister. He led his party to an unprecedented victory in the 1958 elections, when it won 208 seats in the House of Commons. Diefenbaker was able to expand the party’s electoral base in the west as well as in Québec.

Diefenbaker’s policies were not fully coherent, but he possessed great rhetorical gifts and was able to appeal successfully to Canadian nationalism. Diefenbaker demonstrated moral leadership in his efforts to guarantee certain rights for all Canadians. His federal Bill of Rights was introduced to Parliament in 1958 and was passed into law in 1960. He also secured the federal vote for Canada’s indigenous peoples. Internationally, he was a leader in condemning racial segregation in South Africa. The economy suffered setbacks, however, and this contributed to an electoral defeat in 1963 that put the Progressive Conservatives out of power almost continuously until 1984. Their widespread support in the west nevertheless continued until 1993.

VII

Brian Mulroney

In 1984 the Progressive Conservatives under Brian Mulroney were elected to power with a record majority in the House of Commons, due largely to the unpopularity of the long-standing Liberal government of Pierre Trudeau. Mulroney himself was initially a popular leader. He expanded the party’s electoral base in Québec, where his home was, and reassured the party’s western and right-wing elements.

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In 1987 Mulroney orchestrated the Meech Lake Accord, a series of constitutional amendments designed to satisfy Québec’s demand for recognition as a unique nationality within Canada. It contained concessions to Québec that were also extended to the other provincial governments to secure their approval. It also contained a clause identifying Québec as a “distinct society.” Although this term was undefined, it offended many English Canadians because it seemed to grant Québec a special status over the other provinces. Because of this and other objections to the accord, it was not ratified by the provinces. This failure led to another attempt, the Charlottetown Accord, which failed a national referendum in October 1992.

Mulroney and the Progressive Conservatives were reelected in 1988 on the promise of free trade with the United States. He went on to achieve the most comprehensive Canadian-American free trade agreement yet concluded, the North American Free Trade Agreement of 1992. In his second term, however, Mulroney increasingly came to be viewed by many voters as an opportunist without any core political principles. He resigned in 1993.

VIII

Kim Campbell

Mulroney turned the party over to Kim Campbell, who became, albeit briefly, Canada’s first female prime minister. In the general election of 1993, the Progressive Conservative Party was defeated dramatically, winning only two seats in Canada’s House of Commons. Voters appeared to be reacting against a number of Progressive Conservative policies. Prime among these were the party’s introduction of an unpopular national sales tax and its support of the failed Meech Lake and Charlottetown accords. Campbell had supported the distinct society concept for Québec during the 1993 campaign.

IX

Conservative Unification

After an electoral defeat of such magnitude, virtually unparalleled in developed industrial democracies, the future of the Progressive Conservative Party was in doubt. Many of the party’s constituencies appeared to have permanently shifted their support to other parties, most notably the Canadian Alliance, a populist conservative party based in Canada’s western provinces.

Jean Charest, one of the two Progressive Conservatives elected in 1993, became party leader after the election. Under Charest’s leadership, the Progressive Conservatives showed a recovery in the 1997 election, winning 20 seats. However, these seats were largely confined to the Atlantic provinces. Charest resigned his seat in the Canadian House of Commons in March 1998 to become leader of the Québec Liberal Party after Daniel Johnson resigned as leader of that party. After Charest’s departure, Joe Clark, a former Progressive Conservative prime minister who served briefly from 1979 to 1980, was elected leader of the party.

In the November 2000 elections the Progressive Conservatives won just 12 seats in Parliament, the minimum required for the party to retain representation in the House of Commons. At the same time, the Canadian Alliance solidified its position as the leading party of the right in Canada.

In 2003 the Progressive Conservatives merged with the Canadian Alliance to form the Conservative Party, unifying the most powerful conservative groups in Canadian politics. Led by Stephen Harper, the Conservative Party became the official opposition in Parliament. A small group of former Progressive Conservatives rejected the merger, however, and formed the breakaway Progressive Canadian party.