Conservative Party of Canada

Conservative Party of Canad, Parti conservateur du Canada), is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum. The party received 37.6% of the popular vote in the 2008 federal election, before winning its first majority government during the election on 2 May 2011. The current party leader is Stephen Harper, who has been the Prime Minister of Canada since 2006.


The historical Conservative Party was founded by United Empire Loyalists, and 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 such as Simon Houpt of the Globe and Mail point out the similarities between Conservative Party marketing in Canada and the marketing of the Tea Party in the U.S.

The Conservative Party generally favours lower taxes, smaller government, more decentralization of federal government powers to the provinces modeled after the Meech Lake Accord and a tougher stand on "law and order" issues.



The Conservatives have promised to re-introduce Internet surveillance legislation that they were not able to pass, and bundle it with the rest of their crime bills. They said they plan to fast track the legislation within 100 days after taking office.

Deportations of Iraq War resisters
"Conscientious objectors" to "wars not sanctioned by the United Nations" should not be given a special "program" to "remain in Canada", according to all 110 Conservative Party MPs, who voted on this issue in the Parliament of Canada on 3 June 2008. On 13 September 2008, this refusal to set up a “special program” was reiterated by a Conservative party spokeswoman after the first such conscientious objector (Robin Long) had been deported and sentenced to 15 months in jail.

The appointment of Dr. Henry Morgentaler, an abortion rights activist, to the prestigious Order of Canada, was deplored by some Conservative MPs. The Conservative government distanced itself from the award.

The Conservative government excluded the funding of abortions in Canada's G8 health plan. Harper argued that he wanted to focus on non-divisive policies. This stance was opposed by the Liberals, NDP and international health and women's groups. The Archbishop of Quebec and Primate of Canada, Marc Ouellet, praised this decision, but urged Harper to do more "in defence of the unborn.  In May 2010, 18 Conservative MPs addressed thousands of students at the pro-life 13th annual March for Life rally on Parliament Hill.

Party leader Stephen Harper does not oppose same-sex civil unions, but does oppose same-sex marriage. In 2005, Harper spoke at an anti-same-sex marriage rally, and declared "we can win this fight.

The party had a free vote on whether the House wanted to reopen the issue of same-sex marriage, which was defeated. In March 2011, just ahead of the expected Canadian election, the Conservatives added one line about gay rights to the "Discover Canada" booklet for new immigrants which they had published in 2009. The Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, Jason Kenney, had removed all mention of gay rights from the booklet published in 2009.
Provincial parties


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 with which the federal Conservative Party has close ties, such as the Saskatchewan Party, the Action démocratique du Québec (ADQ), and the British Columbia Liberal Party (not related to the federal Liberal Party of Canada). The federal Conservative party has the support of many of the provincial Conservative leaders. In Ontario, successive provincial PC Party leaders John Tory, Bob Runciman and Tim Hudak 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 Conservatives. 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. Klein's successor Ed Stelmach has generally tried to avoid causing similar controversies, however Harper's surprise pledge to restrict bitumen exports drew a sharp rebuke from the Albertan government, who warned such restrictions would violate both the Constitution of Canada and the North American Free Trade Agreement. After the 2007 budget was announced the two conservative governments in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador 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 and Labrador Premier Danny Williams to publicly denounce the federal Conservatives, which has given rise to his ABC (Anything But Conservative) campaign in the 2008 election. 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.

The Conservative Party is political heir to a series of right-of-centre parties that have existed in Canada, beginning with the Liberal-Conservative Party founded in 1854 by Sir John A. Macdonald and Sir George-Étienne Cartier. The party later became known simply as the Conservative Party after 1873. Like its historical predecessors and conservative parties in some other commonwealth nations (such as the Conservative Party of the United Kingdom), members of the present-day Conservative Party of Canada are sometimes referred to as "Tories". The modern Conservative Party of Canada is also legal heir to the heritage of the historical conservative parties by virtue of assuming the assets and liabilities of the former Progressive Conservative Party upon the merger of 2003.


The Conservative Party's popular support waned (particularly in western Canada) during difficult economic times from the 1920s to 1940s, as it was seen by many in the west as an eastern establishment party which ignored the needs of the citizens of Western Canada. Westerners of multiple political convictions including small-"c" conservatives saw the party as being uninterested in the economically unstable Prairie regions of the west at the time and instead holding close ties with the business elite of Ontario and Quebec. As a result of western alienation both the dominant Conservative and Liberal parties were challenged in the west by the rise of a number of protest parties including the Progressive Party of Canada, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), the Reconstruction Party of Canada and the Social Credit Party of Canada. 

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. It advocated deep decentralization of government power, abolition of official bilingualism and multiculturalism, democratization of the Canadian Senate, and suggested a potential return to capital punishment, and advocated significant privatization of public services.[citation needed] Westerners reportedly 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 its first MP, Deborah Grey, was elected in a by-election in Alberta, which was a shock to the PCs which had almost complete electoral dominance over the province for years. Another defining event for western conservatives was when Mulroney accepted the results of an unofficial Senate "election" held in Alberta, which resulted in the appointment of a Reformer, Stanley Waters, to the Senate.


With the right-wing vote split, the Liberal Party won three successive majority governments. This led the Reform Party, and subsequently the Canadian Alliance, as well as elements of the Progressive Conservative Party, to advocate "uniting the right.

Opposition to the merger/Defections
The merger process was opposed by some elements in either party. In the PCs in particular, the merger process resulted in organized opposition, and in a substantial number of prominent members refusing to join the new party. The opponents of the merger were not internally united as a single internal opposition movement, and they did not announce their opposition at the same moment. The reasons for dissent varied. David Orchard argued that his written agreement with Peter MacKay, which had been signed a few months earlier at the 2003 Progressive Conservative Leadership convention, excluded any such merger. Orchard announced his opposition to the merger before negotiations with the Canadian Alliance had been completed. Over the course of the following year, Orchard led an unsuccessful legal challenge to the merger of the two parties.

In the immediate aftermath of the merger announcement, some Conservative activists hoped to recruit former Ontario Premier Mike Harris for the leadership. Harris declined the invitation, 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, as did former Democratic Representative Caucus leader Chuck Strahl. Jim Prentice, who had been a candidate in the 2003 PC leadership contest, entered the Conservative 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.

In the end, there were three candidates in the party’s first leadership election: former Canadian Alliance leader Stephen Harper, former Magna International CEO Belinda Stronach, and former Ontario provincial PC Cabinet minister Tony Clement. Voting took place on 20 March 2004. A total of 97,397 ballots were cast. Harper won on the first ballot with a commanding 68.9% of the vote (67,143 votes). Stronach received 22.9% (22,286 votes), and Clement received 8.2% (7,968 votes)
Founding 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.

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 11 April 2006. The bill was passed in the House of Commons on 22 June 2006, and was granted royal assent on 13 December 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 and 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 6 June 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 Québécois had previously indicated that it would support the budget, and its passage was never in doubt.)
On 31 October 2006, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced that the government would begin taxing income trusts in 2011, which went against one of their campaign promises, causing much consternation among supporters. On 22 November 2006, Harper introduced his own motion to recognize the Québécois as forming a "nation within a united Canada". Five days later, Harper's motion passed, with a margin of 266–16; all federalist parties, as well as the Bloc Québécois, were formally behind it.

Prime Minister Harper filled five vacancies in the Senate of Canada with appointments of new Conservative senators on 29 January 2010. The appointments filled vacancies in Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, and New Brunswick, and two vacancies in Ontario. The new senators were Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu of Quebec, Bob Runciman of Ontario, Vim Kochhar of Ontario, Elizabeth Marshall of Newfoundland and Labrador, and Rose-May Poirier of New Brunswick. Throughout his time as Prime Minister, Harper has appointed a total of 38 Senators, all of which exclusively represent The Conservative Party of Canada.

This changed the party standings in the Senate, which had been dominated by Liberals, to 51 Conservatives, 49 Liberals, and five others. A Globe and Mail article has suggested Harper may invoke Section 26 of the Constitution, as his predecessor Brian Mulroney did during the GST debate, to have an extra eight senators appointed, for a total of 113, thus granting Tories an absolute majority in the Red Chamber. With the 29 November 2010 retirement of former Liberal Senator Peter Stollery, Harper was in a position to appoint another Conservative Senator, bringing the Conservatives an absolute Senate majority with 53 of 105 seats. By the end of 2011 an additional four Liberals, a Progressive Conservative (not aligned with the Conservative Government), and one Conservative will reach the mandatory retirement age of 75.
Conservatives found in contempt of Parliament 2011
The Conservative government was defeated in a non-confidence vote on 25 March 2011, after being found in contempt of parliament, thus triggering a general election. This was the first occurrence in Commonwealth history of a government in the Westminster parliamentary tradition losing the confidence of the House of Commons on the grounds of contempt of Parliament. The non-confidence motion was carried with a vote of 156 in favour of the motion, and 145 against.