PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE PARTY OF CANADA

byname Conservative Party, French Parti Progressiste-conservateur Du Canada, one of the major Canadian political parties into the late 20th century. Its origin may be traced to the informal groups of government supporters, or Tories, that operated in Canada's nascent party system in the century prior to that country's confederation as the Dominion of Canada in 1867. Until 1854 the opposing groups of Tories and Reformers were factional and unstable. In that year, however, a government of Reformers fell as a result of internal division, and disciplined new parties were formed that have dominated Canadian politics ever since. The old Tories and other conservatives, including a majority of conservative French-Canadians, joined with a group of moderate liberals to form the Liberal-Conservative Party under the leadership of John Macdonald; except for a period during and after World War I, the party kept this name until 1942, when it was renamed Progressive Conservative. The Liberal-Conservatives were dominant in the Canadian Parliament until 1864, when a coalition was formed with the Liberals that lasted until 1867. Macdonald's attempt to continue coalition government after that date foundered in 1873, when the party was heavily defeated at the polls. Macdonald, however, continued to lead the party and swept back into power in 1878 after adopting a protectionist tariff policy; he continued in office until 1891, when his death left the party without an effective leader. In 1896 the party lost office and remained out of power until 1911, when it was aided by an unholy alliance with the Quebec Nationalists. During World War I a large number of Liberals gave their support to the Conservative administration (1917), the party temporarily adopting the title Unionist. In 1921, as the National Liberal and Conservative Party, it went down to a severe defeat, and thereafter it held power only twice (for three months in 1926 and from 1930 to 1935) until John G. Diefenbaker was able to form a minority government in June 1957. A 1958 election gave the party a large majority, and it remained in power until 1963 under Diefenbaker. Thereafter, except for a nine-month period of government under Joe Clark in 197980, the party remained out of power on the federal level. In 1983 Clark was replaced by Brian Mulroney as party leader, and in 1984 a general election returned the government to the Conservatives. Mulroney continued in office until his retirement in 1993 and was succeeded as party leader by Kim Campbell, who thereby became Canada's first female prime minister. Under Campbell's brief leadership, however, the Conservatives suffered a humiliating defeat in the general elections of October 1993, returning only two members to the parliament. Neither the Conservatives nor the Liberals can be characterized as parties of the right or left within the Canadian political spectrum. The Conservative Party contains various shades of opinion, and its policies are generally determined by political expediency, local issues, and practical need rather than by ideology. In general, however, the Conservatives favour orthodoxy in finance and less governmental involvement in social affairs.