Conservative Party of Canada
The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC; French: Parti conservateur du Canada, PCC), colloquially known as the Tories, is a federal political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main right-leaning parties, the Progressive Conservative Party (PC Party) and the Canadian Alliance, the latter being the successor of the Western Canadian–based Reform Party. The party sits at the centre-right to the right of the Canadian political spectrum, with their federal rival, the centre-left Liberal Party of Canada, positioned to their left.[3] The Conservatives are defined as a "big tent" party, practising "brokerage politics"[c][6][7][8] and welcoming a broad variety of members, including "Red Tories" and "Blue Tories".[9][10][11][12]
For the historical party, see Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942).
Conservative Party of Canada Parti conservateur du Canada
CPC (English)
PCC (French)
Stephen Barber
December 7, 2003
678,708[1]
Union of Latin American Parties (associate party)
From Canadian Confederation in 1867 until 1942, the original Conservative Party of Canada formed numerous governments and had multiple names. However, by 1942, the main right-wing Canadian force became known as the Progressive Conservative Party. In the 1993 federal election, the PC Party's Western Canadian support transferred to the Reform Party. When it became clear that neither the PC Party nor the Reform Party or Canadian Alliance (the latter being the successor to the Reform Party) could beat the incumbent Liberals that had governed since the 1993 election, an effort to unite the right-of-centre parties emerged. In 2003, the Canadian Alliance and the PCs merged, forming the Conservative Party of Canada.
During the Conservative Party's governance of Canada from 2006 to 2015, its economic policies included reducing sales tax, reducing income taxes, reducing business taxes, balancing the national budget, creating the tax-free savings account (TFSA), and creating the Universal Child Care Benefit. In social policy, the government eliminated the long-gun registry, introduced mandatory minimum sentences for violent crimes, raised the age of consent to 16 years of age, permitted the construction of several pipelines, and withdrew Canada from the Kyoto Protocol. The government also supported the State of Israel, negotiated the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), and negotiated the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).[13][14][15][16]
Under its first leader, Stephen Harper, the party governed with two minority governments after the federal elections of 2006 and 2008. It then won a majority government in the 2011 federal election before being defeated in the 2015 federal election by a majority Liberal government led by Justin Trudeau. Under its second and third leaders, Andrew Scheer and Erin O'Toole, the party remained in opposition after losing the elections in 2019 and 2021, respectively, despite winning a plurality of the vote in each election. On September 10, 2022, Pierre Poilievre was elected as leader in the 2022 leadership election.
Composition[edit]
National Council[edit]
The National Council of the CPC is its "highest governing body".[112] The Council president, Robert Batherson—who was elected by CPC delegates on March 21, 2021, at the March 18–20 virtual policy convention to replace Scott Lamb—is the first president to come from the Atlantic provinces since the CPC was founded in 2003.[112] Batherson and the Council—along with the "campaign team working with the [Conservative] Fund"—will focus on ensuring that Erin O'Toole becomes prime minister in the next federal election.[112] While the National Council potentially has 21 members according to its constitution, there were no CPC candidates from either Nunavut or the Northwest Territories so these seats remain vacant until byelections are held, which will be in the next three months.[112] The 21 seats—which are apportioned based on the numbers of MPs it has in the House of Commons—include 4 from Ontario, 3 from Quebec, 2 from British Columbia, 2 from Alberta, 2 from Saskatchewan, 2 from Manitoba, 4 from Atlantic Canada, 1 from the Yukon Territories, 1 from Nunavut, and 1 from the Northwest Territories.[112] On March 20, 2021, O'Toole proposed to the CPC Caucus at their annual meeting that they "embrace environment-friendly policies ahead of a likely federal election" in 2021.[113] In preparation for the March 18–20 virtual policy convention, riding associations organized grassroot voting to determine which 34 resolutions would advance to plenary debate on potential changes to the CPC's Policy Declaration, with 6,500 votes cast for 196 policy proposals. The proposals to include the sentence, "we recognize that climate change is real. The Conservative Party is willing to act." in the Policy Declaration was rejected by 54% of delegates.[114]
Geography[edit]
The Conservative Party has historically been strongest in Western Canada as well as rural Ontario.[115][116] The party is strongest particularly in the provinces of Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, where it holds 30 out of 34 and all 14 federal seats respectively.[117] It tends to be weaker in Quebec and Atlantic Canada, particularly Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island.[118][119]
