The Conservative Party of Canada-Its Many Past Lives******* While historians tend to fix the birth year of the Tory Party in Canada as 1854 (Page 455, Dawson, the Government of Canada,4th edition, 1963, University of Toronto Press), the official name of that party was "the Liberal-Conservative Party of Canada". It remained so until 1917 when the Tory government of Sir Robert Borden formed an alliance with certain Liberal mps to run as a coalition in the 1917 federal election as "Unionists" to get the conscription act passed to draft Canadian men into the army to win World War I. The name remained Unionist until the election of 1921 in which the Tories chose to call themselves "the National Liberal-Conservative Party of Canada" in an effort to keep the support the Unionist coalition had and marry it with their own. In the 2 years which followed the 1921 election that returned 50 Tory MPs the Canadian Parliamentary guides of those years list party affiliation of those 50 MPs in a variety of different ways. Some identified themselves simply as "Tory". Others listed themselves as "Unionist", "National Conservative" and "Liberal-Conservative". At the 1927 Winnipeg convention in which R.B.Bennett became Tory leader the party was called "Liberal-Conservative" but immediatley after Bennett vacated the leadership in 1938 at the urging of Bennett it became simply "the National Conservative Party of Canada" which it remained until 1942 with the exception of the duration of the 1940 federal election at which it chose to call itself "the National Government Party". On December 11th, 1942, the convention that chose John Bracken as Tory leader also ratified the renaming of the Tory party as "the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada" which it has remained for the past 61 years. That change was a controversial one at the time, but perhaps not as controversial as the current change seems to be. The recent agreement between the PC Party and the Canadian Alliance is thus nothing revolutionary. It is merely part of the same pattern Tories have followed to change with the times over parts of three centuries to remain relevant and electable in Canada. This party has had more past lives than Shirley Maclaine. Though I have many longtime friends on the opposite side of the issue of deal ratification that now faces the scrutiny of Tories nationally I have to admit their opposition seems like splitting hairs to me. Those Tories that despair at the loss of a great national Conservative party that formed governments and shaped history should take heart and be optimistic about the unification. In terms of electoral potential and membership, the Conservative party that will soon be, will more resemble the great Conservative Party that was than the Conservative Party that now is. I hope people nationwide will sign up up as PC Party members to see that this merger deal is ratified. I have included several links at the bottom of this page including Bluedraft and 2cards.ca that are particularly helpful for those looking to buy memberships. ****Jason Daniel Baker, Progressive Conservative Candidate of record, York South-Weston, 2000, Former President, York South-Weston Federal PC Association, Former National Councillor, PC Party of Canada
Jason Daniel Baker
My Run for Parliament as a PC
More on my run for federal Parliament
My Support for Peter Mackay PC Leader Campaign
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance Party
National Citizens Coalition
Monarchist League of Canada
Bluedraft
Two Cards Initiative
Draft Ken Dryden For Conservative Party Leader
Ontario Federation of Anglers & Hunters
Fraser Institute
Cary Grant
Mulroney Comeback?
