Liberal-Conservative Party

This article is about the historic Canadian political party. For the political party in Spain with the same name, see Liberal-Conservative Party (Spain). For the political ideology, see Liberal conservatism.

The Liberal-Conservative Party was the formal name of the Conservative Party of Canada until 1873, and again from 1922 to 1938, although some Conservative candidates continued to run under the label as late as the 1911 election and others ran as simple Conservatives prior to 1873. In many of Canada's early elections, there were both "Liberal-Conservative" and "Conservative" candidates; however, these were simply different labels used by candidates of the same party, both were part of Sir John A. Macdonald's government and official Conservative and Liberal-Conservative candidates would not, generally, run against each other. It was also not uncommon for a candidate to run on one label in one election and the other in a subsequent election.[1]

The roots of the name are in the coalition of 1853 in which moderate Reformers and Conservatives from Canada West joined with bleus from Canada East under the dual premiership of Sir Allan MacNab and A.-N. Morin. The new ministry committed to secularizing Clergy reserves in Canada West and abolishing seigneurial tenure in Canada East.[2] Over time, the Liberal-Conservatives evolved into the Conservative party and their opponents, the Clear Grits and the Parti rouge evolved into the Liberal Party of Canada.[3] On October 12, 1916, the last Liberal-Conservative cabinet minister, Sam Hughes, was dismissed, making the executive all officially Conservative Party members.

Prominent Liberal-Conservative Members of Parliament and Senators in Canadian history include:

The party resumed formally referring to itself as Liberal-Conservative from 1922[4] until 1938 when it officially became the National Conservative Party,[5] however, it was commonly referred to as the Conservative Party throughout this period.

Liberal Conservative coalition

In the 1957 election, George Rolland, a watchmaker, sought election as a Liberal Conservative Coalition candidate in the Toronto riding of Eglinton. He placed last, winning only 252 votes, or 0.7% of the total. Both the Liberal and Conservative parties nominated candidates in the riding, so Rolland did not have the endorsement of either party.

Source: Parliament of Canada History of the Federal Electoral Ridings since 1867

See also

References

  1. ↑ Donald Creighton, John A. Macdonald (2 vol 1955).
  2. ↑ J.M.S. Careless, The Union of the Canadas 1841-1857, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1967, pp. 192-197.
  3. ↑ Joseph Wearing, "Finding our parties' roots" in Canadian Parties in Transition, 2nd ed., Toronto: Nelson Canada, 1996, pp. 19-20
  4. ↑ "MEIGHEN, ARTHUR". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. University of Toronto/Université Laval.
  5. ↑ "1938 CONSERVATIVE LEADERSHIP CONVENTION". CPAC. Cable Public Access Channel.

Further reading

Primary sources

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