User:Kevlar67/Conservatism in Canada

Robert Borden and the First World War

The Conservatives returned to power under Robert Borden in 1911. They won the 1911 election by appealing to pro-British anti-American sentiment in English Canada. They opposed the reciprocity treaty or free trade agreement the previous Liberal government had proposed with the United States. And they denoucing the creation of the Canadian Navy in 1910, which they rediculed as a "tin-pot navy", and demanded instead that Canada give funds to Britain for the Royal Navy instead. In Quebec they were helped by the defection of many Liberals to the nationalist cause of Henri Bourassa.

When Canada entered the First World War in 1914, Borden and the Conservatives were egar to rally to the British cause, although Borden wanted the right to determine Canada's specfic commitment. Intitially, Canada provided a volunteer-only force. Recruitment was strong, but many in English Canada suspected Quebeckers of shirking their duty. The level of losses of Canadian forces on the Western Front convinced Borden of the nessisity of conscription. Borden wanted to institute constription and invited the Liberals to join him a wartime coaltion to acheive it. Many English-speaking liberals did, but the Quebec caucus and few other refused. The coalition ran under the Unionist Party name, against the rump "Laurier Liberals". The Unionists swept most of English Canada and the Opposition took Quebec. Conscription was duly implimented, but this caused riots in Quebec.

After the war the coalition soon broke up, and the Conservatives were hurt by the post-war economic slump. Arthur Meighen took over as Conservative leader in 1920 and in the 1921 election, he led the party under the National Liberal Conservative Party label to overwhealing defeat. The party finished third to the Liberals and the Progressives.

Meighen and the King-Byng affair

After serving in oppostion for four years, the Conservatives made gains in the 1925 election, and had the largest number of seats. The Liberals under Mackenzie King, however, decided to form the government because they believed they had enough support from the Progressives to maintain the "confidence of the house" and form a workable government. Meighen was outraged by this break with convention. When a scandal dislodged Progressives from King's camp, a vote of no confidence felled his government. Noramaly the governor general, Julian Byng, 1st Viscount Byng of Vimy, would have disolved parliament and called a new election, but Byng, to whom the ultimate authorty fell, wanted to give Meighen and Conservatives a chance to see if they could secure the support of the house and form a government. The Meighen and the Conservatives took office but were quickly defeated by the Liberals and Progressives voting together. In the ensuing election King ran on a nationalist platform and spent more time attacking Byng as a British imposition on Canada, than he did running against Meighen. The Conservatives won the most votes, but the Liberals won more seats and formed the government. Sortly afterwards, Meighen resigned as Conservative leader.

R. B. Bennett and the Great Depression

After Meighen resigned wealthy businessman R. B. Bennett became party leader. In 1930 the Conservatives returned to power. Their economic philosophy since the days of Macdonald had traditionally been one of high tarrifs towards United States, the desire for a custom union in the British Empire, and some limited government intervention in the economy. Bennet was more laize-faire in regards the economy, but followed mostly in the same mold. These policies were challenged by the left and the right during the Depression. The Social Credit Party emerged first in Alberta and then federally, which challanged the Conservatives for the votes of socially conservative voters, but ran on an populist almost anti-capitalist economic platform (at least initially). At the same time the influence of the New Deal in the United States boosted the Liberals and new Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) on the left. Bennett and the Conservatives became deeply unpopular during the depression, and when down to a studding defeat in 1935, losing 95 of their 134 seats. Meanwhile the Social Credit party picked up 17 seats, nearly sweeping Alberta with fifteen and gaining a toehold in Saskatchewan with two seats.

Robert Manion and the Second World War

Robert Manion led the Conservatives (optimistically renamed the National Government (Canada) into the 1940 wartime election, but was utterly unable to rally Canadians agains the sly and pragmatic Mackenzie King, who sucessfully fudged the issue of conscription that had so plagued Bennett in the previous war. Meanwhile the Social Credit party held its seats in Western Canada, and remained the dominant party in Alberta.

Post-War

The reeling Conservatives were desperate for leadership and beged Manitoba premier John Bracken, of United Farmers of Manitoba, to take over the leadership of the party, which he did in 1942 on the condition that they change their name to the Progressive Conservatives. In the 1945 election the party made gains, against the Liberals but were kept out of power. Social Credit nearly swept Alberta again with 13 seats, but was shutout outside that province. Bracken was pushed of the Conservative leadership in 1948 in and replaced by former Ontario premier George A. Drew. In 1949 election saw all the oposition parties loose ground the the resurgent Liberals and their new French-speaking leader Louis St. Laurent. The Liberals won the most seats in every province but Alberta, where the Social Credit party held on to ten seats. The 1953 election saw all the oppostion parties makes against the Liberals, but the Liberals still won another majority government. The Conservatives failed to win the most seats in any province. Social Credit continued to dominate Alberta with the socialistic CCF win the most in Saskatchewan, and the Liberals dominating the rest of the country. Drew resigned in 1956 due to poor health.

The prairie firebrand

Drew was replaced by John Diefenbaker, a fire-breathing populist from Saskatcehwan. In the 1957 campiagn Deifenbaker took the party in a very new direction. He emphasized the Red Tory tendency, promising to outspend the Liberal in social policy and to restore the relatioship with Britain, damaged by the Suez Crisis. Diefenbaker made an impressive 60 seat gain, and formed a minority government. Social Credit also made gains, picking up 4 seats on an anti-inflation platform.

In 1958 the Liberal's new leader, Lester Pearson, seemed vulnerable so Diefenbaker called a snap election. With the help of a secret alliance with the Union Nationale premier of Quebec, Maurice Duplessis, Diefenbaker made gains in that province for the first time since the First World War. The prairie populism of Diefenbaker also helped to crush the Social Credit Party who lost all of their seats. The Conservatives ended up with 208 out of 265 seats, the most overwheamling victory in Canadian history up to that time.

In the 1962 campaign, Deifenbaker's PCs lost ground to the Liberals in English Canada, especially Ontario. They held thier ground in the West, conceeding only two seats each in Alberta and British Columbia to the Social Credit dashing hopes for a return of the Social Credit Party's former Alberta dominance. In Quebec, however it was another story, the right-wing vote went to the new Quebec wing of the Social Credit Party led by Réal Caouette. Tenstions between the pary's Quebec and Western wings were not long in forming.

Deifenbaker now formed a minority government, but was not able to maintain a stable grip on his caucus. He lost a vote of non-confidence and had to fight another election in 1963. This time the Liberals made gains in Ontario and Quebec, and formed a minority government. The Social Credit party was unable to make any gains or to united the Western and Quebec wings under stable leadership, leading split. The majority of the Quebec caucus split to form the Ralliement des créditistes.

The 1965 election saw further gains for the Liberals, which damaged Deifenbaker leadership of the PCs, and he saw deposed soon after the election by a putsch led by strategist Dalton Camp. This election also witnessed the continued disintegration of the Social Credit movement. Both the English and French wings, running seperately, lost ground. It was the last time the Socreds would win a seat outside of Quebec.

Stanfield and Trudeaumania

By the time of the 1968 election both the Liberals and Conservatives had new leaders. The Conservative's Robert Stanfield was a well regarded moderate who accepted the post-war Keynesian economic consensus and was open to giving more recognition to the French language and Quebec. But he could not compete with the enuthsiasim that surrounded Liberal leader Pierre Trudeau, who swept to a majority. The Créditistes, meanwhile, did slightly better in Quebec, but Social Credit's Western wing was shutout.

Again in 1972, the Standfield Conservatives went down to defeat at the hand of Trudeau's Liberals. The Conservatives managed to win a majority of the seats in Nova Scotia and every province in the West, but could not match Liberal strength in Quebec and Ontario. The Tories had campainged on the very Keynsian policy of wage and price controls which Trudeau ridiculed, but then went on to impliment. The Créditistes fell to just 11 seats and lost official party status in the House of Commons.

Joe Clark

After Stanfield resigned, the party led an election convention in 1976. The presumptive favourite, former Quebec justice minister Claude Wagner, led on the first ballot, trailed by Quebec lawyer Brian Mulroney, the young Alberta MP Joe Clark, and a host of other candidates. As other candidates droped off many through their support to Clark, who catapulted over Bulroney into second place, and then defeated Wagner on the final ballot. Clark was a relative unknown, but led the Conservatives in the 1979 election against the long-serving Trudeau. He capitalized on fatigue with Trudeau's long tenure, and won the Conservatives a minority government.

Clark though that the Liberals, caught up in the fate of Pierre Trudeau and a possible contest to replace him, would not vote to defeat his government. He made no attempt to secure oppostion support for his first budget and did not even have all his MPs present for a crucial vote. He lost the vote and Canadians returned to the polls in 1980.

Canadian voters punished Clark and the PCs for their poor management of parliament. They may also have to keen to restore the fluently French-speaking Trudeau to the leadership of the federalist forces in time for the referendum on Quebec indepedence that was expected shortly. Clark and the Conservatives returned to oppostion and had to watch the Liberals under Trudeau led the federalist forces in Quebec to victory in the referendum and then simply support Trudeau's efforts to ammend the constitution.

In January 1983, Clark's leadership was voted on an a party convention. 66.9% of the delegates voted against, and 33.1% voted for, a review of Clark's leadership. This was enough for Clark to continue under party rules but he felt he would need more legitimacy within the party inorder to win the next election and called for a fresh leadership contest with himself as a candidate.

Brian Mulroney, Free Trade, and the Constitution

The ensuing contest became a three-way contest between Clark, Mulroney, and John Crosbie. Crosbie ran on a right-wing platform that featured the then-usually policy of free trade with the United States. Clark represented the Red Tory wing of the party, while Mulroney tried to split the difference. Clark led on the first three ballot but stalled at around 35%, while Mulroney kept gaining on reach ballot and emerged the victor.

Going into the 1984 election, the bilingual Mulroney hoped to make gains in Quebec by promising to change the constitution to meet the demands of that province. At the same time he benefited from disatisfaction with the long tenure of the Liberals. Mulroney famously delivered a "knockout punch" to the new Liberal leader, John Turner, during a televised leader's debate. He asked Turner why he had approved a spate of patronage appointments made by the outgoing Trudeau. Turner struggled to respond, and said, "I had no option". Mulroney responded: "You had an option, sir. Could you have said no." The PCs crushed the Liberals, winning a majority of the seats in every province and territory. They ended up with the largest majority in the history of the House of Commons.

At the time Canada's finances were in poor shape and Mulroney promised to break with the Keynsian economic consensus that had dominated Canada since the Depression, and institute neo-liberal policies similar to those of Ronald Regan in the United States and Margret Thatcher in Great Britain. He had limited sucess controlling government spending, but was able to convince his traditionally protectionist party to begin negociations for a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States. Mulroney could not get the treaty through the Liberal-controlled Senate, called the election to seek a new mandate for the treaty. In the 1998 election free trade dominated the debate, with both he Liberals and NDP running against plan as dangerous for Canada's national soverignty. The PCs won only 43% of the vote, down from 50% during the previous campaign, and they only took a clear majority of the seats in Alberta and Quebec, with a tiny majority in Manitoba. They also took a small majority of the seats in Ontario despites finishing second in the popular vote there. Overall the PCs campaign benefited from a strong NDP showing, which devided the anti-FTA vote. The combinded Liberal and NDP votes were more than 50%, and both parties gain seats at the PCs expense. Nevertheless, the PCs retained a majority and set about ratifying the FTA.

After the election Mulroney's attention turned to constitutional issues. Mulroney attempted to bring all the provincial premiers and federal oppostion leaders onside for a new constitutional package that would appeal to Quebec. His first attempt, the Meech Lake Accord, was rejected by the provincial legislatures in Manitoba and Newfoundland, and grew widespread criticism from Abroginial and women's groups for giving the provinces and especially Quebec, powers and recognition that less politically powerful groups lacked. The Accord was also unpopular with many in Western Canadian for pandering to Quebec, something which Mulroney was becoming associated with. With some modifications, Mulroney and the premiers created the Charlottetown Accord as a second attempt. This was put to a nation-wide referendum.