Requiem for the PC Party
When Canadians head to the polls in this election, their ballots will look radically different in at least one respect. After almost 60 years, they'll no longer be able to vote for the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada.
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| Peter MacKay and Stephen Harper |
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On Dec. 8, 2003, Progressive Conservative Leader Peter MacKay, and Canadian Alliance Leader Stephen Harper stood side by side to announce the birth of a new politcal institution, the Conservative Party of Canada. By striking a deal to merge their two parties into the new entity, they also sounded the death knell for a party with roots stretching back to Sir John A. Macdonald and the birth of the nation.
The Tories were no more.
CBC LINK: History of the PC Party.
Throughout its six-decade history, the Progressive Conservative party oscillated between being the most loved and the most loathed of Canadian political institutions.
Although the party dominated the early years of Canadian government (when it was known as the Liberal Conservatives), in the past 100 years it has spent most of its time as the official Opposition to the ruling Liberals.
Despite its relatively brief time in power, the party in one form or another had a huge impact on the country. It oversaw the building of the cross-country railroad, created the CBC and the Bank of Canada, proposed the Freedom of Information Act and signed the North American Free Trade Agreement. It also gave Canada its first and only female prime minister.
But the 1990s were dark years for the party, as scandals, unpopular fiscal policies such as the GST and the inability to bring Quebec into the Constitution reduced the PC party to just two members in the House of Commons. For the first time in decades, another party sat opposite the ruling Liberals: first the Bloc Québécois, followed by the Reform Party, and now the Canadian Alliance party.
And the PCs hadn't fully bounced back when the Alliance came calling in 2003. Deep in debt, and with few members, it was hard to resist the allure of a richer, newer face.
The merger was strongly opposed by some prominent PC members, some of whom, like David Orchard, attempted to stop the deal in court. But they were ultimately defeated. Early in 2004, some of the merger opponents and some provincial-level organizations were trying to re-register the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, but they have been unsuccessful so far.
But will voters notice the disappearance of the venerable party? The country still has a party that describes itself as conservative. Even the name is similar.
(Although there is some debate
about whether to call them Tories.)
The two parties
have managed to blend their platforms into a united policy stance, and set up riding associations for the coming federal election.
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David Orchard |
Some former PCs say the union is taking the party on a swing to the political right, a move
that hasn't paid off for the party in the past.
But Peter MacKay, the final leader of the PCs, says the merger was a natural move for the party. "This
is an evolution," he said, "a continuum of conservatism in the country."
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