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Liberal-Conservative Party

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Liberal-Conservative Party
FoundersJohn A. Macdonald
George-Étienne Cartier
Founded1867
Dissolved1873
Preceded byParti bleu
Merged intoConservative Party of Canada (historical)
IdeologyConservatism
Political positionCentre-right to right-wing

The Liberal-Conservative Party (French: le Parti libéral-conservateur) 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 before 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,[clarification needed] run against each other. It was also common for a candidate to run on one label in one election and the other in a subsequent election.[1]

History

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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

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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

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References

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  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. Archived from the original on 2018-11-06. Retrieved 2016-02-07.

Further reading

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  • Creighton, Donald Grant. John A. Macdonald: The Old Chieftain. Vol. 2. (1955).
  • English, John. The Decline of Politics: The Conservatives and the Party System, 1901-20 (1977)
  • Gwyn, Richard J. Nation Maker: Sir John A. Macdonald: His Life, Our Times. 1867-1891. Volume Two (2011)
  • Neatby, H. Blair, and John T. Saywell. "Chapleau and the Conservative Party in Quebec." Canadian Historical Review 37 (1956): 17. online

Primary sources

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  • J. H. Stewart Reid, et al., eds. A Source-book of Canadian History: Selected Documents and Personal Papers (1964). online Archived 2007-11-02 at the Wayback Machine pp 333–49