Wikipedia

Conservative Party of Quebec (historical)

"Conservative Party of Quebec (20th century)" redirects here. For the 1982—1989 party, seeProgressive Conservative Party of Quebec.For the 2009—present party, seeConservative Party of Quebec.

TheConservative Party of Quebec(French:Parti conservateur du Québec) was apolitical partyinQuebec,Canada, from 1867 until 1936, when it merged with members of theAction libérale nationaleto form theUnion Nationale.

Conservative Party of Quebec
Parti conservateur du Québec
Founded1867;158 years ago(1867)
Dissolved1936;89 years ago(1936)
Preceded byParti bleu
Merged intoUnion Nationale
IdeologyConservatism
Ultramontanism
Political positionRight-wing
ReligionCatholic

Origins

edit

The party originated as theParti bleuwhich was formed around 1850. Theparti bleuopposed theanti-clericalismof its rival, theparti rouge.

Theparti bleusupported the role of theclergyin Quebec society. Members of theparti bleu,led byGeorge-Étienne CartierfromCanada East,joined with the followers of SirJohn A. MacdonaldinCanada Westto form acoalition governmentwith Cartier as co-premier from 1857 to 1862. It was out of this coalition that theConservative Partywas formed (then known as theLiberal-Conservative Party), laying the basis forConfederationin 1867.

Post-Confederation

edit

With Confederation and Quebec's entry as a province, what had been theparti bleubecame the Quebec wing of Macdonald's Conservative Party. It formed the government in the province, withPierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveauas Quebec's firstpremier.Cartier acted as Macdonald'sQuebec lieutenantin the federalHouse of Commons.The Conservatives dominated Quebec politics at both the federal and provincial level for the next 30 years. The Conservatives held power in Quebec for 25 out of 30 years, providing eight of the province's ten premiers in that period.

However, the party became increasingly divided between a moderate wing and anUltramontanewing ofCatholicfundamentalists. As well, the party's links with the federalConservativesharmed the party as the Tories in English Canada became increasingly identified as hostile to French Canadians and Quebec. The execution ofLouis Rielin 1885 outraged French Canadians and hurt the Macdonald Conservatives at the polls.

After Macdonald's death in 1891, the coalition that formed the national Conservatives unravelled, particularly around theManitoba Schools Questionthat pitted English-Canadian Protestants against French-Canadian Catholics. This issue essentially ended the possibility of a significant French-Canadian presence in western Canada.

The federal Conservatives lost the1896 federal election,largely due to the collapse of their support in Quebec. The provincial Conservative government ofEdmund James Flynnlost the1897 Quebec election.

With the defeats of 1896 and 1897, the Conservatives became a minority party in Quebec at both levels of government. The Conservative Party of Quebec never formed another provincial government. TheQuebec Liberal Partyheld power without interruption for the next 38 years.

Decline and re-emergence as Union Nationale

edit

Conservative fortunes were further hurt by theConscription Crisis of 1917when the federal Conservative government of SirRobert Bordeninvoked conscription against the opposition of Quebec. This led to riots in the province.

In 1929, mayor of MontrealCamillien HoudesucceededArthur Sauvéas leader of the Conservative Party, which went on to lose four by-elections.[1]

In 1933,Maurice Duplessisbecame leader of the Quebec Conservatives. The next year, the ruling Liberal party split when a group of nationalist Liberals dissatisfied with the government ofLouis-Alexandre Taschereaubolted from the party to form theAction libérale nationaleor ALN. Duplessis wooed the dissident party and, two weeks before the1935 election,the Conservatives and ALN formed a "Union Nationale"alliance to contest the election. On June 20, 1936 the Quebec Conservative Party dissolved when the alliance became a formal merger into a single political party, theUnion Nationale.

Two months later, the UN took power in the1936 electionunder the leadership of Duplessis. The party was unexpectedly defeated in 1939, but went on to dominate Quebec politics from 1944 until Duplessis died in 1959.

The Union Nationale formed the government again from 1966–1970 and afterwards went into rapid decline, being supplanted by theParti Québécoisas the main opposition to the Liberals.

Federal Tories and Quebec after the Union Nationale

edit

Since the late 1960s, the main divide in Quebec politics was between supporters ofQuebec separatismandfederalism,rather than the traditional conservatism and liberalism. This resulted in a reorientation of Quebec politics with the conservativeUnion Nationalecollapsing in the early 1970s and the new polarization in Quebec politics being between the separatistParti Québécoisand the federalist Quebec Liberal Party.

Federalists, whether conservative or liberal, generally supported the Liberals with federalist formerUnion Nationalemembers joining that party in the 1970s while more nationalist UN members joined the PQ. This reorientation could be seen in the family of formerUnion NationalepremierDaniel Johnson, Sr.whose son,Daniel Johnson, Jr.joined and eventually became leader of the Quebec Liberals while his brother,Pierre-Marc Johnson,joined and eventually led the PQ.

Claude Wagner,a judge and a prominent Quebec Liberal cabinet minister who departed provincial politics in 1970, ran successfully as aProgressive Conservativein the 1972 federal election, and was the front-runner in theparty leadership conventionin 1976 before losing on the final ballot toJoe Clark.When Bourassa returned to politics in the 1980s, he worked closely with the federalProgressive Conservativesled byBrian Mulroney.During that decade, the Liberals won the majority of Quebec's seats in 1985 and 1989, while the PCs did so at the federal level in 1984 and 1988. Some Quebec Progressive Conservatives attempted to form a provincial party, theProgressive Conservative Party of Quebec,in the 1980s but this effort was not supported by the federal party and failed to win any seats.

In 1998, federal PC leaderJean Charestmoved to provincial politics as the leader of theQuebec Liberals.

With the decline of support for separatism in the early twenty-first century there are indications that Quebec politics is returning to a right/left divide and there have been several attempts to create centre-right parties, with varying success. TheAction démocratique du Québecwas formed in 1994 and attracted support from a number of federal Conservatives due to its neoliberal economic program and populist conservative social positions. In the years following the ADQ's collapse following the2008 Quebec electiona new nationalist party was formed, theCoalition Avenir Québec,which absorbed the ADQ in 2012. Conservative Quebec federalists have created a newQuebec Conservative Partyunder the leadership of formerConservative Party of CanadaMPLuc Harvey.

Leaders of the Parti conservateur du Québec

edit
See also:Conservative Party of Quebec (historical) leadership elections

Election results

edit
General election # of candidates # of seats won % of popular vote
1867 69 51 53.48%
1871 67 46 51.72%
1875 68 43 50.67%
1878 66 32 49.49%
1881 62 49 50.38%
1886 63 26 46.19%
1890 62 23 45.39%
1892 71 51 52.41%
1897 67 23 43.82%
1900 34 7 41.85%
1904 24 7 26.73%
1908 62 14 39.92%
1912 75 16 43.01%
1916 55 6 35.09%
1919 22 5 16.96%
1923 71 20 39.32%
1927 69 9 34.31%
1931 89 11 43.54%
1935 34 17 18.93%
1939 3 0 0.3%

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^Paulin, Marguerite (2005).Maurice Duplessis: Powerbroker, Politician.Montréal: XYZ Pub. p. 215.ISBN9781894852173.
edit
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Conservative_Party_of_Quebec_(historical)&oldid=1252745554"