Clear Grits

Clear Grits
Leader	George Brown
Founded	1850(1850)
Dissolved	July 1, 1867(1867-07-01)
Preceded by	Reformers
Merged into	Liberal Party of Canada
Headquarters	Toronto,Canada West
Ideology	Liberalism Classical liberalism
Politics of Ontario Political parties Elections

Clear Gritswere reformers in theCanada Westdistrict of the Province ofUnited Canada,a British colony that is now the Province ofOntario,Canada. Their name is said to have been given byGeorge Brown,who said that only those were wanted in the party who were "all sand and no dirt, cleargritall the way through ".

Their support was concentrated among southwestern Canada West farmers, who were frustrated and disillusioned by the 1849Reformgovernment ofRobert BaldwinandLouis-Hippolyte Lafontaine's lack of democratic enthusiasm. The Clear Grits advocateduniversal male suffrage,representation by population,democratic institutions, reductions in government expenditure, abolition of theClergy Reserves,voluntarism,andfree tradewith theUnited States.Clear Grits from Upper Canada shared many ideas withThomas Jefferson.

History

The Clear Grit platform was first laid out at a convention held atMarkhamin March 1850, which included the following planks:

1. The abrogation of the rectories, and the secularization of the Clergy Reserves.
2. Retrenchment in provincial expenditure.
3. Abolition of the pensioning system.
4. The appointment of all local officials by local municipal councils.
5. Thorough judicial reform, especially the abolition of the court of chancery.
6. A great extension of the elective franchise, and vote by ballot.
7. Repeal of the law ofprimogeniture.
8. Abolition ofcopyright.
9. The right of the people to discuss peacefully any question affecting the government or constitution of the colony.
10. Election of the three branches of the legislature by the people of the dominion.

Initially led byPeter Perry,they later came under the leadership ofTorontonewspaper editorGeorge Brown,and in 1857 joined with theReform Party,which was a loose alliance of liberal-minded reformers that became theOntario Liberal PartyandLiberal Party of Canada.

Impact

The "Clear Grits" was one of a long series of farmer-based radical reform movements. Later examples were theUnited Farmersand theCo-operative Commonwealth Federation,the direct ancestor of the modernNew Democratic Party.

See also

• Liberalism
• Contributions to liberal theory
• Liberalism worldwide
• List of liberal parties
• Liberal democracy
• Liberalism in Canada
• Politics of Canada
• Tories

External links

• "Clear Grits".Canadian Encyclopedia.
• Bélanger, Claude (2005)."Clear Grit Party".Marianopolis College.