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Federal Parties: The Conservative Party of Canada

The roots of the party are in the pre-confederation coalition government of 1854 the parti bleu of George-Étienne Cartier and Ontario liberals and conservatives led by John A. Macdonald. It was out of this coalition that the Liberal-Conservative Party (generally known as the Conservative Party) was formed and it was this period that formed the basis for confederation in 1867.

Confederation

Macdonald became the leader of the Conservative Party and formed the first national government in 1867. The party brought together Quebec Catholics, pro-tariff businessmen, United Empire Loyalist Tories and Orangemen. One major accomplishment of Macdonald's first government was the creation of the Canadian Pacific Railway which also led to the Pacific Scandal that brought down the government in 1873.

The Conservatives under Macdonald returned to power in 1878 by opposing the Liberal Party's policy of free trade or reciprocity with the United States and promoting, instead, the National Policy which sought to promote business and develop industry with protectionist measures as well as settle and develop the west.

The principal difference between the Conservatives and the Liberals in this period and well into the twentieth century was that Conservatives were in favour of imperial preference (a protectionist system in which tariffs would be levied against imports from outside the British Empire) and strong political and legal links with Britain while Liberals promoted free trade and continentalism (that is closer ties to the United States) and greater independence from Britain.

Macdonald died in 1891 and, without his leadership, the Conservative coalition began to unravel under the pressure of sectarian tensions between Catholic French Canadians and British imperialists who tended to be anti-French and anti-Catholic. The Red River Rebellion (and execution of Louis Riel) and Manitoba Schools Question exacerbated tensions within the Conservative Party and fanned hostility to the Conservatives in Quebec.

Free trade was the major issue of the 1911 election that swept Sir Wilfrid Laurier's Liberals from power and put Robert Borden at the head of a new Tory administration which emphasised a revitalised National Policy and links to Britain. Borden had tried to rebuild a base in Quebec by allying with anti-Laurier Quebec nationalists but, in government, tensions between Quebec nationalists and English Canadian imperialists made any grand coalition untenable.

Borden and the Conservative Revival

The First World War created a further strain as most Quebecers were unenthusiastic about Canadian involvement in what they saw as a foreign, and particularly British conflict while Borden's English supporters were adamant that Canada must support the war effort and enact a policy of conscription.

Borden's government was unable to enact conscription on its own and attempted to form a coalition but when Laurier rejected this Borden formed a Union government with pro-conscription English Canadian Liberals. Borden thus created the Unionist Party through which he ultimately tried to create a permanent coalition of Conservatives and anti-Laurier Liberals.

The Unionist Party, 1917-1922

In May 1917, Conservative Prime Minister Borden proposed the formation of a national unity government or coalition government to Liberal leader Sir Wilfrid Laurier in order to enact conscription as well as govern for the remainder of the war. Laurier rejected this proposal because of the opposition of his Quebec MPs and fears that Quebec nationalist leader Henri Bourassa would be able to exploit the situation.

As an alternative to a coalition with Laurier, on October 12, 1917, Borden formed the Union government with a Cabinet of 12 Conservatives, 9 Liberals and Independents and 1 "Labour". To represent "labour" and the working class Borden appointed to the Cabinet Conservative Senator Gideon Decker Robertson who had been appointed to the Senate in January and had links with the conservative wing of the labour movement through his profession as a telegrapher. Robertson, however, was a Tory and not a member of any Labour or socialist party.

Borden then called an election for December on the issue of conscription running as head of a Unionist Party composed of Borden's Conservatives, independent MPs and members of the Liberals who left the caucus of Sir Wilfrid Laurier in order to support conscription.

Supporters of the Borden government ran for parliament as Unionists while some of the Liberals running as government supporters preferred to call themselves Liberal-Unionist.

This tactic split Laurier's Liberals and resulted in a landslide election victory for Borden.

Borden attempted to continue the Unionist Party after the war and when Arthur Meighen succeeded him in 1920, he renamed it the National Liberal and Conservative Party in hopes of making the coalition permanent. The Unionists had never been officially a single party, and therefore lacked the structure of an official party. Meighen hoped to change this.

In the 1921 general election, most of the Liberal-Unionist MPs did not join this party, and rather ran as Liberals under the leadership of its new leader, William Lyon Mackenzie King. Only a handful ran again as Liberal-Unionists or joined Meighen's renamed party. Prominent Liberal-Unionists who stayed with the Conservatives include Hugh Guthrie and Robert Manion.

Following the defeat of Meighen's government the National Liberal and Conservative Party changed its name to the Liberal-Conservative Party of Canada though it was commonly known as the Conservative Party.

During World War II, the Conservatives, now in opposition, attempted to oppose the Liberal government of William Lyon Mackenzie King in the 1940 Canadian election by proposing a national government along the lines of the previous war's Unionist government. Accordingly, they ran in the election under the name National Government party but did not repeat the success of the previous Unionist party and failed to make a dent in King's governing majority.

National Liberal and Conservative Party

The attempt to turn the Conservatives into a hegemonic party by merging with Liberal-Unionists failed as most Liberals either joined the new Progressive Party of Canada or rejoined the Liberals under its new leader William Lyon Mackenzie King. One critical issue in this split was free trade - farmers were particularly hostile to Tory tariff policy and free trade was a key issue in the creation of the Progressives while the Conscription Crisis destroyed any remaining Conservative base in Quebec for generations leaving the Tories with even less support than they had before the Union government.

Borden's successor, Arthur Meighen and his renamed National Liberal and Conservative Party were defeated by the Liberals in the election of 1921 coming in third behind the Progressives. The Liberals were reduced to a minority government in the 1925 election the Conservatives managed to win a plurality of seats in the House of Commons but King was able to stay in power with the support of the Progressives and form a minority government. King's government and were defeated in a vote in the House of Commons within months and Prime Minister King asked Governor-General? Byng to call a new election but Byng refused and asked Meighen to form a government. Meighen's government was soon defeated by a vote in the Commons leaving no choice but a new election which returned a landslide Liberal government. The King-Byng Affair inflamed Canadian nationalist sentiment since it was felt the Governor General, a British government appointee, had overstepped his bounds and that this was a sign of excessive British influence in Canadian politics. The Tories not only benefitted from this influence but their pro-imperialist policies were opposed to the concept of Canadian independence.

Bennett and the Great Depression

Meighen was replaced as Tory leader by R.B. Bennett, a millionaire Calgary businessman in 1927. He led the Conservatives to power in the 1930 election as a result with the inability of the Liberal government (or any government in the western world) to deal with the Great Depression. Bennett promised to end the economic crisis in three days by implementing the old Conservative policy of high tariffs and imperial preference.

When this policy failed to generate the desired result Bennett's government had no alternative plan. The party's pro-business, pro-bank inclinations provided no relief to the millions of unemployed who were now becoming increasingly desperate and agitated. The Conservatives seemed indecisive and unable to cope and rapidly lost the confidence of Canadians becoming a focus of hatred, ridicule and contempt. Car owners who could no longer afford gasoline reverted to having their vehicles pulled by horses and dubbed them Bennett buggies.

R. B. Bennett faced pressure for radical reforms from within and without the party. The Cooperative Commonwealth Federation, formed in 1932, prepared to fight its first election on a socialist program; the Social Credit movement was gaining supporters in the west and shocked the country by winning the Alberta provincial election and forming government in September, 1935; Bennett's own government suffered a defection as his Trade minister, Henry Herbert Stevens, left the Conservatives to form the Reconstruction Party of Canada when Bennett refused to enact Stevens' plans for drastic economic reform and government intervention in the economy to deal with the crisis.

Bennett attempted to prevent social disorder by evacuating the unemployed to relief camps far away from the cities but this only exacerbated social tensions leading to the On to Ottawa Trek of unemployed protesters who intended to ride the rails from Vancouver to Ottawa (gathering new members along the way) in order to bring their demands for relief to Bennett personally. The trek ended in Regina on July 1, 1935 when the RCMP, on orders from the Prime Minister, attacked a public meeting of 3,000 strikers leaving one dead and dozens injured.

Bennett had in desperation attempted to save his government by reversing its laissez-faire policies and, belatedly, implementing Bennett's New Deal based on the New Deal of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Bennett proposed progressive income taxation, a minimum wage, a maximum for work week hours, unemployment insurance, health insurance, an expanded pension program and grants to farmers but the Conservatives' conversion to the concept of a welfare state was too little too late and the Tories were routed in the October 1935 election winning only 40 seats to 173 for Mackenzie King's Liberals.

The Bennett years left the Conservatives in the worst shape they had ever been - not only did enmity towards the Tories continue in Quebec as a legacy of the Conscription Crisis of 1917, - but they were now reviled in the west for their perceived insensitivity to the needs of farmers in the Dust Bowl and westerners turned to Social Credit or the CCF making the Tories their fourth choice. The Conservatives would have to wait twenty years before their fortunes in western Canada revived.

Decline and Reinvention as Progressive Conservatives

The Tories fought the 1940 election under Robert J. Manion but, despite running under a new name - National Government (the Tories were advocating a wartime coalition government, an attempt to repeat Borden's 'Union government') they again won only 40 seats.

In desperation, the Tories again turned to Arthur Meighen for leadership but Meighen was trounced by the CCF when he attempted to enter the House of Commons in a February 1942 by-election in York South and his party's agitation for a re-enactment of conscription in World War II only further alienated Quebec from the Conservatives.

Later that year, the Tories attempted to broaden their base by electing Manitoba Progressive Premier John Bracken as their new leader and changing their name to the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada.

The Diefenbaker Years

In John Diefenbaker, prime minister from 1957 to 1963, the Progressive Conservative party found a charismatic figure who helped forge a new base for the party in the western provinces.

He led the national Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1956-1967, and was Prime Minister of Canada from June 21, 1957 to April 22, 1963. He became Prime Minister as a result of an upset victory in the 1957 election, after which, he was able to form a minority government. Diefenbaker returned to the polls in the 1958 election to win the largest majority government in Canadian history.

Diefenbaker made what some believe to have been one of the most controversial policy decisions of the last century in Canada on February 20, 1959 when his government cancelled the development and manufacture of the Avro Arrow. The Arrow was a Mach 2 supersonic jet fighter built by A.V. Roe Canada (Avro), in Malton, Ontario, just west of Toronto. After cancelling the technologically advanced interceptor project, the Canadian government purchased American-made Bomarc missiles and CF-101 Voodoo interceptors to defend Canada in the event of a Soviet nuclear bomber attack from the north. However, while his government initially approved the Bomarc and Voodoo, it balked when it realised that both would be equipped with nuclear warheads. Diefenbaker's refusal to allow nuclear weapons into Canada led to several resignations from his Cabinet and the collapse of his government in 1963.

His hostility to the United States administration and annoyance at the failure of President John F. Kennedy to consult with him on the matter ahead of time also led Diefenbaker to be skeptical of the seriousness of the Cuban Missile Crisis. It also caused him to fail to act quickly on an American request to put Canadian forces on Defcon 3 status. The Minister of National Defence, Douglas Harkness, defied Diefenbaker by putting the military on high alert two days prior to Cabinet's decision to authorize the move.

Diefenbaker was also instrumental in bringing in the Canadian Bill of Rights in 1960. This was the first attempt to codify the basic rights of Canadian citizens in law. Because the Bill of Rights was a federal statute and not a part of the Canadian Constitution, it could not be used by courts to nullify provincial laws that contradicted it and thus had a limited impact on the decisions of the court, unlike the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms of 1982.

The Progressive Conservatives lost their majority in Parliament in the 1962 election. Immediately afterward, Diefenbaker's minority government began a program to reduce government spending, and raise tariffs and bank interest rates. He then reorganized his Cabinet, moving Donald Fleming into the Minister of Justice/Solicitor General position, replacing him with George C. Nowlan.

In September 1962, Diefenbaker attended the Conference of Commonwealth Prime Ministers in London, where he attacked Britain's prospective entry into the European Economic Community, stating it would be at the expense of Canada's increased economic dependence on the United States. He also criticized South Africa's policy of apartheid, and successfully opposed its readmission into the Commonwealth after it declared itself a republic.

Diefenbaker lost the 1963 federal election to Lester Pearson and the Liberals.

Diefenbaker continued as PC party leader after the 1963 election. In the 1964 Great Flag Debate, Diefenbaker led the opposition to the Maple Leaf flag arguing for the retention of the Canadian Red Ensign. To the surprise of many, he ran an aggressive campaign in the 1965 election, and held Pearson's Liberals to a minority government. Pearson had called the election expecting to win a majority. His most passionate intervention as Leader of the Opposition was his opposition to the proposed maple leaf flag which he castigated as the "Pearson Pennant".

Growing dissatisfaction with his leadership, however, led to open dissension within the party. Party president Dalton Camp called for a leadership review, a measure for which there was no provision in the party's constitution. Camp's efforts resulted in the Progressive Conservative Party calling a leadership convention in 1967. Although Diefenbaker stood as a candidate for the leadership, he was defeated by Nova Scotia Premier Robert Stanfield. Diefenbaker retained his parliamentary seat for the next twelve years until his death.

The Stanfield Years

In 1967, the federal Progressive Conservative Party was racked by disunity between pro- and anti-Diefenbaker factions. Stanfield entered the 1967 leadership convention. With the help of his Nova Scotian advisors and PC Party President Dalton Camp, he won a hard-fought battle on the fifth ballot. Stanfield was expect to defeat easily the Liberal government of the aging Lester B. Pearson. Instead, following Pearson's retirement, Stanfield lost the 1968 election to the Liberals' charismatic new leader, Pierre Trudeau. In the election of 1972, Stanfield's Tories came within two seats of defeating the Liberal government, which went on to survive two more years in a minority situation, supported by David Lewis and the New Democratic Party.

In the federal election of 1974, a controversial photo of Stanfield fumbling a football catch at a political event became one of the defining images of his later career, contrasting badly against the more vibrant and youthful image presented by Liberal leader Pierre Trudeau. To this day, Canadian political commentators still point to this incident as one of Canada's foremost examples of "image politics", because this one photo was chosen for the front pages of newspapers across Canada even though many other photos of Stanfield (in fact, a fairly athletic man for his age) catching the same football were also available.

Stanfield served as leader of the PCs and of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition until 1976. He became renowned as a gentlemanly and civil man, but after three election defeats, this turned into a reputation for being unable to go for the jugular. He resigned and was succeeded by Joe Clark in 1976. He retired from Parliament in 1979.

Stanfield is sometimes referred to as "the greatest prime minister Canada never had" and as one of Canada's most distinguished and respected statesmen he was one of only a handful of people ever granted the style "Right Honourable" who were not so entitled by virtue of an office held.

The Joe Clark Years

Clark sought and won the leadership of the PC Party at the 1976 leadership convention. Although he placed third in a field of eleven on the first ballot of convention delegates, behind Claude Wagner and Brian Mulroney, he quickly became the compromise Red Tory candidate. The party's right-wing rallied behind Wagner. Mulroney, a Quebec businessman with no elected political experience, was unable to expand his base of support significantly. Many delegates were offended by his expensive leadership campaign. As other Red Tory candidates were eliminated during the first four ballots, Clark gradually overtook Mulroney and then Wagner to emerge as the victor on the fifth ballot.

Joe Clark's rapid rise from a relatively unknown Alberta MP to the Leader of the Opposition took much of Canada by surprise. The Toronto Star announced Clark's victory with a headline that read "Joe Who?" giving Clark a nickname that stuck for years. Much joking was made of Clark's clumsiness and awkward mannerisms. Skinny and tall, editorial cartoonists portrayed him as a sort of walking candy apple, with an enormous head and floppy dog-like ears. Initially, it seemed unlikely that a man that was the source of so much mockery could ever hope to compete against the confident and intellectual Pierre Trudeau.

However, Clark remained belligerent in his attacks on the Trudeau government, angrily clashing with the prime minister in Parliament. Trudeau's attempts to brush off Clark were seen by many Canadians as examples of the pompous attitude of a prime minister who had taken his position for granted.

Joe Clark's efforts would prove successful, and on June 4, 1979, at age 39, he became Canada's youngest prime minister, after defeating Trudeau's Liberal government in the May 1979 general election. Clark was the first Conservative to head Canada's federal government since the defeat of John Diefenbaker in the 1963 election.

But with a minority government in the House of Commons, Clark had to rely on the support of the Social Credit Party with its 6 seats or the New Democratic Party (NDP) with its 26 seats. Without this support, he was subject to defeat by the Liberals at any time. Social Credit was below the 12 seats needed for official party status in the House of Commons. However, the six seats would have been just enough to give Clark's government a majority had the Progressive Conservatives formed a coalition government with Social Credit, or had the two parties otherwise agreed to work together.

Clark refused to grant the small Social Credit caucus official party status, however, or form a coalition or co-operate with the party in any way. This led to the Clark government's defeat in the House of Commons in December 1979. The Liberals voted with the NDP on a Motion of No Confidence related to the Clark government's budget, moved by NDP MP Bob Rae. The Social Credit caucus abstained, thus ensuring the vote's passage. Though Clark was criticized for his "inability to do math" in failing to predict the vote, at the same time the collapse was at least partially welcomed by his party. When a new election was called, the PC Party expected to be able to defeat the demoralized and leaderless Liberals easily.

During the 1979 election campaign. Clark had promised to cut taxes to stimulate the economy. However, once in office he adopted a budget designed to curb inflation by slowing economic activity, and he also proposed an 18 cent per Imperial gallon tax on gasoline in order to reduce the budgetary deficit. Though Clark had hoped this change in policy would work to his advantage, it actually earned him widespread animosity as a politician who could not keep his promises, even in such a short period.

Pierre Trudeau quickly rescinded his resignation from the Liberal leadership, and swept the Liberal party back into power in the February 1980 election with 146 seats, against 103 for Clark and the Progressive Conservatives.

The Mulroney Years

When Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau retired in June 1984, the Liberal Party chose John Turner as its new leader. Turner called a general election for September. The Progressive Conservatives won the largest majority government in the history of Canada with 211 of 282 seats. They also led in every province, emerging as a national party for the first time since the 1958 election. Mulroney is remembered for his performance in the debate in which he attacked Turner over a patronage scandal. Many observers considered the debate a turning point in the campaign.

During his tenure as Prime Minister, Brian Mulroney's close relationship with U.S. President Ronald Reagan resulted in the ratification of a free-trade treaty with the United States under which all tariffs between the two countries would be eliminated by 1998. Critics noted that Mulroney had originally professed opposition to free trade during the 1983 leadership campaign. This agreement was very controversial, and was the central issue of the 1988 election, in which Mulroney's party was re-elected with a strong majority in Parliament (however only with 43% of the popular vote). This trade liberalization was expanded in 1992 through the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) signed by Canada, the United States, and Mexico.

Another major undertaking by Mulroney's government was the divisive issue of national unity. Mulroney wanted to include Québec in a new agreement with the rest of Canada. Quebec was the only province that did not sign the new Canadian constitution negotiated by Pierre Trudeau in 1982. Additionally, for years, many people of the province of Quebec had believed that their French-speaking culture merited a distinct status within Canada, and a widespread movement to secede from Canada had developed in the 1960s and 1970s.

In 1987, Mulroney negotiated the Meech Lake Accord with the provincial premiers, a series of constitutional amendments designed to satisfy Quebec's demand for recognition as a "distinct society" within Canada. However, many English-Canadians objected to the accord, and it was not ratified by the provincial governments of Manitoba and Newfoundland before the 1990 ratification deadline. This failure sparked a revival of Quebec separatism, and led to another round of meetings in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, in 1991 and 1992. These negotiations culminated in the Charlottetown Accord, which outlined extensive changes to the constitution, including recognition of Quebec as a distinct society. However, the agreement was defeated in a national referendum in October 1992.

Mulroney's government was actively opposed to the apartheid regime in South Africa. Mulroney met with many opposition leaders throughout his ministry. His position put him at odds with the American and British governments, but also won him respect elsewhere.

Mulroney supported the coalition during the 1991 Gulf War and sent Canadian jets to participate. In August he sent the destroyers HMCS Terra Nova and HMCS Athabaskan to enforce the trade blockade against Iraq. The supply ship HMCS Protecteur was also sent to aid the gathering coalition forces. When the UN authorized full use of force in the operation, Canada sent a CF18 squadron with support personnel. Canada also sent a field hospital to deal with casualties from the ground war.

When the air war began, Canada's planes were integrated into the coalition force and provided air cover and attacked ground targets. This was the first time since the Korean War that Canadian forces had participated in combat operations.

Mulroney's government also held a referendum in the Northwest Territories on the issue of creating a new territory from the eastern half of the Northwest Territories to be called Nunavut. Nunavut, in which the Inuit people form the majority, provides that people a measure of self-government. The people of the Northwest Territories voted "yes", and Nunavut came in to being in 1999.

Another major policy initiative was the signing of an Acid-Rain Accord with the United States.

Although Mulroney had retained a parliamentary majority in the 1988 elections, widespread public resentment of a new Goods and Services Tax (GST) introduced in 1991, and his inability to resolve the Quebec situation caused Mulroney's popularity to decline considerably. He resigned as PC leader and prime minister in 1993.

Kim Campbell, the party's and Canada's first female leader, briefly governed and led the party (1993) before she and all but two of the party's parliamentary candidates were rejected at the polls. She was succeeded as party leader by Jean Charest, who led the national party to a partial recovery in the 1997 elections, but the party's full recovery was hampered by the emergence of the Reform party (later the Canadian Alliance). Joe Clark again became the party's leader in 1998. In 2000 the party won only 12 seats in Parliament, making it the smallest of the five represented parties. although it garnered the third largest bloc of popular votes. Peter MacKay? succeeded Joe Clark as party leader in 2003, and subsequently led the party into a merger with the Canadian Alliance to form the Conservative party of Canada.

The Conservative Party of Canada

The merger to form the new Conservative Party of Canada was announced on October 16, 2003, by the two party leaders (Stephen Harper of the Canadian Alliance and Peter MacKay of the Progressive Conservatives), and was ratified by the membership of the Alliance on December 5 by a margin of 96% to 4%, and by delegates of the PC Party on December 6 by a margin of 90% to 10%. On December 8, 2003, the new party was officially registered with Elections Canada. On March 20, 2004, Stephen Harper was elected leader. (Click here for more information about the Reform and Canadian Alliance parties.)

The merger was the culmination of the Canadian "Unite the Right" movement, driven by the desire to present an effective right-wing opposition to the Liberal Party of Canada, to create a new party that would draw support from all parts of Canada and would not split the right-wing vote. The splitting of the right-wing vote contributed, at least in part, to Liberal victories in the 1997 federal election and the 2000 election.

The merger process was controversial. David Orchard had a written agreement from Peter MacKay? at the 2003 Progressive Conservative Leadership convention excluding any such merger and led an unsuccessful legal challenge to it. As Canadians appear to be heading into an election in the spring or fall of 2005, Orchard (under the PC party leadership election rules) is still owed at least $70,000 by the newly merged Conservative Party. This debt has been recognized as legitimate by the Conservative Party lawyers; however, its reimbursement is on hold pending the outcome of legal matters between the party and Orchard.

Four sitting Progressive Conservative Members of Parliament — André Bachand, John Herron, former Tory leadership candidate Scott Brison, and former Prime Minister Joe Clark — decided not to join the new Conservative Party caucus. Brison crossed the floor to the Liberals. Soon afterward, he was made a parliamentary secretary in Paul Martin's government, and he became a full cabinet minister after the 2004 federal election. Herron also ran as a Liberal candidate in the election but did not join the Liberal caucus prior to the election, and he lost his seat to the new Conservative Party's candidate. Bachand and Clark both left Parliament at the end of the session. Considerable controversy erupted when during the 2004 election, Joe Clark gave a lukewarm endorsement to Paul Martin over Stephen Harper, saying that Canadians should "trust the devil we know". Clark also endorsed many candidates of different political stripes such as Ed Broadbent, Anne McLellan and Jim Prentice. One former Alliance MP, Keith Martin, also left the party on January 14. He ran as a Liberal in the election and retained his seat for the Liberals. Additionally, three Senators, William Doody, Norman Atkins, and Lowell Murray, declined to join the new party and continue to sit in the upper house as Progressive Conservatives.

In the early months of the CPC's existence two Conservative MPs also became publicly disgruntled with the leadership, policy, and procedures of the new party. Former Progressive Conservative MP Rick Borotsik became openly critical of the new party's leadership during its initial months of existence and officially retired from politics at the end of the parliamentary session of spring 2004. Additionally, after the 2004 federal election, Tory Senator Jean-Claude Rivest left the CPC to sit as an independent member of Senate because he perceived that the new party was too right-wing and insensitive to Quebec needs and interests.

Former Canadian Alliance MP Chuck Cadman rejected the new party's riding nomination procedures in March after losing his local riding's CPC nomination to an outside challenger. His membership in the Conservative party was revoked in late May. Cadman ran as a non-affiliated candidate in the federal election of June 2004. He was re-elected as the only independent in the current minority parliament, until Carolyn Parrish was ejected from the Liberal caucus in November 2004.

Two months after Harper's election as national Tory leader, Liberal Party of Canada leader and Prime Minister Paul Martin called a general election for June 28, 2004. However, in the interim between the formation of the new party and the selection of its new leader, factional infighting and investigations into the Sponsorship Scandal reduced the popularity of the governing Liberal Party. This allowed the Conservatives to be more prepared for the race, unlike the 2000 federal election where few predicted the early October election call. For the first time since the 1993 federal election, a Liberal government would have to deal with a united conservative front.

The Conservatives did better than expected during the election campaign with polls showing a rise in support for the new Conservative Party leading some pollsters to predict the election of a minority Conservative government. But even at their peak of support, the new party still had less support than the total that its two predecessor parties had in the last election. Off the cuff comments from influential social conservative elements in the new CPC also hindered Harper's efforts at portraying the new party as a reasonable, responsible and moderate alternative to the governing Liberals.

Harper's new Conservatives emerged from the election with a larger parliamentary caucus of 99 MPs while the Liberals were reduced to a minority government of 133 MPs requiring the Liberals to obtain support from at least twenty-three opposition MPs in order to guarantee the passage of legislation. Their popular vote, however, was actually lower than the combined Alliance and PC popular vote in the previous federal election. In May 2005, Conservative MP Belinda Stronach, a moderate on social issues, surprised many when she crossed the floor to join the Liberal Party. Many believed Stronach's departure damaged the Conservative Party's efforts to present a moderate image, particularly in Ontario. Others raised suspicions about the timing of Stronach's decision, noting that she became a cabinet minister immediately after crossing the floor and that the departure came mere days before a crucial non-confidence vote in the house. In addition, numerous Conservatives, such as Ontario Tory MPP Bob Runciman made vitriolic public statements in reaction to this development - such as calling Stronach "a dipstick" - which were decried by some as sexist and proof that the Party's moderate image was misleading, though others believed the comments were more a reaction to the nature of her defection, having nothing whatsoever to do with her gender.

On November 24, 2005, Opposition leader Stephen Harper introduced a motion of no confidence which was passed on November 28, 2005. With the confirmed backing of the other two opposition parties, this resulted in an election on January 23, 2006, following a campaign spanning the Christmas season. The Conservatives won a plurality of seats in election, albeit they were limited to a minority government, winning only 124 seats. The Liberals won 103, the Bloc Québécois 51, the NDP 29 and 1 Independent was elected.

The Harper Years

Stephen Harper was sworn in as Canada's 22nd Prime Minister on February 6, 2006. His government's first day in office was not without surprises or criticism. Harper had campaigned largely on a platform focused on accountability and ethics in government, and had promised to 1) not appoint any un-elected individuals to cabinet and 2) to end Senate appointments by having the provinces elect Senators to fill vacancies. On February 6, 2006, the day of the government's swearing in and the unveiling of the cabinet, Harper surprised everyone by including British Columbian MP David Emerson. Emerson had won re-election on January 23 as a Liberal. Harper also appointed un-elected Michael Fortier, a campaign organiser from Quebec, to cabinet as Minister of Public Works and Government Services. Fortier was to be appointed to Senate to fill a Quebec vacancy. Many decried Harper's moves as proof that his commitment to accountability and a new way of governing wasn't really any different than what the Liberals had provided.

The Conservatives had campaigned on five key priorities: enacting and enforcing the Federal Accountability Act; lowering taxes starting with a reduction to the Goods and Services Tax; strengthening the justice system; supporting the child care choices of parents; and establishing a patient wait times guarantee with the provinces. Once in power, they proceeded to move forward with these.

The Accountability Act proposed to clean up the way government does business with new ethics regulations and oversight, and tighten up Canada's political financing laws. Tabled in April 2006, the bill passed in the House of Commons on June 21, but remained mired in the Senate's Legal and Consitutional Affairs committee until the end of October, much to the government's frustration. The bill finally received royal assent on December 12, 2006.

The Conservatives cut the GST by 1% on July 1, 2006 and by a further 1% on January 1, 2007. The move was almost universally condemned by economists in Canada, as well as by international bodies such as the IMF and OECD, which all favoured income and corporate tax cuts while leaving consumption taxes alone. Similarly, one of the government's first acts once in office was to cancel the federal-provincial childcare agreements reached between the previous Liberal government and the provinces, and replacing them with with a $1,200 yearly allowance paid directly to parents for each child under 6. Critics were quick to point out that the allowance, which was taxable, came nowhere near covering the cost of daycare, and did nothing to address the shortage of daycare spaces that exists in most provinces.

The new government also introduced a series of crime bills in 2006. Some were passed after being amended by the Opposition parties, but several stalled in the Senate and then died when parliament was prorogued in 2007. When parliament returned in the fall of 2007, the Conservative government reintroduced elements of these bills as a new omnibus bill in October 2007 and made it a confidence motion. The bill passed in the House of Commons and went to the Senate in December, where again the government felt it was deliberately being held up by the Liberal-dominated Senate. In February 2008, the government issued an ultimatum to the Senate to pass the bill by March 1 or it would call an election. There was no evidence, however, that the Senate was deliberately stalling the bill. In fact, Senators were going out of their way to work more quickly by extending their hours and sitting while the Commons was in recess. The bill finally received Royal Assent on February 28, 2008.

The government's 5th priority met with mitigated success. The promise of wait-time guarantees, which would see the government pay for a patient to receive treatment elsewhere if they couldn't get it in their home community within a specified time, met with resistance from the provinces, which are responsible for healthcare. The priority even disappeared from the government's website after a time, when it appeared as if no agreement would be reached with the provinces. However, in April 2007, the government announced a modified version of the promise. The March 2007 budget provided $612 million for provinces and Ottawa to fulfil a somewhat reduced promise: a care guarantee in one treatment area rather than all five priority areas - cancer, heart, diagnostic imaging, joint replacements and sight restoration - initially outlined. To get its share, a province could promise to provide a guarantee in the area of its choice, and do so in the manner of its choosing.

The Conservative government moved a motion to extend Canada's mission in Afghanistan by two years. The motion was supported by the Conservatives and 30 Liberal MPs, allowing it to pass 149-145 on May 17, 2006. On March 13, 2008, the mission was further extended until July 2011 by a vote of 197-77, opposed only by the Bloc Québécois and the NDP.

On November 22, 2006, the government tabled a motion recognizing the Québécois as a nation within a united Canada. Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe had scheduled a motion in the House of Commons for November 23, 2006, that recognize "Quebecers as a nation". He knew that the motion would probably be rejected, but argued he could use this to show that English Canadians once again did not recognize the identity of French-speaking Quebecers. If the motion did pass, he could use it to make claims on Quebec sovereignty. Liberal leadership candidate (and eventual winner) Stéphane Dion moved to reconcile positions within the Liberal party, circulating a draft of a resolution that would change the wording of the resolution. On November 22, 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper tabled the government's Québécois nation motion the day before the Bloc Québécois resolution came to a vote. The English version changed the word Quebecer to Québécois and added "within a united Canada" at the end of the Bloc motion. Dion said that this resolution was similar to the one he had circulated several days earlier. The Bloc Québécois members originally rejected this motion as overly partisan and federalist, but supported the motion the following day. Harper's Intergovernmental Affairs minister Michael Chong resigned from his position and abstained from voting, arguing that this motion was too ambiguous and had the potential of recognizing ethnic nationalism in Canada.

The Harper government introduced a bill that set fixed election dates. Future elections would be held on the third Monday in October in the fourth calendar year following polling day for the last general election, which, at the time, would have fixed the next federal election date for October 19, 2009. However, the wording of the bill did not alter the right of the Governor General to dissolve Parliament at the Governor General's discretion. The Conservatives also tried to introduce limited Senate reform with a bill to limit Senate terms to 8 years. The bill was first introduced by the government in the Senate on May 30, 2006, but several provinces opposed the move, arguing that it was unconstitutional for the government to proceed without consulting the provinces. After consideration in committee and making amendments to the bill, the Senate recommended that the bill not be proceeded with until such time as the Supreme Court of Canada had ruled with respect to its constitutionality, which had not occurred prior to dissolution. Another bill sought to have future senators elected in their respective provinces, rather than appointed by the Prime Minister. This bill also died in committee.

The Conservative Party was also implicated in two notable scandals. The first, commonly referred to as the "In and Out" scandal, involves allegations of improper election spending on the part of the party during the closely contested 2006 federal election. The basic "in and out" scheme involves transfers of money between different levels or organizations within a political party. Elections Canada places strict limits on campaign budgets in order to provide an even playing field between the parties. In this case of "in and out", it is held that the scheme was not only intended as a method of gaining additional income, but also as a way to avoid limitations on campaign spending at the national level. Having reached their $18.3 million advertising limit, the party transferred $1.3 million dollars to 67 riding offices that had not yet reached their own $80,000 limit. The ridings then returned the money to the party, stating that it was being used to purchase advertising. The ads in question were identical to the party's national ads with the exception of a "paid for by..." message in small print that was added to the end of the ad in post-production. Elections Canada noted that the money was only sent out to candidates who had not spent close to their $80,000 limit, something the party could not have known before the election started. They also noted that airtime blocks were booked weeks before the ads ran, or the money had been paid to the ridings. In April 2007 the Chief Electoral Officer refused to pay the refunds, totaling about $780,000, stating that the party had paid for the ads. The Conservative Party decided to sue Elections Canada to get the money back.

The issue fell under the purview of the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, an inter-party group that includes all four party whips. At the time, the committee was chaired by Conservative Gary Goodyear, who the opposition parties claim used his position to delay any debate on the issue, including hours of filibuster. This led to his removal from the position in a vote of non-confidence. He was replaced by Joe Preston who did not want the position, called no meetings, and then resigned almost immediately. The Conservative party whip, Jay Hill, stated that no new chair would be named unless the opposition parties agree to drop any debate of the in and out scheme.

The remaining members of Committee nevertheless continued to investigate, calling a number of witnesses to testify about the affair. Most of them refused to appear, which led to the issuing of 31 summons, unparalleled in House history. The deadlocking of the Procedure and House Affairs committee was one of a number of such actions that had led to a breakdown of the House process. On 14 May, the Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons, Peter Milliken, said rulings by committee chairs are being routinely overturned by majority votes, even when the rulings are procedurally sound. Such a state of affairs has led to "general lawlessness" at committees. Partisan fighting, the cause of the problem, was renewed as the parties blamed each other for the problems. It was this breakdown of procedure that led to the calls for a snap election. Stephen Harper blamed the Liberals for the problems when he first hinted on 14 August that an election might be called. Referring to the in and out hearings as a kangaroo court, he stated that the committees were being ruled by a "tyranny of the majority". No breakthrough was forthcoming, and the election call was made on 27 August. The court case against Elections Canada is ongoing.

The other scandal, the Cadman affair, surfaced in February 2008, when an about to be published biography of Chuck Cadman, a former Reform, then independent MP, charged that two Conservative party officials offered Cadman, who was critically ill with cancer, a $1 million life insurance policy if he voted against the then-Liberal minority government in a confidence vote on May 19, 2005. If he had voted with the Conservatives, the government would have fallen, forcing an election. An audio tape suggests then-opposition leader Stephen Harper was not only aware of a financial offer to Chuck Cadman but gave it his personal approval. Under section 119 of the Criminal Code of Canada, it is illegal to bribe an MP. Accordingly, the Opposition Liberals asked the RCMP in February 2008 to investigate the allegation. In May 2008, the RCMP announced that there was no evidence to support charges. Prime Minister Harper then filed a libel lawsuit against the Liberals over statements on the party's website regarding the Chuck Cadman affair. The court case is ongoing.

By referring the two matters to the courts, the Conservatives thus avoided having the matters raised in the House of Commons during Question Period, since on-going legal proceedings are considered sub judice, meaning "under judicial consideration". The sub judice rule is part of the law relating to contempt of court. The rule governs what public statements can be made about ongoing legal proceedings before, principally, the courts. The rule is not limited to parties in a case or their lawyers. It applies to the public, statements by public officials and statements made in Parliament as well.

The Conservatives' minority government ended up lasting 2 years and 6 months, the longest uninterrupted minority government in Canadian history. This was in no small part due to the weakness of the opposition, namely the Liberal party, which was struggling with leadership issues and poor party finances. Eager to avoid going to the polls, the Liberals either voted with the government, or abstained from key votes, ensuring that the government would not fall. Prime Minister Harper finally asked the Governor General to dissolve parliament and call an election on September 7, 2008, disregarding his own fixed election date legislation in the process.

The Conservatives were returned to government with a strengthened minority of 143 seats to the Liberals 77, 49 for the BQ, 37 NDP and 2 Independents. Mere weeks following the general election the Conservative government launched a series of controversial economic proposals, stirring the three opposition parties - the Bloc, the Liberals and the NDP - to begin talks of a coalition intended to bring down the Conservatives in a vote of non-confidence. On December 1 the three party leaders signed an historic accord, intending to introduce a non-confidence motion as early as the following week. The accord would see a Liberal-NDP coalition supported by the Bloc on confidence matters only for a period of 18 months, which could be extended. Ultimately, Harper's request to prorogue government until January 26, 2009 was granted by the Governor General and the durability of the coalition became questionable.

Biography of the party leader.