Progressive Conservative Party of Canada

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia | Date: 2007

Former Canadian political party. It was formed as the Liberal-Conservative Party in 1854 from a union of conservative and moderate-liberal political factions; except for a period during and after World War I, the party kept this name until 1942, when it adopted the name Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. Its first leader was John Macdonald. The party led the government from 1854 to 1873 and again from 1878 to 1896. It regained power in coalition with the Quebec nationalists in 1911 but went down to severe defeat in 1921. From then until 1957 the party held power only twice, briefly in 1926 and from 1930 to 1935. The party held power from 1958 to 1963 under John G. Diefenbaker, from 1979 to 1980 under Joe Clark, and from 1984 to 1989 under Brian Mulroney. In 1993 it was reduced to only two seats in the Canadian House of Commons. In 2003 the Progressive Conservative Party merged with the Canadian Alliance to form the Conservative Party of Canada. The party favoured reducing government intervention in both the economy and social affairs; strongly federalist, it also was less accommodating than other parties to Quebec separatism.



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