Liberal-Conservative Party in Canada

History of the Liberal-Conservative Party of Canada

[The Liberal-Conservative Party] is the official name of what is commonly known in Canada as the Conservative party. The name had its origin in the fact that in 1854 John A. Macdonald, the founder of the party, succeeded in uniting the moderate or Baldwin Liberals of Upper Canada with the High Tories and moderate Conservatives of Upper Canada and the English-speaking Conservatives and French-Canadian bleus of Lower Canada, leaving in opposition the “Clear Grits” of Upper Canada and the rouges of Lower Canada. In other words, he succeeded in detaching from the Liberal party its more moderate elements, and in absorbing them in the Liberal-Conservative party. This was a policy which he pursued throughout his long and successful political career. To a Liberal partisan, whom he hoped to make the captive of his bow and spear, he once quoted the words of the popular hymn:

“While the light holds out to burn,
The vilest sinner may return.”

At the time of Confederation, he was again able to detach from the Liberal party a considerable element in support of his policies; and in 1917 the so-called Unionist government of Sir Robert Borden won over the support of a large wing of the Liberal party on the issue of compulsory military service. Many Liberal Unionists reverted after the Great War to their former party allegiance, but some did not; and there is thus ample historical justification for the name “Liberal-Conservative.”

The basis of the Liberal-Conservative party has varied at different times; and opportunism has played no small part in the platforms it has espoused, as it has in the platforms of other political parties [in Canada ]. The party came into existence in answer to the radical policies of the extreme wing of the Reform or Liberal party; but it promptly justified its existence by stealing two of the planks in the platform of its opponents, the secularization of the Clergy Reserves and the abolition of the seigniorial tenure. At a later date, in 1879, it espoused the National Policy of high protection, partly because the Liberal government of Alexander Mackenzie had taken its stand on the doctrine of free trade; and it opposed reciprocity in trade with the United States, both in 1891 and in 1911, though it had previously sought earnestly for reciprocal relations in trade with that country. It opposed the nationalistic programme of Sir Wilfrid Laurier; but when Sir Robert Borden came into office, the Liberal-Conservative party committed itself to nationalistic policies which went beyond anything Sir Wilfrid Laurier had achieved. Under Sir James Whitney in Ontario, and under the Right Hon. R. B. Bennett in the federal sphere, it has sponsored legislation which can only be described as socialistic, though socialism is not one of the historical tenets of the party. The Liberal party has been, on occasion, more conservative than the Conservatives; and the Conservative party more radical than the Radicals.

It is easy to say that in principle there is no great difference between the two great historic political parties in Canada – no greater difference, as Goldwin Smith put it, than between “the Big-Endians and the Little-Endians in Lilliput.” Undoubtedly, the policies of a political party are subject to the influence of the elements that compose it; and considerations of race, religion, class, and geography have repeatedly helped to mould the policies of the Liberal-Conservative party. It has become predominantly the urban party in Canada , as opposed to the rural; the Protestant, as opposed to the Roman Catholic; the English, as opposed to the French; the privileged, as opposed to the under-privileged. But to say that it has been without principles would not be true. It was the party of Confederation, of the National Policy, and of the Canadian Pacific Railway. It was also the party of federal rights, as opposed to provincial rights, and of the British connection, as opposed to [independence]. If it is true that considerations of race, religion, class, and geography affect the principles of political parties, it is also true that political principles create parties, and attract or repel support. If the Liberal-Conservative party [was, until mid-XXth century] predominantly an urban party, that is because it has been the party of the National Policy of high protection. If it has gained the support of the English elements in the country, rather than the French, that is because, since 1891, it has adopted policies that appeal to the English, rather than the French, though the French [were] naturally more conservative than the English. The Liberal-Conservative party may not always have been more conservative than the Liberal party; but this does not mean, as some writers have suggested, that it is without principles.

The truth is that the platforms of political parties change with changing conditions. The platforms of the Liberal party under George Brown and Sir Oliver Mowat appear conservative to-day; and in some respects Mr. Mackenzie King is more conservative than Mr. R. B. Bennett. Ideas become out-moded; and nothing in politics is static. But the Liberal-Conservative party is still mainly the party of economic as distinct from political nationalism within the British Empire, of the industrial as opposed to the agricultural interests in the Dominion, of the English and Protestant elements in the country as opposed to the French and Roman Catholic. As John Sandfield Macdonald once said, “a government must support its supporters.”

There has been no scholarly attempt to trace the history of the Liberal-Conservative party in Canada [over the entire life of the party]; but an interesting analysis of the bases of the party will be found in E. M. Reid, Canadian political parties (Contributions to Canadian Economics , vol. vi, 1933).

Source: W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., “Liberal-Conservative Party”, in The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. IV, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 400p., pp. 73-74.

Furthter Reading

• John R. WILLIAMS, The Conservative Party of Canada, 1920-1949 , Durhan, 1956;
• J. L. GRANATSTEIN, The Politics of Survival: The Conservative Party of Canada, 1939-1945 , Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1967, 231p.;
• John ENGLISH, The Decline of Politics: the Conservatives and the Party System, 1901-1920 , Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1993, 237p.;
• Larry A. GLASSFORD, Reaction & Reform. The Politics of the Conservative Party under R. B. Bennett, 1927-1938 , Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1992, 308p.;
• Peter REGENSTREIF, The Diefenbaker Interlude , Toronto, Longmans, 1965, 194p.;
• Donald CREIGHTON, on John A. Macdonald (2 vol., Toronto, Macmillan – several editions)]

Law is our Passion

This entry about Liberal-Conservative Party has been published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 (CC BY 3.0) licence, which permits unrestricted use and reproduction, provided the author or authors of the Liberal-Conservative Party entry and the Encyclopedia of Law are in each case credited as the source of the Liberal-Conservative Party entry. Please note this CC BY licence applies to some textual content of Liberal-Conservative Party, and that some images and other textual or non-textual elements may be covered by special copyright arrangements. For guidance on citing Liberal-Conservative Party (giving attribution as required by the CC BY licence), please see below our recommendation of "Cite this Entry".

• APA
• MLA
• MLA 7
• CHICAGO
• OSCOLA

Usage Metrics

281 Views. 205 Visitors.

Google Scholar: Search for Liberal-Conservative Party Related Content

 

Schema Summary

This entry was last updated: November 5, 2014

More about History

More about Political Science