Conservative Party of Quebec (historical)

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

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Conservative Party of Quebec" historical – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (February 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

|

Political party in Canada

Conservative Party of Quebec

Parti conservateur du Québec

Founded| 1867; 158 years ago (1867)
Dissolved| 1936; 89 years ago (1936)
Preceded by| Parti bleu
Merged into| Union Nationale
Ideology| Conservatism
Ultramontanism
Political position| Right-wing
Religion| Catholic

* Politics of Quebec
* Political parties
* Elections

The Conservative Party of Quebec (French: Parti conservateur du Québec) was a political party in Quebec, Canada, from 1867 until 1936, when it merged with members of the Action libérale nationale to form the Union Nationale.

## Origins

[edit]

The party originated as the Parti bleu which was formed around 1850. The parti bleu opposed the anti-clericalism of its rival, the parti rouge.

The parti bleu supported the role of the clergy in Quebec society. Members of the parti bleu, led by George-Étienne Cartier from Canada East, joined with the followers of Sir John A. Macdonald in Canada West to form a coalition government with Cartier as co-premier from 1857 to 1862. It was out of this coalition that the Conservative Party was formed (then known as the Liberal-Conservative Party), laying the basis for Confederation in 1867.

## Post-Confederation

[edit]

With Confederation and Quebec's entry as a province, what had been the parti bleu became the Quebec wing of Macdonald's Conservative Party. It formed the government in the province, with Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveau as Quebec's first premier. Cartier acted as Macdonald's Quebec lieutenant in the federal House 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 an Ultramontane wing of Catholic fundamentalists. As well, the party's links with the federal Conservatives harmed the party as the Tories in English Canada became increasingly identified as hostile to French Canadians and Quebec. The execution of Louis Riel in 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 the Manitoba Schools Question that 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 the 1896 federal election, largely due to the collapse of their support in Quebec. The provincial Conservative government of Edmund James Flynn lost the 1897 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. The Quebec Liberal Party held power without interruption for the next 38 years.

## Decline and re-emergence as Union Nationale

[edit]

Conservative fortunes were further hurt by the Conscription Crisis of 1917 when the federal Conservative government of Sir Robert Borden invoked conscription against the opposition of Quebec. This led to riots in the province.

In 1929, mayor of Montreal Camillien Houde succeeded Arthur Sauvé as leader of the Conservative Party, which went on to lose four by-elections.[1]

In 1933, Maurice Duplessis became leader of the Quebec Conservatives. The next year, the ruling Liberal party split when a group of nationalist Liberals dissatisfied with the government of Louis-Alexandre Taschereau bolted from the party to form the Action libérale nationale or ALN. Duplessis wooed the dissident party and, two weeks before the 1935 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, the Union Nationale.

Two months later, the UN took power in the 1936 election under 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 the Parti Québécois as 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 of Quebec separatism and federalism, rather than the traditional conservatism and liberalism. This resulted in a reorientation of Quebec politics with the conservative Union Nationale collapsing in the early 1970s and the new polarization in Quebec politics being between the separatist Parti Québécois and the federalist Quebec Liberal Party.

Federalists, whether conservative or liberal, generally supported the Liberals with federalist former Union Nationale members joining that party in the 1970s while more nationalist UN members joined the PQ. This reorientation could be seen in the family of former Union Nationale premier Daniel 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 a Progressive Conservative in the 1972 federal election, and was the front-runner in the party leadership convention in 1976 before losing on the final ballot to Joe Clark. When Bourassa returned to politics in the 1980s, he worked closely with the federal Progressive Conservatives led by Brian 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, the Progressive 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 leader Jean Charest moved to provincial politics as the leader of the Quebec 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. The Action démocratique du Québec was 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 the 2008 Quebec election a new nationalist party was formed, the Coalition Avenir Québec, which absorbed the ADQ in 2012. Conservative Quebec federalists have created a new Quebec Conservative Party under the leadership of former Conservative Party of Canada MP Luc Harvey.

## Leaders of the Parti conservateur du Québec

[edit]

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

* Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveau 1867-1873 (Premier 1867-1873)
* Gédéon Ouimet 1873-1874 (Premier 1873-1874)
* Charles-Eugène Boucher de Boucherville 1874-1878 (Premier 1874-1878, 1891-1892)
* Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau 1878-1882 (Premier 1879-1882)
* Joseph-Alfred Mousseau 1882-1884 (Premier 1882-1884)
* John Jones Ross 1884-1887 (Premier 1884-1887)
* Louis-Olivier Taillon 1887-1896 (Premier 1887, 1892-1896)
* Edmund James Flynn 1896-1904 (Premier 1896-1897)
* Pierre-Évariste Leblanc 1904-1908
* Joseph-Mathias Tellier 1908-1915
* Philémon Cousineau 1915-1916
* Arthur Sauvé 1916-1929
* Camillien Houde 1929-1932
* Charles Ernest Gault 1932-1933 (acting)
* Maurice Duplessis 1933-1936 (later, Premier as leader of Union Nationale)

## 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]

* Conservatism portal

* Progressive Conservative Party of Quebec, an attempt to revive the party in the 1980s
* Conservative Party of Quebec (2009—present), the current revival
* Union Nationale
* Politics of Quebec
* List of Quebec premiers
* List of Quebec leaders of the Opposition
* List of Quebec general elections
* National Assembly of Quebec
* Timeline of Quebec history
* Political parties in Quebec
* List of elections in the Province of Canada

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Paulin, Marguerite (2005). Maurice Duplessis: Powerbroker, Politician. Montréal: XYZ Pub. p. 215\. ISBN 9781894852173.

## External links

[edit]

* National Assembly historical information
* La Politique québécoise sur le Web
* Website of the refounded party

* v
* t
* e

Political parties in Quebec

National Assembly|

* Coalition Avenir Québec (86)
* Liberal (19)
* Québec solidaire (12)
* Parti Québécois (4)
* Independent (3)
* Vacant (1)

Other authorized parties|

* Alliance pour la famille et les communautés
* Animal
* Bloc Montreal
* Bloc pot
* Canadian Party
* Climat Québec
* Communist
* Conservative
* Culinary
* Démocratie directe
* Équipe Autonomiste
* Green
* Human
* Integrity Quebec
* Libertarian
* L'union fait la force
* Marxist-Leninist
* NDP
* Nul
* Parti accès propriété et équité
* Parti 51
* Parti pour l'indépendance
* Quebecers United for Equality

Historical parties|

* Action démocratique
* Parti nationaliste chrétien
* Parti du socialisme chrétien
* Parti Unité Nationale
* Action libérale nationale
* Bloc Populaire
* CCF / Social Democratic
* Conservative
* Equality
* NDP (1963)
* Parti national populaire
* Parti ouvrier-progressiste
* Ralliement créditiste
* Rassemblement pour l'Indépendance Nationale
* Socialist
* Union Nationale
* Unity

Pre-Confederation parties|

* Château Clique / Tory
* Parti bleu
* Parti canadien / Parti patriote
* Parti rouge

* v
* t
* e

Conservative parties in Canada

Federal

Official opposition|

Conservative Party of Canada

No representation|

* Canadian Future
* Christian Heritage
* Maverick
* People's

Historical|

* Canadian Alliance
* Conservative
* Liberal-Conservative
* National Liberal and Conservative
* Democratic Representative Caucus
* Liberal-Conservative
* New Democracy
* Progressive Canadian
* Progressive Conservative
* Reconstruction
* Reform
* Ralliement créditiste
* Social Credit
* Unionist

Provincial and territorial

In government|

* Coalition Avenir Québec
* Nova Scotia PCs
* Ontario PCs
* Prince Edward Island PCs
* Saskatchewan Party
* United Conservative (AB)

Official opposition|

* Conservative Party of British Columbia
* Manitoba PCs
* New Brunswick PCs
* Newfoundland and Labrador PCs
* Yukon Party

No representation

Alberta|

* Wildrose Independence
* Wildrose Loyalty

British Columbia|

* BC United
* Christian Heritage

Manitoba|

* Keystone

New Brunswick|

* People's Alliance

Nova Scotia|

* Atlantica

Ontario|

* Canadians' Choice
* New Blue Party of Ontario
* Ontario Alliance
* Ontario Party
* Ontario Provincial Confederation of Regions Party
* Populist Party Ontario
* Stop the New Sex-Ed Agenda

Quebec|

* Conservative
* Équipe Autonomiste

Saskatchewan|

* Buffalo
* Progressive Conservative
* Saskatchewan United

Yukon|

* Yukon Freedom Party

Historical

Alberta|

* Alliance
* Progressive Conservative
* Freedom Conservative
* Social Credit
* Wildrose

British Columbia|

* Unity
* Social Credit

Manitoba|

* Manitoba First

New Brunswick|

* Confederation of Regions

Northwest Territories|

* North-West Territories Liberal-Conservatives

Ontario|

* Protestant Protective Association
* Reform
* New Reform
* Social Credit
* Trillium

Quebec|

* Action démocratique du Québec
* Conservatives
* Progressive Conservative
* Ralliement créditiste
* Union nationale
* Unité nationale

Yukon|

* Independent Alliance
* Progressive Conservative

Others|

* Château Clique
* Family Compact
* Parti bleu
* Upper Canada Tories

Municipal

British Columbia|

* ABC Vancouver
* New West Progressives
* Non-Partisan Association (Vancouver)
* Progress Vancouver
* Surrey First
* Vancouver 1st

Quebec|

* Civic Party of Montreal (1960—1994)
* Coalition Montréal (2017—2021)
* Parti Montréal Ville-Marie (2005—2015)
* Action civique de Québec (2001—2009)

Toronto|

* Responsible Government Group (2009—2010)

Conservatism portal
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template