124-661: Saanich—Gulf Islands is a federal electoral district in British Columbia , Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1988. It is named for its geographical location across the Gulf Islands and Saanich Peninsula in the Vancouver Island region . More than 21 percent of Saanich—Gulf Islands' residents are immigrants, and more than 19 percent are older than 65, making this
248-565: A death in the family. I regard it rather as a death of the family." On March 20, 2004, former Alliance leader Harper was elected leader of the new party and appointed MacKay as his deputy. Following the merger, a rump Progressive Conservative caucus remained in Parliament, consisting of individuals who declined to join the new Conservative Party. In the House of Commons , Joe Clark , André Bachand and John Herron sat as PC members. Outside of Parliament, former leader Brian Mulroney joined
372-481: A district at each election. In the case of Ontario , Toronto in 1886 and 1890 was a multi-member provincial district. Limited voting was used to ensure mixed representation and voter satisfaction. From 1908 to 1914, the four Toronto districts elected two MLAs each. With just a few exceptions, voters in multiple-member districts were able to cast as many votes as there were seats in the district ( block voting ). Usually, under block voting, one single party took all
496-611: A few months as party leader though, MacKay reneged on his promise and proceeded to negotiate a merger with the Alliance, which he announced had occurred on October 15, 2003. The two parties, it seemed, united to form a new party called the Conservative Party of Canada. The union was ratified on December 5 and 6 in a process conducted by each of the parties, and the new Conservative Party was formally registered on December 7. The merger prompted Clark to remark, "Some equate it to
620-498: A few variances from federal boundaries. The ward boundaries of Toronto City Council also correspond to federal electoral district boundaries, although they are numbered rather than using the federal names. Elections Canada is the independent body set up by Parliament to oversee Canadian federal elections , while each province and territory has its own separate elections agency to oversee the provincial and territorial elections. Originally, most electoral districts were equivalent to
744-608: A force in provincial politics, losing power in 1897, and dissolving in 1935 into the Union Nationale , which took power in 1936 under Maurice Duplessis . In 20th-century federal politics, the Conservatives were often seen as insensitive to French-Canadian ambitions and interests and seldom succeeded in winning more than a handful of seats in Quebec, with a few notable exceptions: The party never fully recovered from
868-577: A former member of the Progressive Party of Manitoba . In the 1957 federal election , John Diefenbaker carried the party to their first victory in 27 years and the following year , led the party to the largest federal electoral landslide in history. During his tenure, human rights initiatives were achieved, most notably the Bill of Rights . In the 1963 federal election , the party lost power and would not regain it until 1979 , when Joe Clark led
992-556: A large role within the British Empire . It was seen by some French Canadians as supporting a policy of cultural assimilation. The Conservative Party dominated Canadian politics for the nation's first 30 years. In general, Canada's political history has consisted of Tories alternating power with the Liberals , albeit often in minority governments supported by smaller parties. After a long period of Liberal dominance following
1116-580: A mere conglomeration of arbitrary and random groups of individuals. Districts should, as much as possible, be cohesive units with common interests related to representation. This makes a representative's job of articulating the interests of his or her constituency much easier." Instead, in the final report that was passed by the House of Commons, the Sudbury area's existing ridings of Sudbury and Nickel Belt were retained with only minor boundary adjustments, while
1240-414: A motion for a leadership review which resulted in the 1967 leadership convention where Nova Scotia Premier Robert Stanfield was elected out of a field of eleven candidates that included Diefenbaker and Manitoba Premier Duff Roblin . Despite being personally well-regarded, Stanfield struggled to make an impact against Pierre Trudeau , who became Prime Minister the following year. The 1972 election saw
1364-580: A new map that would have seen the cities of Charlottetown and Summerside each gain one additional seat, with two fewer seats allocated to rural areas of the province. The alternate map gave every incumbent member of the governing party a "safe" seat to run in, while the original report would have forced some of the party's MLAs to compete against each other in nomination contests. The unequal size of electoral districts across Canada has sometimes given rise to discussion of whether all Canadians enjoy equal democratic representation by population . For example,
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#17327867441061488-751: A policy of distancing Canada from the United States. His cabinet split over Diefenbaker's refusal of American demands that Canada accept nuclear warheads for Bomarc missiles based in North Bay, Ontario , and La Macaza, Quebec . This split contributed to the Tory government's defeat at the hands of Lester B. Pearson 's Liberals in the 1963 election . Diefenbaker remained Progressive Conservative leader until 1967, when increasing unease at his erratic behaviour, authoritarian leadership, and perceived unelectability led party president Dalton Camp to call for and win
1612-400: A riding's name may be changed without a boundary adjustment. This usually happens when it is determined at a later date that the existing name is not sufficiently representative of the district's geographic boundaries. This is the only circumstance in which a sitting MP's riding name may change between elections. The number of electoral districts for first federal election in 1867 were set by
1736-564: A rural resident may not even be able to call their federal or provincial representative's constituency offices without incurring long-distance calling charges. Further, a rural politician who represents dozens of geographically dispersed small towns must normally incur much greater travel expenses, being forced to drive for several hours, or even to travel by air, in order to visit parts of their own district—and may even need to maintain more than one constituency office in order to properly represent all of their constituents. In Ontario, for example,
1860-455: Is Green Party leader Elizabeth May . She was first elected in 2011 and was the first Green MP to be elected to the House of Commons. She defeated Conservative incumbent and cabinet minister Gary Lunn . 48°41′42″N 123°24′11″W / 48.695°N 123.403°W / 48.695; -123.403 Electoral district (Canada) An electoral district in Canada
1984-578: Is a geographical constituency upon which Canada 's representative democracy is based. It is officially known in Canadian French as a circonscription but frequently called a comté ( county ). In Canadian English it is also colloquially and more commonly known as a riding or constituency . Each federal electoral district returns one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of Canada ; each provincial or territorial electoral district returns one representative—called, depending on
2108-497: Is an English term denoting a sub-division of a county. In some of Canada's earliest censuses , in fact, some citizens in the Ontario ridings of Bothwell , Cardwell , Monck and Niagara listed their electoral district as their "county" of residence instead of their actual county. Although the term "riding" is no longer used officially to indicate an electoral district, it has passed into common usage. Soon after Confederation ,
2232-414: Is determined, an independent election boundaries commission in each province reviews the existing boundaries and proposes adjustments. Public input is then sought, which may then lead to changes in the final boundary proposal. For instance, the proposed boundaries may not accurately reflect a community's historical, political or economic relationship with its surrounding region; the community would thus advise
2356-404: Is generally known as a riding association ; the legal term is electoral district association or EDA. While electoral districts at both the federal and provincial levels are now exclusively single-member districts , multiple-member districts have been used in the past. The federal riding of Ottawa elected two members from 1872 to 1933. The federal riding of Halifax elected two members from
2480-414: Is no longer employed in the other provinces and territories. Electoral district boundaries are adjusted to reflect population changes after each decennial census . Depending on the significance of a boundary change, an electoral district's name may change as well. Any adjustment of electoral district boundaries is official as of the date the changes are legislated, but is not put into actual effect until
2604-621: Is produced, it is then submitted to Parliament, MPs may offer objections to the boundaries, but the boundary commissions are not compelled to make any changes as a result of the objections. At Canadian Confederation , the boundaries were defined by the Constitution Act, 1867 . Boundaries for one or more electoral districts were updated in 1872, 1882, 1892, 1903, 1914, 1924, 1933, and 1947. Subsequent changes are known as Representation Order , and occurred in 1952, 1966, 1976, 1987, 1996, 2003, 2013 and 2023. Such changes come into force "on
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#17327867441062728-531: The Constitution Act, 1867 on the principle of representation by population. The Act provided Quebec a minimum of 65 seats and seat allotment for the remainder of the country was based by dividing the average population of Quebec's 65 electoral districts to determine the number of seats for other provinces. The Act also specified that distribution and boundary reviews should occur after each 10 year census. The boundaries for Quebec's seats were based on
2852-472: The 1979 election , defeating the Liberal government of Pierre Trudeau and ending sixteen years of continuous Liberal rule. Taking office the day before his 40th birthday, Clark is the youngest person to become prime minister. His tenure was brief as he only won a minority government, and it was defeated on a motion of non-confidence pertaining to his 1979 budget . Clark's Progressive Conservative Party lost
2976-585: The 1980 election and Clark lost the leadership of the party to Brian Mulroney in 1983. In the late 1960s and 1970s, following Quebec's Quiet Revolution , the Progressive Conservatives recognized the need to increase their appeal to Canada's francophone population. At the same time, the Tories moved away from economic nationalism towards a neoliberal platform. Both movements culminated with Brian Mulroney becoming prime minister after
3100-663: The British Empire and the economic nationalism of the Liberal Party under Pierre Trudeau, the traditional positions of the two parties became reversed. It was with this background that Mulroney fought and won the 1988 election on the issue of the Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement . Mulroney also made a promise to Quebecers , claiming that he would reform the Canadian Constitution so that Quebec would be willing to endorse
3224-571: The Canadian Alliance ), while in Quebec support shifted to the sovereigntist Bloc Québécois . The Progressive Conservatives failed to recover much lost ground in the subsequent 1997 and 2000 federal elections. When it became clear that neither the Progressive Conservatives nor the Canadian Alliance could on their own defeat the incumbent Liberals, an effort to unite the right-of-centre parties emerged. Eventually, in 2003
3348-558: The Disraelian sense in social policy, placing a high value on the principles of noblesse oblige , communitarianism , and One nation conservatism —and were thus seen as moderate (in the context of classical economic thought) in their economic policy. For most of their history they were trade protectionists , engaging in free-trade economics in only a limited fashion, as in Empire Free-Trade . Historically they comprised
3472-650: The Progressive Conservatives and the new Reform party. Despite a Conservative majority in 2011, the Greens won their very first elected seat here and it went on to become their only stronghold in the country. The peninsular portion of the riding is more competitive, with significant support for all parties except the Liberals. However, the Gulf Islands have probably the strongest Green support in
3596-592: The Reform Party of Canada and later to its successor, the Canadian Alliance . Poor by-election results in Beaver River , Chambly , Laurier—Sainte-Marie , Oshawa and York North solidified the PC decline. Following Mulroney's resignation, his successor as Tory leader and as prime minister was Kim Campbell , who led the party into the disastrous election of 1993 . The Progressive Conservatives went from being
3720-495: The Senate , William Doody , Lowell Murray and Norman Atkins also declined to join the new party, and continued to sit as Progressive Conservative senators. On March 24, 2005, Prime Minister Paul Martin appointed nine new senators, two of whom, Nancy Ruth and Elaine McCoy , were designated as Progressive Conservatives. Ruth subsequently left to sit with the Conservative Party. The death of Senator Doody on December 27, 2005, and
3844-594: The counties used for local government, hence the French unofficial term comté . However, it became common, especially in Ontario, to divide counties with sufficient population into multiple electoral divisions. The Constitution Act, 1867 , which created the electoral map for Ontario for the first federal and provincial general elections, used the term "ridings" to describe districts which were sub-divisions of counties. The word " riding ", from Old English *þriðing "one-third" (compare farthing , literally "one-fourth"),
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3968-434: The election of 1984 . He led the Tories to a record 211 seats, and a majority of seats in every province. Mulroney had declared himself an opponent to free trade with the United States during the 1983 leadership campaign . But a growing continentalist sentiment among Canadian business leaders and the impact of the "Reagan Revolution" on Canadian conservative thought led Mulroney to embrace free trade. His government endorsed
4092-406: The urban population grew—and more importantly, most city dwellers gained the franchise after property ownership was no longer required to gain the vote. Rural constituencies therefore became geographically larger through the 20th century and generally encompassed one or more counties each, and the word "riding" became used to refer to any electoral division. A political party's local organization
4216-417: The "Senate floor", a province's number of seats in the House of Commons can never be lower than the province's representation in the Senate . Under the " grandfather clause ", the province's number of seats can also never fall below the number of seats it had in the 43rd Canadian Parliament (2019–2021). Under the "representation rule", no province that had a higher share of seats than its population share in
4340-453: The 1800s to 1966. The federal riding of Victoria elected two members from 1872 to 1903. As well, eight other federal ridings elected multiple (two) members at different times. As well, every province plus the territories of Yukon and Northwest Territories at one time or another used multi-seat districts. The use of multi-member districts usually led to the use of plurality block voting but occasionally other forms of voting were used in
4464-457: The 2012 redistribution process, especially to a proposal which would have divided the Church and Wellesley neighbourhood, the city's primary gay village , between the existing riding of Toronto Centre and a new riding of Mount Pleasant along the length of Wellesley Street . In the final report, the northern boundary of Toronto Centre was shifted north to Charles Street. Once the final report
4588-536: The 65 seats Canada East had held in the Parliament of the Province of Canada , prior to Confederation, while the boundaries for Ontario's 82 seats were set by the Constitution Act, 1867 . The present formula for adjusting electoral boundaries was adopted in 2022. It starts by calculating an "electoral quotient", based on the average of the growth rate of the provinces since the time of the last redistribution,
4712-673: The Canadian Alliance agreed to the name "Conservative Party of Canada" for the new party. After a by-election defeat in 1942, a group of younger Conservatives from the Conservative Party of Canada met in Port Hope, Ontario , to develop a new Conservative policy they hoped would bring them out of the political wilderness. The participants, known as the Port Hopefuls, developed a program including many Conservative goals such as support for free enterprise and conscription. Yet
4836-571: The Canadian Alliance and its predecessor the Reform Party of Canada derived principally from this group, and that support carried forward into the new Conservative Party of Canada. The success of the neoconservative movement in using the label "Conservative" has brought into debate the very definition of conservatism in Canada today. Although adhering to economic philosophies similar to those originally advanced by 19th-century liberals (known confusingly as both neoliberalism and neoconservatism ),
4960-521: The Canadian House of Commons but 130 in its provincial legislature. For the 1999 Ontario general election , however, the government of Mike Harris passed legislation which mandated that seats in the provincial legislature would follow federal electoral district boundaries, both reducing the size of the legislature and eliminating the cost of the province conducting its own boundary adjustment process. After each federal boundary adjustment, seats in
5084-552: The Canadian lexicon—as neoconservatives . However, there are also Blue Tories who identify strongly with the Monarchy in Canada and other traditional institutions. In Canada, Blue Tories include Ralph Klein and Mike Harris . From 1891 until the party's dissolution, Red Tories generally dominated the highest rungs of the party and its leadership. The emerging neoconservatives of the 1970s were significantly reduced in numbers in
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5208-468: The Liberal Party into its ranks. At Confederation, the Conservative Party became Canada's first governing party under Sir John A. Macdonald . The federal Tories governed Canada for over 40 of the country's first 70 years of existence. However, the party spent the majority of its history in opposition as the nation's number-two federal party, behind the Liberal Party of Canada . From 1896 to 1993,
5332-475: The Liberal Trudeau government tabled legislation to prevent Quebec (or any other province) from losing any seats relative to the number of seats it was apportioned in 2012 Canadian federal electoral redistribution . Bill C-14 amended Rule 2 of subsection 51(1) of the Constitution Act, 1867 , commonly known as the "Grandfather Clause". The Bill passed the House of Commons on June 15, 2022, passed
5456-510: The Progressive Conservative Party switched to neoliberalism , the party did retain its social progressive policies unlike other parties which advocated neoliberalism. Mulroney and the government pursued an aggressive environmental agenda under the aide of then-environmental policy advisor, present-day Green Party leader Elizabeth May . Mulroney and members of the U.S. government sparred over action on acid rain . In
5580-604: The Progressive Conservatives. However, it did not enjoy broad support among former Progressive Conservatives. In particular, no prominent anti-merger Progressive Conservatives such as Joe Clark or David Orchard were associated with the Progressive Canadian Party, nor were any sitting MPs or senators. The most prominent members to join were two 1970s and 1980s era politicians: former cabinet minister Sinclair Stevens and former junior cabinet minister, Heward Grafftey , who polled near or below Craig Chandler in
5704-453: The Senate on June 21, 2022, and received royal assent on June 23, 2022. The Chief Electoral Officer announced the new allocation of seats on July 8, 2022, which would result in an increase to 343 seats. The act was introduced after a Bloc Québécois ' motion calling for government action to protect the number of Quebec's seat after redistribution. When the province's final seat allotment
5828-655: The Timiskaming riding was merged with Nipissing . Despite the opposition that arose to the 2003 process, however, virtually the same tripartite division of the city was proposed in the boundary adjustment of 2012, although due to concerns around balancing the Northern Ontario region's population against its geographic size, the commission announced in 2013 that it would retain the existing electoral districts again. Similarly, opposition arose in Toronto during
5952-480: The Tories formed government six times—from 1911 to 1921, briefly in 1926, from 1930 to 1935, from 1957 to 1963, from 1979 to 1980 and from 1984 to 1993. It stands as the only Canadian party to have won more than 200 seats in an election—a feat it accomplished twice: in 1958 and 1984 . The party adopted the "Progressive Conservative" name in 1942 when Manitoba Premier John Bracken , a long-time leader of that province's Progressive Party , agreed to become leader of
6076-480: The Tories ill-fated depression era mandate from 1930 to 35, John Diefenbaker won a minority government in 1957 , followed by a sweeping electoral victory for the Tories in 1958 . Diefenbaker was able to win most of the parliamentary seats in Western Canada, much of those in Ontario, and, with the support of the Union Nationale provincial government, a large number in Quebec. Diefenbaker attempted to pursue
6200-494: The Tories, though there remains some debate as to the precise degree. Many observers argue that for over ten years, from 1993 to 2004 , the "conservative" vote was split between the two parties, allowing Liberal candidates to win ridings that were previously considered safe for the Tories, made possible by a first-past-the-post electoral system. This assessment led to the growth of the United Alternative movements of
6324-789: The Tory elite drawn from the commercial classes in Montreal and Toronto . Prior to World War II , they were generally conservative in social policy, and classically liberal in economic policy. From 1964 on, this cadre came to identify more with neo-liberal influences in the US Republican Party , as espoused by Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan , and the Thatcherite leadership in the British Conservative Party , as represented by Sir Keith Joseph and Margaret Thatcher . They have come to be termed—in
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#17327867441066448-418: The boundary commission that it wished to be included in a different electoral district. For example, in the 2003 boundary adjustment, the boundary commission in Ontario originally proposed dividing the city of Greater Sudbury into three districts. The urban core would have remained largely unchanged as Sudbury , while communities west of the central city would have been merged with Algoma—Manitoulin to form
6572-410: The charter also included more radical policies, such as full-employment, low-cost housing , trade union rights, as well as a whole range of social security measures, including a government financed medicare system. Although many Conservatives rejected the charter, the charter still influenced party decisions. Delegates at the convention drafted John Bracken as leader, who was not even a member of
6696-470: The city were divided into one city-based riding and two large rural ones rather than two city-based ridings, while the Timiskaming District is much more strongly aligned with and connected to North Bay , to which it has a direct highway link, than to Sudbury. In a deputation to the boundary commission, Sudbury's deputy mayor Ron Dupuis stated that "An electoral district must be more than
6820-482: The country, with many voters being environmentally conscious, moderate retirees, as well as a notable artist population. Even with the Green collapse nationally in 2021, May held on with 37%, although it was her lowest voteshare in the riding. Riding associations are the local branches of political parties : This riding has elected the following members of Parliament : As of 2024, the district's member of Parliament
6944-402: The district for the capital city of Charlottetown was divided into two. After 1966, however, the electoral district boundaries again remained unchanged until 1996, when the province adopted new single-member districts. Under the new model, electoral districts are now adjusted every ten years, although most adjustments are geographically modest and the district's name is sometimes, but not always,
7068-436: The district from 1993 to 2011. From 1953 to 2024, the riding and its predecessor, Esquimalt—Saanich , were only won by a non-conservative candidate five times: 1968 to Liberal David Anderson , in 1988 to New Democrat Lynn Hunter , and in 2011, 2015 and 2019 to Green party leader Elizabeth May , who in 2015 won every poll-district within the constituency. The 1988 Conservative loss is attributed to vote splitting between
7192-569: The end Mulroney managed to convince U.S. president Ronald Reagan to sign a treaty to reduce acid rain. A number of economic and governance issues contributed to the fall of the Progressive Conservative party at the federal level in the 1993 federal election : The second major factor leading to the Mulroney government's demise was that the party's base in Quebec came from Quebec nationalists, who withdrew their support after
7316-529: The endorsement of controversial fellow leadership candidate David Orchard , an outspoken opponent of free trade who wanted to return the party to its traditional economic nationalist roots. Orchard's endorsement of MacKay was predicated on four bullet points laid out in the Orchard-MacKay agreement, one of which expressly forbade the merger of the PC Party of Canada with the Canadian Alliance. After only
7440-472: The failed Charlottetown Accord , no such rule currently exists—Quebec's seat allotment in the House of Commons is in fact governed by the same adjustment clauses as all other provinces, and not by any provisions unique to Quebec alone. However, such provisions have existed at various times in the past. From 1867 to 1946 Quebec was allocated 65 seats, with the other provinces allocated seats based on their size relative to Quebec. The "amalgam formula" of 1976 set
7564-553: The failure of the Meech Lake and Charlottetown Constitutional Accords. Many Quebec Tories, including a number of Members of Parliament (MPs), left the party to form the Bloc Québécois with like-minded Liberals. The third major factor was the rise of " western alienation " in the four provinces of western Canada as a result of attempts by both Tories and Liberals to woo Quebec. Western Canadians turned their support to
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#17327867441067688-486: The far north of the province. As a result, the province currently has 121 seats in the House of Commons, but 124 seats in the provincial legislature. When Prince Edward Island joined Confederation in 1873, it set a fixed formula in which each of the province's three counties was divided into five electoral districts per county, each of which elected two representatives to the provincial legislature. These districts were never adjusted for demographic changes, except in 1966 when
7812-511: The federal Conservatives on condition that the party add Progressive to its name. Despite the name change, most former Progressive supporters continued to support the Liberal Party of Canada or the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation , and Bracken's leadership of the Conservative Party came to an end in 1948. Many Canadians simply continued to refer to the party as "the Conservatives". A major weakness of
7936-483: The federal ones; in the Northern Ontario region, however, because the region's slower growth would result in the gradual loss of seats compared to the more rapidly growing south, most districts still retain the same boundaries as the federal districts that were in place as of 2003, and are not readjusted to correspond to current federal boundaries. For the 2018 Ontario general election , further, two new uniquely provincial districts were added to increase representation for
8060-423: The first dissolution of Parliament that occurs at least seven months after the day on which that proclamation was issued". The boundary adjustment processes for electoral districts in provincial or territorial legislative assemblies follow provincial or territorial, rather than federal, law; they are overseen by each province's or territory's own election agency rather than by Elections Canada, and legislated by
8184-408: The first half of the 20th century by continuing to follow mercantilism and nascent notions of the welfare state . Like their federal Liberal rivals, the party defined itself as a " big tent ", welcoming a broad variety of members who supported relatively loosely defined goals. Unlike the Liberal Party, there was a long history of ongoing factionalism within this tent. This factionalism arose from
8308-476: The first subsequent election. Thus, an electoral district may officially cease to exist, but will continue to be represented status quo in the House of Commons until the next election is called. This, for example, gives new riding associations time to organize, and prevents the confusion that would result from changing elected MPs' electoral district assignments in the middle of a Parliament. On some occasions (e.g., Timiskaming—French River , Toronto—Danforth ),
8432-543: The four federal electoral districts in Prince Edward Island have an average size of just 33,963 voters each, while federal electoral districts in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia have an average size of over 125,000 voters each—only slightly smaller, in fact, than the entire population of Prince Edward Island. Conversely, pure representation by population creates distinct disadvantages for some Canadians, giving rise to frequent debate about how to balance
8556-468: The fragmentation of Mulroney's broad coalition in the late 1980s, resulting in part from the failure of two provinces to ratify the Meech Lake Accord . The party suffered a decade-long decline following the 1993 federal election , during which it did not hold more than 20 seats in the House of Commons. It formally dissolved on December 7, 2003, when it merged with the Canadian Alliance to form
8680-462: The government's failed attempts to revise the Constitution with the Meech Lake and Charlottetown accords, and the early 1990s recession , led to the party's increasing unpopularity and eventual collapse in the 1993 federal election where they won just two seats. In Western Canada the bulk of the party's support transferred to the right-wing populist Reform Party (which later became
8804-510: The highest annual expense budgets among members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario are consistently filed by the representatives for Mushkegowuk—James Bay and Kiiwetinoong , the province's two largest and northernmost electoral districts; both must spend far more on travel to and from Toronto, travel within their own ridings and additional support staff in multiple communities within their ridings than any other legislator in
8928-464: The largest bloc of the original Canadian Conservative party. Notable Red Tories include John Farthing , George Grant , John Diefenbaker , E. Davie Fulton , Robert Stanfield , Dufferin Roblin , Dalton Camp , W. L. Morton , George A. Drew , Leslie Frost , John Robarts , William Davis , Peter Lougheed , Joe Clark and Flora MacDonald . Blue Tories, on the other hand, were originally members of
9052-548: The last election. While some of them rejoined the Alliance later, seven of them, led by Chuck Strahl of British Columbia and including Grey, refused and formed the Democratic Representative Caucus . The DRC quickly entered a coalition with the Progressive Conservatives, which lasted until 2002 when Stephen Harper ousted Day as Alliance leader. Harper wanted a closer union with the PCs, but Clark turned
9176-419: The last redistribution can have its share of seats drop below its population share. A province may be allocated extra seats over its base entitlement to ensure that these rules are met. In 2022, for example, Prince Edward Island would have been entitled to only two seats according to the electoral quotient, but through the senatorial clause the province gained two more seats to equal its four senators. Quebec
9300-450: The late 1990s. Others insisted that a legitimate ideological gulf existed between the more ideological Alliance and the more moderate Red Tory -influenced PC Party, pointing to surveys that indicated many Tory voters would rather select the Liberals as their second choice than the Alliance. This seemed to be particularly born out in Ontario. The Liberals won all but one seat in that province in 1993 and 1997, and all but two in 2000—an era that
9424-506: The legislative assembly would henceforth be automatically realigned to match the federal boundaries at the first subsequent provincial election. Although most electoral districts in the province still conform to federal boundaries, later amendments to the 1999 legislation have reauthorized the introduction of some differences from the federal map. In the Southern Ontario region, provincial districts remain in precise alignment with
9548-444: The majority party to holding only two seats in the House of Commons, which was not enough to maintain official party status despite garnering 16% of the popular vote. It was the worst defeat ever suffered for a governing party at the federal level; the 151-seat loss far exceeded the 95 seats lost by the Liberals in 1984. The party's western supporters transferred virtually en masse to Reform, most of its Quebec supporters split between
9672-447: The mandatory retirement of Norman Atkins on June 27, 2009, and Lowell Murray on September 26, 2011, left McCoy, the youngest of the five, as the sole Progressive Conservative in the Senate and the last sitting PC in either chamber of Parliament until February 11, 2013, when she chose to change her designation to "Independent Progressive Conservative". McCoy changed her designation to "Independent" on February 17, 2016, thus bringing to an end
9796-530: The modern-day Conservative Party of Canada . Several loosely associated provincial Progressive Conservative parties continue to exist in Manitoba , Ontario , New Brunswick , Nova Scotia , Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador . As well, a small rump of senators opposed the merger, and continued to sit in the Parliament of Canada as Progressive Conservatives. The last one of them rescinded their party status in 2016. The Yukon association of
9920-555: The multi-seat districts. From 1920 to 1949 Winnipeg used single transferable vote (STV) to elect 10 MLAs in a single city-wide district. And then the city was made into three four-member districts, again with the seats filled through STV. St. Boniface elected two MLAs in 1949 and 1953 through STV. Alberta had three provincial districts that at various times returned two, five, six or seven members: see Calgary , Edmonton and Medicine Hat . Prior to 1924 these seats were filled through plurality block voting but from 1924 to 1956
10044-409: The name could no longer be utilized. The group resubmitted with the name Progressive Canadian Party , and a new "PC Party" was recognized by Elections Canada on March 26. It secured sufficient backing to be registered as an official party on May 29. It was led by former Progressive Conservative MP Joe Hueglin of Ontario. The Progressive Canadian party aimed to be perceived as the successor party to
10168-424: The new riding of Greater Sudbury—Manitoulin, and those east and north of the central city would have been merged with Timiskaming to create the riding of Timiskaming—Greater Sudbury. Due to the region's economic and transportation patterns, however, "Timiskaming—Greater Sudbury" was particularly opposed by its potential residents — voters in Sudbury were concerned about the weakening of their representation if
10292-561: The newly formed Conservative Party. In the 2004 election , Bachand and Clark did not run for re-election, and Herron ran as a Liberal, losing to Rob Moore in his riding of Fundy—Royal . Scott Brison , who had joined the Liberal caucus immediately upon departing the Conservative Party, was reelected as a Liberal in the 2004 election. After being expelled from the Conservative Party caucus in June 2007, Nova Scotia MP Bill Casey designated himself as an "Independent Progressive Conservative". In
10416-614: The north part of the Municipality of Saanich , as well as the municipalities of Central Saanich , North Saanich , and Sidney on Vancouver Island . The district also includes a number of the southern Gulf Islands , including Salt Spring Island , the Pender Islands , Galiano Island , Mayne Island and Saturna Island . The district's southeastern border runs along the University of Victoria . The electoral district
10540-400: The number of Quebec seats to 75, which was to be increased by 4 after each decennial census. Other "large" provinces (over 2.5 million) would be assigned seats based on their relative population to Quebec. The amalgam formula was applied only once, based on the 1971 census. After the 1981 census it was realized that adding an additional four seats to Quebec every ten years would rapidly inflate
10664-508: The offer down, and all but two of the DRC members rejoined the Alliance. One of the two, Inky Mark , eventually joined the PCs. Two by-election victories later in 2002 increased the PC caucus to 15 members and fourth place in the Commons. Clark, however, was unable to gain any ground in Ontario, and resigned on August 6, 2002. On May 31, 2003, Peter MacKay won the party leadership after securing
10788-428: The only substantive change that actually occurs. Because electoral district boundaries are proposed by an arms-length body , rather than directly by political parties themselves, gerrymandering is not generally seen as an issue in Canada. However, in 2006 the provincial government of Prince Edward Island was accused of gerrymandering after it rejected the independent boundary commission's report and instead proposed
10912-400: The other clauses. The 2012 redistribution , which added three new seats in Quebec under the newly added representation rule, was the first and so far only time since 1985 that any of the other seven provinces had ever gained new seats. Some sources incorrectly state that a special provision guaranteeing a certain number of seats to Quebec is also applied. While such a provision was proposed in
11036-561: The party back to official party status in the 1997 election , winning 20 seats. With the exception of one seat each in Ontario and Manitoba, the rest of the seats were all in the Maritimes and Quebec. However, the PCs never won more than 20 seats again, and only two west of Quebec (not counting by-elections and switches from other parties). The rise of the Reform Party/Canadian Alliance was doubtless damaging to
11160-490: The party by the late 1980s, and many of the disaffected drifted towards neoliberalism and parties with a neoconservative bent, such as the Reform Party of Canada . When the PC party held power at the federal level, it never truly embraced Reaganomics and its crusade against "big government" as vociferously as was done in the USA. Canadian neoconservatives lean more towards individualism and economic liberalism . Support for
11284-405: The party come within two seats of toppling the Liberal government, with their historical weakness in Quebec keeping them from victory, but a gaffe-ridden Tory campaign at the following election two years later saw the Liberals regain their parliamentary majority, leading to Stanfield's resignation. Joe Clark took the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party in 1976. He came to power in
11408-465: The party membership voted to dissolve the party and merge with the Canadian Alliance to form the current Conservative Party of Canada . Like their British counterparts, members and supporters of the Progressive Conservative Party were known as "Tories". Provincial variants of the Progressive Conservative Party continue to exist in a number of provinces. The party pre-dates Confederation in 1867, when it accepted many conservative-leaning former members of
11532-754: The party renamed itself as the Yukon Party in 1990. The British Columbia Progressive Conservative Party changed its name to the British Columbia Conservative Party in 1991. Saskatchewan 's Progressive Conservative Party effectively ceased to exist in 1997, when the Saskatchewan Party formed – primarily from former PC Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) with a few Saskatchewan Liberal MLAs joining them. The Progressive Conservative Party
11656-462: The party since 1885 was its inability to win support in Quebec , estranged significantly by that year's execution of Louis Riel . The Conscription Crisis of 1917 exacerbated the issue. Even though the Conservative Party of Quebec dominated politics in that province for the first 30 years of Confederation at both the federal and provincial levels, in the 20th century the party was never able to become
11780-539: The party to a minority government victory. The party lost power just nine months later and in 1983, Clark lost his leadership role to Brian Mulroney , who helped the PC Party gain popularity in Quebec . Mulroney won back-to-back majority governments in 1984 and 1988 , and during his tenure, major economic reforms such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and the goods and services tax (GST) were introduced. The GST,
11904-508: The party's lack of electoral success, and because the party often reached out to particular political groups in order to garner enough support to topple the Liberals. These groups usually remained semi-autonomous blocs within the party, such as Quebec nationalists and western Canadian Reformers in the 1980s. In later years, observers generally grouped the PC Party's core membership into two camps, " Red Tories " and " Blue Tories ". Red Tories tend to be traditionally conservative, that is, "Tory" in
12028-479: The party. Bracken supported the Port Hope Charter and insisted the party register this policy shift by changing its name to the Progressive Conservative Party. In the early days of Canadian confederation , the party supported a mercantilist approach to economic development: export-led growth with high import barriers to protect local industry. The party was staunchly monarchist and supported playing
12152-587: The population size of electoral districts against their geographic size. Whereas urban districts, such as Toronto Centre , Vancouver Centre or Papineau , may be as small as 15 square kilometres (5.8 sq mi) or less, more rural districts, such as Timmins-James Bay , Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou or Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River may encompass tens or hundreds of thousands of square kilometres. Thus, while Canadians who reside in major urban centres typically live within walking distance of their federal or provincial representatives' constituency offices,
12276-496: The post or plurality block voting ). The only exception were the 1952 and 1953 elections, when instant-runoff voting was used. In the case of multi-member districts, separate contests were used to elect separate MLAs in the same district. Prince Edward Island had dual-member districts at the provincial level from Confederation to the 1996 election . In the case of New Brunswick , between 1935 and 1974, some ridings were multi member districts, electing more than one MLA in
12400-400: The post in a vote in which all party members were eligible to cast ballots, instead of a traditional leadership convention. A point system allocated each riding 100 points to be distributed among the candidates by proportional representation according to votes cast by party members in the riding. (This same system was used by the Conservative Party of Canada in 2004.) In the 2000 election Clark
12524-485: The presence of Progressive Conservatives in the Parliament of Canada. On January 9, 2004, a group claiming to be loyal to the Progressive Conservative Party and opposed to the merger, which they characterized as an Alliance takeover, filed application with the Chief Electoral Officer to register a party called the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. The application was refused on the grounds that
12648-409: The previous redistribution's electoral quotient is then multiplied by this average, and then the population of each individual province is divided by this electoral quotient then rounded up to determine the number of seats to which the province is officially entitled. Additionally, one seat is automatically allocated to each of Canada's three territories. Finally, a few special rules are applied. Under
12772-482: The process results in most provinces maintaining the same number of seats from one redistribution to the next, due to the senatorial and grandfather clauses—prior to the 2015 election , only Ontario , Alberta and British Columbia , traditionally the country's three fastest-growing provinces, had ever gained seats in a redistribution. All other provinces still held the same number of seats that they held in 1985, and were thus already protected from losing even one seat by
12896-550: The province losing clout in Ottawa if its proportion of seats in the House of Commons were reduced; finally, three new seats were allotted to Quebec as well. The measure did not pass before the 2011 election was called, but was put forward again after the election. It was passed on December 16, 2011 as the Fair Representation Act (Bill C-20), and resulted in the 2012 redistribution process. On March 24, 2022,
13020-726: The province or territory, Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA), Member of the National Assembly (MNA), Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) or Member of the House of Assembly (MHA)—to the provincial or territorial legislature. Since 2015, there have been 338 federal electoral districts in Canada. In provincial and territorial legislatures, the provinces and territories each set their own number of electoral districts independently of their federal representation. The province of Ontario currently defines most of its provincial electoral districts to align with federal boundaries; no other province does so, and even Ontario maintains
13144-535: The province. A 2017 study found, that 41 of the 338 federal ridings, have populations where visible minorities /Non Whites form the majority of the riding. Ontario and British Columbia have the largest number of ridings where visible minorities form the majority. Quebec has the most ridings with less than 5% visible minorities. Progressive Conservative Party of Canada Provincial Provincial The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada ( PC ; French : Parti progressiste-conservateur du Canada )
13268-424: The provincial legislature rather than the federal parliament. Each province is free to decide its own number of legislative assembly seats, and is not required to comply with the federal quotas that govern its number of parliamentary districts. Prior to 1999, provincial electoral districts were defined independently of federal districts; at the time of the 1995 Ontario general election , the province had 103 seats in
13392-597: The recommendation of the 1985 Royal Commission on the Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada that Canada pursue a free trade deal with the United States. Traditionally, it had been the Liberal Party that held a position of continentalism and the Conservatives who had opposed free trade with the United States in favour of economic links with the United Kingdom . With the dissolution of
13516-455: The revised Constitution, which it did not in 1982, unlike Canada's other provinces. To do this, Mulroney promised that he would give Quebec distinct society status within a federal Canada with greater autonomy. This helped Mulroney garner substantial support from Quebec nationalists including Lucien Bouchard who joined the Conservatives claiming that providing Quebec with autonomy would be acceptable for Quebec to remain within Canada. Although
13640-700: The riding with the third largest senior population in Canada. The riding has a median age of 48.3, making it the riding with the highest median age in Canada. The average family income is $ 70,814; unemployment is 5.9 percent. Languages: 83.8% English , 2.3% Mandarin , 2.1% Cantonese , 1.5% German , 1.5% French , 1.2% Punjabi Religions (2011): 46.9% Christian (12.2% Catholic , 10.6% Anglican , 7.8% United Church , 2.2% Baptist , 1.7% Lutheran , 1.5% Presbyterian , 1.1%% Pentecostal , 10.0% Other), 1.3% Buddhist , 1.2% Sikh , 47.3% No religion Median income (2015): $ 37,376 Average income (2015): $ 49,898 The riding of Saanich—Gulf Islands consists of
13764-534: The seat count despite being virtually nonexistent east of Manitoba. Campbell herself was defeated, as was every member of the Cabinet except Jean Charest , whom Campbell had defeated in the election to succeed Mulroney . Campbell resigned as party leader in December, and Charest, as the only remaining member of the previous Cabinet, was quickly appointed interim leader and confirmed in the post in 1995. Charest led
13888-522: The seats in the district. STV was used in Alberta and Manitoba multi-member districts from 1920s to 1950s. STV almost always produced mixed representation with no one-party sweep. As mentioned, limited voting was used in Toronto when it was a multi-member district. IRV was used in all BC districts including the multi-member districts, in 1952 and 1953. This voting system ensured that the winner had
14012-516: The seats were filled through single transferable voting (STV). Saskatchewan used multi-member provincial districts in Saskatoon , Regina and Moose Jaw , from 1920 to 1967. These seats were filled through multiple non-transferable vote . British Columbia provincially had a mix of multiple-member districts and single-member districts at the provincial level from 1871 to the 1991 election . Members were elected through plurality ( first past
14136-659: The size of the House of Commons, so that formula was abandoned in favour of the 1985 Representation Act . In 2008 the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper proposed an amendment to the process which would have given Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario, the three provinces whose electoral districts have an average size larger than those in Quebec, a total of 32 additional seats by applying Quebec's average of 105,000. The measure initially included only British Columbia and Alberta; Harper later proposed an alternative plan which included Ontario. However, opposition then emerged in Quebec, where politicians expressed concern about
14260-575: The sovereigntist Bloc Québécois and the Liberals, and most of its Ontario and Atlantic supporters bolted for the Liberals. Even though the Progressive Conservatives finished third in the popular vote (just percentage points behind Reform), their support was spread out across the entire country and was not concentrated in enough areas to translate into more seats. By contrast, the Bloc managed to capture Official Opposition status with 54 seats despite running candidates only in Quebec, while Reform finished third in
14384-615: The support of a majority of votes in each contest but did nothing to create proportionality. Electoral district names are usually geographic in nature, and chosen to represent the community or region within the electoral district boundaries. Some electoral districts in Quebec are named for historical figures rather than geography, e.g., Louis-Hébert , Honoré-Mercier . Similarly in Alberta, provincial districts mix geographic names with those of historical personages (e.g., Edmonton-Decore after Laurence Decore , Calgary-Lougheed after Peter Lougheed and James Alexander Lougheed ). This practice
14508-427: The urbanized portion of Saanich to the new district of Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke . These new boundaries were legally defined in the 2013 representation order, which came into effect upon the call of the 42nd Canadian federal election , which was held October 19, 2015. Despite the usually close vote between the various right -leaning parties, the Canadian Alliance , Reform and Conservative parties consistently won
14632-467: Was a centre to centre-right federal political party in Canada that existed from 1942 to 2003. From Canadian Confederation in 1867 until 1942, the original Conservative Party of Canada participated in numerous governments and had multiple names. In 1942, its name was changed to the Progressive Conservative Party under the request of newly elected party leader Premier John Bracken of Manitoba ,
14756-511: Was able to garner the 12 seats necessary for official party status, but no more. Clark realized that as long as the centre-right vote was divided, there was no chance of dislodging the Liberals , but he wanted a merger on his own terms. He got his chance in 2001, when several dissident Alliance MPs, the most prominent one being Alliance deputy leader and party matriarch Deborah Grey , left the Alliance caucus. The dissidents felt that Alliance leader Stockwell Day hadn't learned from mistakes made in
14880-404: Was created in 1987 from Esquimalt—Saanich and Cowichan—Malahat—The Islands ridings. The 2012 federal electoral boundaries redistribution concluded that the electoral boundaries of Saanich—Gulf Islands should be adjusted, and a modified electoral district of the same name will be contested in future elections. The redefined Saanich—Gulf Islands loses a small portion of its current territory in
15004-493: Was dominated by the provincial Tories. This was largely because many former bellwether ridings in suburban Toronto (known as "the 905", after its area code ) turned almost solidly Liberal for most of the 1990s at the federal level while supporting the Tories at the provincial level. Charest stepped down from the leadership in 1998 to become leader of the Quebec Liberal Party . Former leader Joe Clark returned to
15128-525: Was generally on the centre-right on the political spectrum. From 1867 on, the party was identified with Protestant and, in Quebec, Roman Catholic social values, British imperialism , Canadian nationalism , and constitutional centralism. This was highly successful until 1920, and to that point in history, the party was the most successful federal party in the Dominion. As such, Canadian conservatism historically initially more closely resembled that which
15252-438: Was only entitled to 71 seats by the electoral quotient alone, but through the grandfather clause the province gained seven seats to equal the 78 seats it had in the 43rd Parliament. Saskatchewan and Manitoba also gained seats under the grandfather clause, New Brunswick gained seats under the senatorial clause, and Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador gained seats under the grandfather and senate clauses. In practice,
15376-479: Was practised in the United Kingdom and, to an extent, Europe , than in the United States . The "Tory" approach worked well for the party until 1917, when, as was common amongst 19th-century conservative movements, Canadian Tories opposed the rollback of government intervention in social and economic matters advocated by the liberals of the era. In contrast to "American conservative" counterparts, however, they did not undertake as dramatic an ideological turnaround in
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