Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba

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Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba
Active provincial party
LeaderWayne Ewasko (interim)
PresidentBrent Pooles
Deputy LeaderKelvin Goertzen
Founded1882; 142 years ago (1882)
Headquarters23 Kennedy Street
Winnipeg, Manitoba
R3C 1S5
Membership (2023)Increase 28,000[1]
IdeologyConservatism
Fiscal conservatism
Economic liberalism
Political positionCentre-right
ColoursBlue
Seats in Legislature
22 / 57
Website
www.pcmanitoba.com

The Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba (French: Parti progressiste-conservateur du Manitoba) is a centre-right political party in Manitoba, Canada. It is currently the opposition party in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba, following a defeat in the 2023 provincial election.

History[edit]

Origins and early years[edit]

The origins of the party lie at the end of the 19th century. Party politics were weak in Manitoba for several years after it entered Canadian confederation in 1870.[2] The system of government was essentially one of non-partisan democracy, though some leading figures such as Marc-Amable Girard were identified with the Conservatives at the federal level.

Public representation was mostly a matter of communal loyalties—ethnic, religious, and linguistic—and party affiliation was at best a secondary concern.[2]

In the 1870s, Thomas Scott (Orangeman) (not to be confused with a different Thomas Scott), was executed by Louis Riel's provisional government . Joseph Royal attempted to introduce partisan politics into the province. Both were Conservatives, and both believed that they could lead a provincial Conservative Party. Their plans were thwarted by Premier John Norquay, who also supported the Conservatives at the federal level but included both Liberals and Conservatives in his governing alliance.

Norquay himself formed a reluctant alliance with the provincial Conservatives in 1882, in the face of strong opposition from Thomas Greenway's Provincial Rights Party. His government was for all intents and purposes Conservative for the remainder of its time in office, though Norquay continued to describe it as "non-partisan". Starting in the election of 1883, moreover, political parties began to be listed on the provincial election ballot.

Subsequent development of the party (1887–1898)[edit]

When Norquay resigned as Premier in 1887, his successor David H. Harrison also became leader of the Conservative parliamentary caucus. Norquay was able to reclaim the latter position early in 1888, following an extremely divided meeting of senior Conservative politicians. By this time, the new Liberal Premier Thomas Greenway had formally introduced party government to the province, and no one doubted that Norquay was now the province's Conservative leader.

The Conservative Party was not yet a legally-recognized institution in the province, however, and began to lose its coherence again after Norquay's death in 1889. Conservative MLAs simply referred to themselves as "the opposition" for most of the decade that followed. Rodmond Roblin was the dominant Conservative MLA between 1890 and 1892, but he does not seem to have been recognized as an official leader.

After Roblin's defeat in the election of 1892, William Alexander Macdonald became the leader of the opposition. In 1893, his election for Brandon City was declared invalid, and he lost the subsequent by-election. Remarkably, the election of Macdonald's successor, John Andrew Davidson, was also voided in 1894. For the remainder of this parliament, James Fisher seems to have been the leading figure in the opposition ranks. It is not clear if he was formally recognized as "leader of the opposition", or even as an official member of the Conservative Party.

Rodmond Roblin was re-elected in 1896, and officially became opposition leader in the legislature. The next year, Hugh John Macdonald (son of former prime minister John A. Macdonald) became the party's official leader, while Roblin continued to lead the opposition in parliament.

Power and loss (1899–1939)[edit]

Taking power (1899–1915)[edit]

The Conservative Party became an official entity in 1899, and drew up its first election platform in the same year. It promised a board of education for the province, the creation of agricultural and technical colleges, and government ownership of railways.

Hugh John Macdonald became Premier following the 1899 election, but resigned shortly thereafter to re-enter federal politics. Rodmond Roblin succeeded Macdonald, and ruled the province for 15 years. Roblin's government was progressively oriented, negotiated the extension of the railway, bought Manitoba's Bell telephone operations in order to establish a government-run system, introduced corporate taxation, and created a public utilities commission while running a budgetary surplus. It was less progressive on social issues, however, and is most frequently remembered today for its opposition to women's suffrage.

In the political wilderness (1915–1930s)[edit]

The Conservatives were brought down in 1915 by a scandal involving the construction of the province's new legislative buildings. Roblin was forced to resign as Premier, and James Aikins led the party to a disastrous loss later in the year.

The Manitoba Conservatives received their greatest support from the francophone community in the 1915 election, because the party was seen as more supportive than the Liberals of francophone education rights. This was a pronounced contrast to the situation in federal politics, where most francophone Canadians opposed the war policies of Prime Minister Robert Borden.

Aime Benard was chosen as leader pro tem of the party on August 15, 1915, and Albert Prefontaine was chosen as the official parliamentary leader shortly thereafter. The party was a minor force in parliament, however, and was largely sidelined by the radical farmer and labour movements of the late 1910s.

On November 6, 1919, the Conservative Party chose farmer R.G. Willis to lead the party into its next electoral campaign. Willis' selection was a response to the provincial victory of the United Farmers of Ontario the previous month; he defeated Major Fawcett Taylor after three other candidates (including Prefontaine) withdrew their names. The vote total was not announced.

Willis was defeated in the election of 1920, and the Conservatives became the fourth-largest group in parliament with only six seats. John Thomas Haig subsequently became their parliamentary leader, and Fawcett Taylor was chosen as the official party leader in early 1922.

The Conservatives gradually regained support in the following 20 years, but were unable to defeat the Progressive government of John Bracken. In 1932, Bracken's Progressives formed an alliance with the Manitoba Liberal Party to ensure that Taylor would not become the province's Premier.

Taylor resigned as party leader in 1933, and W. Sanford Evans served as parliamentary leader for the next three years. In 1936, Errick Willis (son of R.G.) was acclaimed as party leader. He led the party in another unsuccessful challenge to the Bracken ministry in 1936.

1940s–1975[edit]

In coalition (1940–1950)[edit]

In 1940, Willis agreed to join Bracken in a wartime coalition government. Willis himself was given a prominent cabinet position in the all-party ministry which followed.

Three anti-coalition Conservatives were elected to the legislature in 1941. One of these, Huntly Ketchen, served as leader of the opposition. This group did not constitute a rival to the official Conservative Party, however.

In 1946, the party changed its name to the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba to reflect the change in name of the federal Progressive Conservatives. Relations between the PCs and Liberal-Progressives deteriorated after Douglas Campbell became Premier in 1948, and the PCs voted 215–7 to leave the coalition in 1950.

Varying fortunes (1953–1975)[edit]

The 1953 election was won by the Liberals, and Willis was compelled to accept a leadership challenge the following year. Duff Roblin, grandson of Rodmond Roblin, became party leader on the second ballot and rebuilt the party's organization which had been weakened during the coalition period.

In 1958, Roblin's PCs ran and were elected to a minority government on a progressive platform of increased education grants, crop insurance, extension of hydro to the north, and road construction. Remarkably, his platform was well to the left of that of Campbell's Liberal-Progressives. In 1959, Roblin returned to the polls and won a majority, which pursued a policy of 'social investment', active government and social reform (including reintroducing French to schools and expanding welfare services). In 1967, Roblin left provincial politics and was replaced by Walter Weir, a member of the party's rural conservative wing. Weir led a somewhat more cautious and restrained government, and was defeated by the New Democratic Party under Edward Schreyer in 1969. Sidney Spivak, a Red Tory like Roblin, led the party from 1971 to 1975, but was unable to defeat Schreyer's government.

Sterling Lyon leadership (1975–1981)[edit]

Sterling Lyon became leader of the party in 1975 and took it in a more fiscal-conservative direction, anticipating the neoliberal economics of Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, and Mike Harris. The Lyon PCs defeated the NDP in 1977. The Lyon government was to the right of previous PC administrations and implemented a program of spending cuts and reduced taxes (while also promoting mega-projects in the energy sector). Manitobans were unreceptive to the government's fiscal-conservatism, and turned it out of office in 1981 after only one term, bringing the NDP back to power after.

Gary Filmon leadership (1983–1999)[edit]

Gary Filmon became leader of the Progressive Conservatives in 1983, and formed a minority government in 1988 after defeating the NDP. Filmon's PCs remained in power for three terms, winning a majority government in 1990 and again in 1995.

Filmon's government avoided excessive conservative rhetoric, but nonetheless reduced corporate taxes, mandated balanced budgets, and limited the power of teacher's and nurse's unions. It supported the Charlottetown Accord (a proposal for amending the Canadian constitution), as well as free trade with the United States. The party's financial austerity program resulted in a balanced budget in 1995, the first in 20 years.

The PCs were hurt in the late 1990s by increased unemployment, a vote-manipulation scandal from the 1995 election (see Independent Native Voice), and the decline of the Manitoba Liberal Party. The latter development allowed the anti-Tory vote to coalesce around the NDP. Ahead of the 1999 election, Filmon announced that his government would undertake a shift further to the right if reelected. The voters were not receptive to this, and ousted the PCs in favour of the NDP.

Post-Filmon (2000s)[edit]

Filmon resigned as leader in 2000, and was replaced by Stuart Murray. The party fell to twenty seats in the election of 2003, its worst showing since 1953.

On November 5, 2005, at a meeting regarding a possible leadership convention in the near future, Murray received only 45% support from party members. On November 14, Murray stepped down as leader of the party. Hugh McFadyen became leader of the party at the leadership convention on April 29, 2006, garnering two thirds of the first ballot vote.

In McFadyen's first campaign as party leader during the 2007 provincial election, popular support for PC Party rose 2% over 2003 numbers. Although he managed to capture a greater percentage of the provincial vote, the PCs lost one seat.

Pallister–Stefanson leadership (2012–2024)[edit]

After failing to make major gains in the 2011 provincial election, Hugh McFadyen agreed to step down as leader.[3] On July 30, 2012, former federal MP and Filmon cabinet minister Brian Pallister was acclaimed as leader.[4]

By the time the writs were dropped for the 2016 provincial election, the Manitoba PCs had been leading in opinion polls for almost four years, and were heavily favoured to win. As expected, Pallister led the party to a decisive victory. The PCs won 40 out of 57 seats, the largest majority government in the province's history.

Pallister was re-elected to a majority government in 2019.

Pallister announced his resignation on August 10, 2021, and confirmed on August 29, 2021 his departure would take place on September 1, 2021. His interim successor as party leader was confirmed as Kelvin Goertzen on 31 August, 2021.[5][6][7] An elected successor as party leader will be determined in a leadership election on October 30.

Goertzen was sworn in as premier of Manitoba, on September 1, 2021. He would serve for only two months, until November 2, and resigned shortly before PC leader Heather Stefanson was appointed and sworn in as his successor as premier later that day.

Stefanson’s succession to the premiership would mark the first female premier in Manitoba history.[8]

The PC government was defeated in the 2023 Manitoba general election. The PCs became the official opposition for the 43rd Manitoba Legislature.

Leaders of the party[edit]

Note: John Thomas Haig led the Manitoba Conservatives in the legislature from 1920 to 1922.

Election results[edit]

Year
Leader
Seats
won
Seat
change
Seats
place
Popular
vote
% of popular
vote
Government
1879 John Norquay
13 / 24
1st Conservative Majority1
1883
20 / 30
Increase7 Steady1st Conservative Majority
1886
20 / 35
Steady Steady1st Conservative Majority
1888 David Howard Harrison
4 / 38
Decrease16 Decrease2nd Liberal Majority
1892
9 / 40
Increase5 Steady2nd Liberal Majority
1896
5 / 40
Decrease4 Steady2nd Liberal Majority
1899 Hugh John Macdonald
22 / 40
Increase17 Increase1st Conservative Majority2
1903 Rodmond Roblin
32 / 40
Increase10 Steady1st 48.98% Conservative Majority
1907
28 / 41
Decrease4 Steady1st 50.57% Conservative Majority
1910
28 / 41
Steady Steady1st 50.7% Conservative Majority
1914
28 / 49
Steady Steady1st 46.9% Conservative Majority
1915 James Albert Manning Aikins
5 / 47
Decrease23 Decrease2nd 33.0% Liberal majority
1920 Richard G. Willis
8 / 55
Increase3 Decrease4th 18.5% Liberal minority
1922 Fawcett Taylor
7 / 55
Decrease1 Increase3rd 15.5% Progressive majority
1927
15 / 55
Increase8 Increase2nd 27.2% Progressive majority
1932
10 / 55
Decrease5 Steady2nd 35.4% Liberal–Progressive majority
1936 Errick Willis
16 / 55
Increase6 | Steady2nd 27.8% Liberal–Progressive majority
1941
12 / 55
Decrease4 Steady2nd 19.9% Coalition with Liberal–Progressives
1945
13 / 55
Increase1 Steady2nd 15.9% Coalition with Liberal–Progressives
1949
9 / 57
Decrease4 Steady2nd 19.1% Coalition with Liberal–Progressives
1953
12 / 57
Increase3 Steady2nd 56,278 21.03% Liberal–Progressive Majority
1958 Dufferin Roblin
26 / 57
Increase14 Increase1st 40.6% PC Minority
1959
36 / 57
Increase10 Steady1st 46.3% PC Majority
1962
36 / 57
Steady Steady1st 44.7% PC Majority
1966
31 / 57
Decrease5 Steady1st 130,102 39.96% PC Majority
1969 Walter Weir
22 / 57
Decrease9 Decrease2nd 119,021 35.56% NDP minority
1973 Sidney Spivak
21 / 57
Decrease1 Steady2nd 171,553 36.73% NDP majority
1977 Sterling Lyon
33 / 57
Increase12 Increase1st 237,496 48.75% PC Majority
1981
23 / 57
Decrease10 Decrease2nd 211,602 43.82% NDP Majority
1986 Gary Filmon
26 / 57
Increase3 Steady2nd 193,728 40.56% NDP Majority
1988
25 / 57
Decrease1 Increase1st 206,180 38.37% PC Minority
1990
30 / 57
Increase5 Steady1st 206,810 41.99% PC Majority
1995
31 / 57
Increase1 Steady1st 216,246 42.87% PC Majority
1999
24 / 57
Decrease7 Decrease2nd 201,562 40.84% NDP Majority
2003 Stuart Murray
20 / 57
Decrease4 Steady2nd 142,967 36.19% NDP Majority
2007 Hugh McFadyen
19 / 57
Decrease1 Steady2nd 158,511 38.2% NDP Majority
2011
19 / 57
Steady Steady2nd 188,528 43.86% NDP Majority
2016 Brian Pallister
40 / 57
Increase21 Increase1st 231,157 53.20% PC Majority
2019
36 / 57
Decrease 4 Steady 1st 221,007 47.07% PC Majority
2023 Heather Stefanson
22 / 57
Decrease 13 Decrease 2nd 204,835 42.1% NDP Majority
1Includes 7 Liberal-Conservatives
2Includes 3 Liberal-Conservatives

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Froese, Ian (15 April 2023). "Manitoba PCs ready to fight NDP's agenda as election nears, premier says during AGM". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
  2. ^ a b Weir, T.R., and Erin James-Abra. 2023 March 23. "Politics in Manitoba." The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada. Retrieved 2023-04-18.
  3. ^ "McFadyen stepping down". Winnipeg Free Press. October 4, 2011.
  4. ^ "Brian Pallister takes over Tory leadership in Manitoba". CBC News. July 30, 2012.
  5. ^ "Brian Pallister says he will step down as Manitoba premier on Wednesday". 29 August 2021.
  6. ^ Lambert, Steve (2021-08-28). "Brian Pallister will step down as Manitoba premier on Wednesday". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 2021-08-28. Retrieved 2021-08-30.
  7. ^ "Kelvin Goertzen named as interim leader of Manitoba PCs, to become premier-designate". 31 August 2021.
  8. ^ Froese, Ian. 2021 October 30. "Heather Stefanson chosen as Manitoba's 1st female premier by a slim margin." CBC News.

External links[edit]