“Mark my words. We will put aside our partisan pasts and our regional rivalries. We are committed to emerging united and strong for the real leadership race -- the one that will pit our new Conservative Party against the Liberals, the one where we battle Paul Martin, not each other. We must keep our eyes on that battle and, for the sake of the country, we must emerge with one conservative voice.”
- Stephen Harper
On October 15, 2003 an historic agreement was signed to unite Canadian conservatives in the new Conservative Party of Canada. Canadian Alliance leader Stephen Harper and Progressive Conservative Party leader Peter MacKay ushered in a new era in Canadian politics. No longer would the Liberal Party govern by default. A united national conservative party, capable of winning government, was formed.
The agreement was a necessary step to strengthen Canadian democracy. By summer 2003, the Liberal Party had governed Canada through three federal elections. Prime Minister Jean Chrétien had achieved successive victories against a divided conservative opposition. As Mr. Chrétien prepared to pass the leadership of the Liberal Party to Paul Martin, the party was touted as being invincible.
The Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party, however, had each chosen new, next-generation leadership in Stephen Harper and Peter MacKay. The discussions they held in the summer of 2003 produced the catalyst for profound change. They agreed that the rival conservative forces must unite and train their swords against a common political opponent, instead of each other.
Each leader named a small team of emissaries to begin negotiations. For the Canadian Alliance, the negotiators were MP Scott Reid, Senator Gerry St. Germain, and former-MP, the Hon. Ray Speaker. For the Progressive Conservatives, it was former finance minister, Rt. Hon. Don Mazankowski, former Ontario premier Bill Davis, and MP Loyola Hearn.
The outcome of the exercise was by no means certain. A merger had been attempted in the past, and efforts had failed. But after much work and mutual sacrifice, Mr. Harper and Mr. MacKay prevailed in their vision to create one united conservative party for the good of Canada.
On December 5, members of the Canadian Alliance ratified the merger of the parties by a margin of 96 percent. The next day, members of the Progressive Conservative Party ratified by a margin of 90.4 percent.
The new party combined the proud traditions and governing experience of the Progressive Conservatives with the grassroots dynamism of the Canadian Alliance.
Important events followed in rapid succession. In January, 2004, the contest to select the leader of the new party began. The three contenders were former Ontario health minister Tony Clement, Magna International CEO and party merger facilitator Belinda Stronach, and former Alliance leader Stephen Harper. On March 20, at a leadership convention in Toronto, the Conservative Party of Canada chose Stephen Harper to lead the new united national party. Three months later, a federal election was called.
For the first time in a very long time, Conservatives spoke with a single voice. As early as his election as a Reform MP, Mr. Harper had campaigned for this goal. Eight years later, he led Conservatives across the country under his federal campaign message, Demand Better.
Ninety-nine Conservatives were elected to the House of Commons. This represented the most Conservatives to sit in the House since the government of Brian Mulroney, and the largest Official Opposition caucus in a generation. Paul Martin and the Liberal Party were reduced to a minority government.
Bringing together conservatives of all stripes, the Conservative Party of Canada had achieved something unimaginable just a year earlier. In the span of a few months, the Conservative Party of Canada had become a government-in-waiting.
In Atlantic Canada, the Conservative Party won 7 ridings and placed second in 16. In eight of the second-place finishes, the Conservative candidate won more than 30 percent of the vote.
In Quebec, a province where the party had barely been on the political radar at the time of the merger, the Conservative Party finished second in four ridings, with a 30-plus percentage of the vote in Louis-Saint Laurent riding. It had strong third-place finishes in another five ridings.
In Ontario, the Conservative Party made a major breakthrough, winning 24 seats and finishing second in another 57 ridings.
In Western Canada, the Conservative Party won 7 seats in Manitoba, 13 in Saskatchewan (all but one), 26 in Alberta (all but two) and 22 in British Columbia. The party finished second in another 13 western ridings.
The Conservative Party continues to grow. Canadians will be watching Conservatives head into their policy convention in Montreal on March 17-19, to plan for the next federal election, and define the future.
