The first Progressive Conservative Party of Canada leadership election was held in 1927, when the party was called the Conservative Party. Prior to then the party's leader was chosen by the caucus or in several cases by the Governor General of Canada designating a Conservative MP or Senator to form a government after the retirement or death of an incumbent Conservative Prime Minister. [1]
In Canadian politics, a leadership convention is held by a political party when the party needs to choose a leader due to a vacancy or a challenge to the incumbent leader.
The Conservative Party of Canada has gone by a variety of names over the years since Canadian Confederation. Initially known as the "Liberal-Conservative Party", it dropped "Liberal" from its name in 1873, although many of its candidates continued to use this name.
A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The term originated in the United States, but has spread to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and Nepal. As the use of the term has expanded, the exact definition has come to vary between political cultures.
Contents
- 1927 Conservative leadership convention
- 1938 Conservative leadership convention
- 1942 Progressive Conservative leadership convention
- 1948 Progressive Conservative leadership convention
- 1956 Progressive Conservative leadership convention
- 1967 Progressive Conservative leadership convention
- 1976 Progressive Conservative leadership convention
- 1983 Progressive Conservative leadership convention
- 1993 leadership convention results
- 1995 Progressive Conservative leadership convention
- 1998 Progressive Conservative leadership election
- 2003 Progressive Conservative leadership convention
- References
There have been two permanent leaders since 1927 who were not chosen by a leadership convention. Arthur Meighen agreed to serve a second term as leader in 1941 on condition that he would not have to contest the position. The party agreed since the party was desperate for a leader of Meighen's stature. Jean Charest was one of only two Progressive Conservative Members of Parliament returned in the 1993 election and was appointed leader by the party's executive with the decision later being affirmed at a regular party convention two years later. The Conservative Party became the Progressive Conservative Party in 1942. [1]
Arthur Meighen was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Canada, in office from July 1920 to December 1921 and again from June to September 1926. He led the Conservative Party from 1920 to 1926 and from 1941 to 1942.
Jean Charest, is a Canadian politician who served as the 29th premier of Quebec, from 2003 to 2012; the deputy prime minister of Canada from June 25, 1993, until November 4, 1993; the leader of the federal Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1993 to 1998; and the leader of the Quebec Liberal Party from 1998 to 2012. He became Premier after winning the 2003 election; after he lost the 2012 election he announced that he would be resigning as Quebec Liberal Leader and leaving politics. Charest sits as an advisor to Canada's Ecofiscal Commission.
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative of the voters to a parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this category includes specifically members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title. Member of Congress is an equivalent term in other jurisdictions.
All leadership conventions were delegated conventions, except in 1998 when a one-member-one-vote process was used in which each riding was allocated 100 points which were distributed among candidates by proportional representation. For the 2003 leadership election, the party reverted to use of a delegated convention, ostensibly because of the cost of using an one-member-one-vote process though it has been argued that the party feared that use of one-member-one-vote would make an outside takeover of the party easier due to a decline in membership. In 2003, the party merged with the Canadian Alliance to form a new Conservative Party of Canada. This party adopted the one-member-one-vote process the Tories had used in 1998.
In the parliamentary politics of the United Kingdom and Canada, one member, one vote (OMOV) is a method of selecting party leaders by a direct vote of the members of a political party. Traditionally, these objectives have been accomplished either by a party convention, a vote of members of parliament, or some form of electoral college. OMOV backers claim that OMOV enhances the practice of democracy, because ordinary citizens will be able to participate. Detractors counter that allowing those unversed in the issues to help make decisions makes for bad governance.
An electoral district in Canada, also known as a "constituency" or a "riding", 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).
Proportional representation (PR) characterizes electoral systems in which divisions in an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. If n% of the electorate support a particular political party as their favorite, then roughly n% of seats will be won by that party. The essence of such systems is that all votes contribute to the result—not just a plurality, or a bare majority. The most prevalent forms of proportional representation all require the use of multiple-member voting districts, as it is not possible to fill a single seat in a proportional manner. In fact, the implementations of PR that achieve the highest levels of proportionality tend to include districts with large numbers of seats.
Note on tables: Green box indicates winner. Pink box indicates candidate eliminated from ballot for receiving the fewest votes. Blue box indicates candidate withdrew from balloting.
