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The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (french: Parti progressiste-conservateur de l'Ontario), often shortened to the Ontario PC Party or simply the PCs, colloquially known as the Tories, is a
centre-right Centre-right politics lean to the right of the political spectrum, but are closer to the centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure and the economy, moving away from the nobility and ...
political party in
Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
,
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. The PC Party has historically embraced
Red Toryism A Red Tory is an adherent of a centre to centre-right or paternalistic-conservative political philosophy derived from the Tory tradition, most predominantly in Canada but also in the United Kingdom and Australia. This philosophy tends to favou ...
and centrism, ideologies that were prominent during their uninterrupted governance from 1943 to 1985; government intervention in the economy was significant and spending on health care and education dramatically increased. In the 1990s, the party underwent a shift to Blue Toryism after the election of
Mike Harris Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a Canadian retired politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party) from 1990 to 2002. During his time ...
as leader, who was premier from 1995 to 2002 and favoured a "
Common Sense Revolution The phrase Common Sense Revolution (CSR) has been used as a political slogan to describe conservative platforms with a main goal of reducing taxes while balancing the budget by reducing the size and role of government. It has been used in places ...
" platform of cutting taxes and government spending while balancing the budget through
small government Libertarian conservatism, also referred to as conservative libertarianism and conservatarianism, is a political and social philosophy that combines conservatism and libertarianism, representing the libertarian wing of conservatism and vice ver ...
. The PCs lost power in 2003 though came back into power with a majority government in
2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...
under
Doug Ford Douglas Robert Ford Jr. (born November 20, 1964) is a Canadian politician and businessman who has served as the 26th and current premier of Ontario since June 2018 and leader of the Progressive Conservative (PC) Party since March 2018. He ...
.


History


Origins

The first Conservative Party in
Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of th ...
was made up of
United Empire Loyalists United Empire Loyalists (or simply Loyalists) is an honorific title which was first given by the 1st Lord Dorchester, the Governor of Quebec, and Governor General of The Canadas, to American Loyalists who resettled in British North America dur ...
and supporters of the wealthy
Family Compact The Family Compact was a small closed group of men who exercised most of the political, economic and judicial power in Upper Canada (today’s Ontario) from the 1810s to the 1840s. It was the Upper Canadian equivalent of the Château Clique in ...
that ruled the colony. Once responsible government was granted in response to the 1837 Rebellions, the Tories emerged as moderate reformers who opposed the radical policies of the
Reform Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement ...
ers and then the
Clear Grits Clear Grits were reformers in the Canada West district of the Province of United Canada, a British colony that is now the Province of Ontario, Canada. Their name is said to have been given by David Christie, who said that only those were wante ...
. The modern Conservative Party originated in the
Liberal-Conservative Liberal conservatism is a political ideology combining conservative policies with liberal stances, especially on economic issues but also on social and ethical matters, representing a brand of political conservatism strongly influenced by libe ...
coalition founded by Sir
John A. Macdonald Sir John Alexander Macdonald (January 10 or 11, 1815 – June 6, 1891) was the first prime minister of Canada, serving from 1867 to 1873 and from 1878 to 1891. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, he had a political career that sp ...
and
George-Étienne Cartier Sir George-Étienne Cartier, 1st Baronet, (pronounced ; September 6, 1814May 20, 1873) was a Canadian statesman and Father of Confederation. The English spelling of the name—George, instead of Georges, the usual French spelling—is explained ...
in 1854. It is a variant of this coalition that formed the first government in Ontario with John Sandfield Macdonald as premier. Until becoming the Progressive Conservatives in 1942, the party was officially known as the "Liberal-Conservative Association of Ontario", reflecting its liberal-conservative origins, but became widely known as the Conservative Party.


Confederation

John Sandfield Macdonald was actually a Liberal and sat concurrently as a Liberal Party of Canada member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons of Canada but he was an ally of John A. Macdonald (though not a relative). His government was initially a true coalition of Liberals and Conservatives under his leadership but soon the more radical Reformers bolted to the opposition and Sandfield Macdonald was left leading what was essentially a conservative coalition that included some Liberals under the Liberal-Conservative banner. After losing power in 1871, this conservative coalition began to dissolve. What was originally a party that included Catholics and Protestants became an almost exclusively English and Protestant party, more and more dependent on the Protestant Orange Order for support, and even for its leadership. The party became opposed to funding for separate (Catholic) schools, opposed to language rights for
French-Canadians French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fren ...
, and distrustful of immigrants. Paradoxically, an element of the party gained a reputation for being pro- labour as a result of links between the Orange Order and the labour movement.


Pre-war dynasty

After 33 years in
Opposition Opposition may refer to: Arts and media * ''Opposition'' (Altars EP), 2011 EP by Christian metalcore band Altars * The Opposition (band), a London post-punk band * '' The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'', a late-night television series on Com ...
, the Tories returned to power under James P. Whitney, who led a progressive administration in its development of the province. The Whitney government initiated massive
public works Public works are a broad category of infrastructure projects, financed and constructed by the government, for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings ( municipal buildings, sc ...
projects such as the creation of
Ontario Hydro Ontario Hydro, established in 1906 as the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario, was a publicly owned electricity utility in the Province of Ontario. It was formed to build transmission lines to supply municipal utilities with electricity g ...
. It also enacted reactionary legislation (such as
Regulation 17 Regulation 17 (french: Règlement 17) was a regulation of the Government of Ontario, Canada, designed to limit instruction in French-language Catholic separate schools. The regulation was written by the Ministry of Education and was issued in July ...
) against the French-Canadian population in Ontario. The Tories were in power for all but five years from 1905 to 1934. After the death of Whitney in 1914, however, they lacked vision and became complacent. The Tories lost power to the
United Farmers of Ontario The United Farmers of Ontario (UFO) was an agrarian and populist provincial political party in Ontario, Canada. It was the Ontario provincial branch of the United Farmers movement of the early part of the 20th century. History Foundation and r ...
in the 1919 election but were able to regain office in 1923 election due to the UFO's disintegration and divisions in the
Ontario Liberal Party The Ontario Liberal Party (OLP; french: Parti libéral de l'Ontario, PLO) is a political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. The party has been led by interim leader John Fraser since August 2022. The party espouses the principles of li ...
. They were defeated by Mitch Hepburn's Liberals in 1934 due to their inability to cope with the Great Depression.


Post-war dynasty

Late in the 1930s and early in the 1940s, the Conservatives re-organized and developed new policies. Rather than continue to oppose government spending and intervention, a policy which hurt the party politically in the time of the Great Depression, the Conservatives changed their policies to support government action where it would lead to economic growth. The party changed its name to the "Progressive Conservative" party after its federal counterpart changed its name to the
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (PC; french: Parti progressiste-conservateur du Canada) was a centre-right federal political party in Canada that existed from 1942 to 2003. From Canadian Confederation in 1867 until 1942, the ...
in December 1942 on the insistence of its new leader,
John Bracken John Bracken (June 22, 1883 – March 18, 1969) was a Canadian agronomist and politician who was the 11th and longest-serving premier of Manitoba (1922–1943) and later the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (1942–19 ...
, whose roots were in the populist
Progressive Party Progressive Party may refer to: Active parties * Progressive Party, Brazil * Progressive Party (Chile) * Progressive Party of Working People, Cyprus * Dominica Progressive Party * Progressive Party (Iceland) * Progressive Party (Sardinia), Ita ...
. The Progressive Conservatives took advantage of Liberal infighting to win a minority government in the 1943 provincial election, reducing the Liberals to third-party status. Drew called another election in
1945 1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which Nuclear weapon, nuclear weapons Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, have been used in combat. Events Below, ...
, only two years into his mandate, to get a majority government. The PCs played up Cold War tensions to win a landslide majority, though it emerged several years later that the PC government had set up a secret department of the
Ontario Provincial Police The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is the provincial police service of Ontario, Canada. Under its provincial mandate, the OPP patrols provincial highways and waterways, protects provincial government buildings and officials, patrols unincorp ...
to spy on the opposition and the media. The PCs would dominate Ontario politics for the next four decades. Under Drew and his successor,
Leslie Frost Leslie Miscampbell Frost (September 20, 1895 – May 4, 1973) was a politician in Ontario, Canada, who served as the province's 16th premier from May 4, 1949, to November 8, 1961. Due to his lengthy tenure, he gained the nickname "Old Man O ...
, the PCs were a strong champion of rural issues but also invested heavily in the development of civil works throughout the province, including the construction of the 400 series of highways, beginning with the 401 across Toronto. In 1961,
John Robarts John Parmenter Robarts (January 11, 1917 – October 18, 1982) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 17th premier of Ontario from 1961 to 1971. He was a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. Early life Robar ...
became the 17th premier of Ontario. He was one of the most popular premiers in years. Under Robarts's lead, the party epitomized power. He was an advocate of individual freedoms and promoted the rights of the provinces against what he saw as the centralizing initiatives of the federal government, while also promoting national unity against Quebec separatism. He hosted the 1967 "Confederation of Tomorrow" conference in Toronto in an unsuccessful attempt to achieve an agreement for a new Constitution of Canada. Robarts opposed Canadian medicare when it was proposed, but later endorsed it fully, and the party implemented the public health care system that continues to this day. He led the party towards a civil libertarian movement. As a strong believer in the promotion of both official languages, he opened the door to French education in Ontario schools.


Big Blue Machine era

In 1971,
Bill Davis William Grenville Davis, (July 30, 1929 – August 8, 2021) was a Canadian politician who served as the 18th premier of Ontario from 1971 to 1985. Davis was first elected as the member of provincial Parliament for Peel in the 1959 provincia ...
became party leader and the 18th premier. Anti-Catholicism became an issue again in the 1971 election, when the Tories campaigned strenuously against a Liberal proposal to extend funding for Catholic separate schools until
Grade 13 Thirteenth grade, grade thirteen, or super senior year is the final year of secondary school in some jurisdictions. In some locales, receiving a high school diploma or equivalent is compulsory. In others, receiving a high school diploma is not req ...
. Davis reversed himself in 1985, and enacted the funding extension as one of his last acts before leaving office. Davis governed until 1985 with a team of advisers known as the "Big Blue Machine" because of their reputed political and strategic skills. Their stamp on the party was so strong that many refer to the Tories' long rule over Ontario as the "Big Blue Machine era". During Davis's time as leader of the party, the party moved to the centre, and on some issues moved to the left of the Liberals. However, its base of support remained with socially conservative voters in rural Southern Ontario. Davis largely reconciled these differences and emerged one of the most popular politicians in Ontario's history. Other conservatives in the federal PC Party accused him of damaging the conservative image in Canada by moving to the left on some issues. Davis continued the rapid expansion of community colleges, universities, and highways across Ontario.


1980s to 1995: in Opposition

Davis retired in 1985. At a
leadership convention {{Politics of Canada 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. Overview In Canada, leaders of a party generally rem ...
, he was succeeded by Industry and Trade Minister
Frank Miller Frank Miller (born January 27, 1957) is an American comic book writer, penciller and inker, novelist, screenwriter, film director, and producer known for his comic book stories and graphic novels such as his run on ''Daredevil'' and subsequen ...
. Miller was considerably more conservative than Davis, and began shifting the party back to the right. Soon after taking office, he called an
election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...
in which the PCs were reduced to a minority government, and actually finished behind the Liberals in the popular vote for the first time in 42 years. Soon afterward, the
Ontario New Democratic Party The Ontario New Democratic Party (french: link=no, Nouveau Parti démocratique de l'Ontario; abbr. ONDP or NDP) is a social-democratic political party in Ontario, Canada. The party currently forms the Official Opposition in Ontario following th ...
(NDP) of Bob Rae reached an agreement with
David Peterson David Robert Peterson (born December 28, 1943) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the 20th premier of Ontario from 1985 to 1990. He was the first Liberal officeholder in 42 years, ending the so-called Tory dynasty. Backgr ...
's Liberals in which the NDP would support a Liberal minority government. Miller was defeated in a no-confidence motion on June 18. Peterson was asked to form a government later in the day, ending the longest period of one-party rule in Canadian provincial history. Miller was replaced as leader by Larry Grossman at a second
leadership convention {{Politics of Canada 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. Overview In Canada, leaders of a party generally rem ...
. When the Liberal-NDP Accord expired, an election was held in 1987 in which the Tories were reduced to third place in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. They only won 16 seats, their worst showing in over half a century. Grossman was personally defeated in his downtown Toronto riding and resigned immediately. Andy Brandt was the party's interim leader until a leadership election was held in 1990 in which
Mike Harris Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a Canadian retired politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party) from 1990 to 2002. During his time ...
defeated Dianne Cunningham. Three months after the election of Harris, and only three years into the, typically, four-year term of the Liberal government,
David Peterson David Robert Peterson (born December 28, 1943) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the 20th premier of Ontario from 1985 to 1990. He was the first Liberal officeholder in 42 years, ending the so-called Tory dynasty. Backgr ...
called a provincial election, in which the PCs failed to improve their standing, but which resulted in the defeat of the Liberals by Rae's NDP.


Mike Harris and the "Common Sense Revolution"

In the 1995 election, Harris catapulted his party from third place to an election victory, running on a
small government Libertarian conservatism, also referred to as conservative libertarianism and conservatarianism, is a political and social philosophy that combines conservatism and libertarianism, representing the libertarian wing of conservatism and vice ver ...
platform called the "
Common Sense Revolution The phrase Common Sense Revolution (CSR) has been used as a political slogan to describe conservative platforms with a main goal of reducing taxes while balancing the budget by reducing the size and role of government. It has been used in places ...
". The platform promised
tax cut A tax cut represents a decrease in the amount of money taken from taxpayers to go towards government revenue. Tax cuts decrease the revenue of the government and increase the disposable income of taxpayers. Tax cuts usually refer to reductions i ...
s (including 30% cuts to provincial personal income tax), and adopted wedge issues including deficit reduction,
welfare Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...
cuts, the introduction of
workfare Workfare is a governmental plan under which welfare recipients are required to accept public-service jobs or to participate in job training. Many countries around the world have adopted workfare (sometimes implemented as "work-first" policies) to ...
, and the repeal of an employment equity law Harris characterized as "the quota law." Public opinion on the Harris government was polarized. The government was criticized on issues such as health care, the environment, education, and social policies. Strikes and protests including a 1997 teacher's strike beleaguered its first term. But it won a second majority in the 1999 general election, and held generally stable support until Harris's departure as party leader in 2002. A slide in PC support began in early 2000 according to
Ipsos-Reid Ipsos Reid was the name of a Canada-based research company, still existing under the name Ipsos as the Canadian arm of the global Ipsos Group. Founded in Winnipeg in 1979 as the Angus Reid Group, the company expanded across the country and was pur ...
, when the Tories fell behind the Liberals in the public opinion polls for the first time since the 1999 election, with 36% support of those polled, compared to 42% for the Liberals and 17% for the NDP. Later in 2000, Liberal support rose to about half of those polled, while PC support remained in the low 30s. This pattern held through to the 2002 leadership campaign, when PC support rose to 37%, while the Liberals retained the support of about half of those polled.


Ernie Eves: distancing the party from Harris and 2003 defeat

With the resignation of Mike Harris in 2002, the PCs held a
leadership election A leadership election is a political contest held in various countries by which the members of a political party determine who will be the leader of their party. Generally, any political party can determine its own rules governing how and when a l ...
.
Ernie Eves Ernest Larry Eves (born June 17, 1946) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the 23rd premier of Ontario from 2002 to 2003. A Progressive Conservative, he took over the premiership upon Mike Harris's resignation as party leade ...
, who had been Harris's minister of finance, and who had the backing of almost all PC members of provincial parliament (MPPs), won the campaign, defeating his successor as minister of finance,
Jim Flaherty James Michael Flaherty (December 30, 1949 – April 10, 2014) was a Canadian politician who served as the federal minister of finance from 2006 to 2014 under Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper. First elected to the Legislative Assembly ...
. Eves was a
Red Tory A Red Tory is an adherent of a centre to centre-right or paternalistic-conservative political philosophy derived from the Tory tradition, most predominantly in Canada but also in the United Kingdom and Australia. This philosophy tends to fa ...
, unlike Harris. He'd tried to blunt some of the edges of the more radical elements of Harris's platform while in Cabinet. His distancing from the Common Sense Revolution continued after he became premier. He killed plans to sell off Hydro One and re-imposed retail price controls on electricity, capping the price at 4.3 cents per kilowatt-hour, and vowing to keep it capped until at least 2006. During the summer after Eves's election as leader, the PCs closed the gap in popular support considerably, placing only two percentage points behind the Liberals in two summer public opinion polls. By the autumn of 2002, however, Eves's "honeymoon" with the voters was over, and the party fell back in the polls, hovering in the mid-to-high 30s, while the Liberals scored in the mid-to-high 40s. Despite his attempt to recast the Tory government as a moderate one, Eves was unable to reverse the slide in the polls the Tories had suffered in the last years of Harris's tenure. Eves asked Flaherty's campaign chairman, Jaime Watt, to co-manage the PC election campaign, along with the rest of the "Whiz Kids" team that had previously worked for Harris. Only Tom Long, the central organizer in Harris's campaigns, refused to work for Eves. The "Whiz Kids" reputation for competence was marred by publicity stunts such as handing down his government's second budget at the headquarters of
Magna International Magna International Inc. is a Canadian parts manufacturer for automakers. It is one of the largest companies in Canada and was recognized on the 2020 ''Forbes'' Global 2000. The company is the largest automobile parts manufacturer in North Americ ...
instead of in the provincial legislature. Voter backlash against this break with parliamentary tradition forced the delay of a planned spring election in 2003. In May 2003, Eves released the party's platform, "The Road Ahead". The document promoted an aggressive hard-right agenda, and was closer in spirit to Harris and Flaherty's agenda than to Eves's own. In releasing this document, Eves reversed his earlier positions on banning teacher's strikes, jailing the homeless, private school tax credits and
same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...
. The platform also called for mortgage interest deductibility. The PC election campaign was riddled with mistakes and miscues, and Eves appeared uncomfortable trying to sell a platform he had opposed only a year earlier. In contrast, the Liberals had spent the last four years positioning themselves as the government in waiting, and ran on the simple platform of "Choose Change". PC television ads which attacked Liberal leader
Dalton McGuinty Dalton James Patrick McGuinty Jr. (born July 19, 1955) is a former Canadian politician who served as the 24th premier of Ontario from 2003 to 2013. He was the first Liberal leader to win two majority governments since Mitchell Hepburn nea ...
as "still not up to the job" were received poorly by the voting public, and allowed the Liberal campaign to portray the Tories as needlessly confrontational. A critical point in the campaign was when a member of the Eves team jokingly referred to McGuinty as an " evil reptilian kitten-eater from another planet", a comment that made the Tories appear desperate to vilify their opponents. In the final days leading up to the vote, Eves was further criticized for saying that McGuinty just says "whatever comes into his pointy little head". On election day, the Tories were routed, falling to 24 seats.


Opposition under John Tory (2004 to 2009)

In early 2004, Eves announced his intention to step down as leader. A leadership convention to replace him was called for the fall.
Jim Flaherty James Michael Flaherty (December 30, 1949 – April 10, 2014) was a Canadian politician who served as the federal minister of finance from 2006 to 2014 under Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper. First elected to the Legislative Assembly ...
was the first to enter the race, campaigning on the same right wing platform as in 2002. He was soon opposed by
John Tory John Howard Tory (born May 28, 1954) is a Canadian politician who has served as the 65th and current mayor of Toronto since 2014. After a career as a lawyer, political strategist and businessman, Tory ran as a mayoral candidate in the 200 ...
, a former executive with Rogers Cable and a Toronto mayoral candidate in 2003 (a position he would ultimately win in 2014), sometimes viewed as a
Red Tory A Red Tory is an adherent of a centre to centre-right or paternalistic-conservative political philosophy derived from the Tory tradition, most predominantly in Canada but also in the United Kingdom and Australia. This philosophy tends to fa ...
due to his association to former premier Bill Davis. MPP Frank Klees, the third candidate in the race, was a supporter of the Common Sense Revolution and campaigned for a parallel private health care system. The 2004 leadership election was held on September 18, 2004, electing John Tory as the party's new leader. Tory, who had first worked as an aide to Premier Bill Davis, was elected to the Ontario legislature in a by-election in March, 2005, in the seat that Eves held. In polling prior to the 2007 general election, the PCs' support rose after the first Liberal budget in 2004. The party was virtually tied with the Liberals, as Tory has experimented with several different orientations. During his first year as leader, Tory attempted to rise above partisan politics, openly contemptuous of partisan moves and pledging to improve decorum in the legislature. In his second year as leader, Tory adopted a more traditional approach to the issues, sharply opposing the Liberal plans on taxes, spending, deficits and cuts. Heading into the election year, Tory put most of his emphasis on criticizing the government's handling of a standoff with
Mohawk Mohawk may refer to: Related to Native Americans * Mohawk people, an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York) *Mohawk language, the language spoken by the Mohawk people * Mohawk hairstyle, from a hairstyle once thought to have been ...
aboriginals in Caledonia in order to portray the government as weak. He also emphasized traditional right-wing issues like taxes, crime and government spending. During the 2006 PC Policy Convention, Tory introduced his plan for shaping up the PCs' platform for the 2007 election campaign. His ideas were stated in what have been called "The White Papers". The party experienced a drop in popularity, however, after Tory pledged to provide government funding for faith-based schools. The proposal, which proved to be unpopular with voters, contributed largely to the party's loss. The Liberals won a second majority government, and the PCs made negligible gains in the legislature (one more seat, but a 3 per cent drop in the popular vote). Tory, who had left his Dufferin–Peel–Wellington–Grey seat to run in
Don Valley West Don Valley West (french: Don Valley-Ouest) is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1979. Its population in 2001 was 115,539. 13.6% of the population is Muslim, the ...
, would lose to Liberal incumbent
Kathleen Wynne Kathleen O'Day Wynne ( ; born May 21, 1953) is a Canadian former politician who served as the 25th premier of Ontario and leader of the Ontario Liberal Party from 2013 to 2018. She was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 2003 and sat as the ...
.


2008 party convention and the leadership review question

As a result of the
election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...
loss, the party decided to hold a
leadership review In Canadian politics, a leadership review is a vote held at a political party convention in which delegates decide whether to endorse the incumbent party leader or schedule a leadership convention to elect a new leader. In most parties at present, ...
vote at its 2008 General Party Meeting in London."Will provincial leaders stay, or go?"
Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and pa ...
/TheStar.com (October 15, 2007)
The Ontario PC Party's constitution requires that the party hold a leadership review vote at the first party convention after an election defeat. From the election day until the 2008 General Meeting, party members were divided into two "camps": those who supported John Tory's position as party leader and those who opposed his leadership. Several campaigns to oust John Tory as leader of the party, most notably by a party activist group led by former party president Rueben Devlin called ''Grassroots PC''."Decision won't sit well with Tory's detractors"
— London Free Press (February 24, 2008)
John Tory had the public support of the PC legislative caucus, and most notably, support from former premiers and predecessors
Ernie Eves Ernest Larry Eves (born June 17, 1946) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the 23rd premier of Ontario from 2002 to 2003. A Progressive Conservative, he took over the premiership upon Mike Harris's resignation as party leade ...
and
Bill Davis William Grenville Davis, (July 30, 1929 – August 8, 2021) was a Canadian politician who served as the 18th premier of Ontario from 1971 to 1985. Davis was first elected as the member of provincial Parliament for Peel in the 1959 provincia ...
. The lead-up to the review vote was marked by high emotions on both sides of the debate and allegations of rule breaking. Such allegations were risen when caucus members sent letters on party letterhead seeking support for Tory. The letters signed by Tory MPPs Bob Runciman and Toby Barrett were a clear violation of the rules of the party, as the party in general is supposed to be neutral on the leadership review question. Tory responded by stating that he and his supporters will reimburse the party for the letters that the caucus members had sent in support of Tory's position as leaders. As a result, the party's president, Blair McCreadie, had stated that the matter is closed. A supporter of Tory's, PC Youth President Andrew Brander, launched a series of last-minute challenges of delegates on the grounds that they are representing ridings where they neither live nor work. Tory received 66.9% support, lower than internal tracking which showed him more comfortably in the 70 per cent range - appeared to come as a shock to Tory. The percentage of support received by Tory was nearly identical to Joe Clark's 1983 support when he was federal PC leader, which resulted in Clark resigning as leader, and is often seen as the benchmark for Canadian party leaders to get to stay on as leader."'Time to move on' after divisive leadership vote: Conservative Leader John Tory"
— Canadian Press (February 24, 2008)
Three hours after the leadership review vote, John Tory announced to the delegates at the Ontario PC's general meeting that he would stay on as leader of the Party."Conservative Leader John Tory to remain after 67 per cent in leadership vote"
— Canadian Press (February 23, 2008)
Tory came under heavy criticism from several party members following this delay, with his opponents signalling that they would continue to call for an end to what they called his 'weak' leadership.
— National Post (February 24, 2008)
Other party members, such as former Mike Harris's chief of staff Guy Giorno and interim leader of the opposition Bob Runciman, supported John Tory, saying that his opponents should accept the results and move on.


Opposition under Tim Hudak (2009 to 2014)

John Tory announced his pending resignation as leader on March 6, 2009; the day following his defeat in a by-election for
Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock (formerly Haliburton—Victoria—Brock and Victoria—Haliburton) is a federal electoral district in central Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1968. Geography ...
. On June 27, 2009, party members elected Tim Hudak as the party's new leader. Christine Elliott, Frank Klees, and Randy Hillier were the unsuccessful candidates. Hudak led the PCs through two elections. In the 2011 provincial election, the McGuinty Liberal government was reduced to a minority. Hudak's Tories were widely expected to win the 2014 provincial election but the Liberals, now led by
Kathleen Wynne Kathleen O'Day Wynne ( ; born May 21, 1953) is a Canadian former politician who served as the 25th premier of Ontario and leader of the Ontario Liberal Party from 2013 to 2018. She was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 2003 and sat as the ...
, were returned with a majority government largely due to Hudak's campaign pledge to cut 100,000 public service jobs by attrition rather than by layoffs. Hudak resigned in the aftermath. On July 2, 2014, Jim Wilson was chosen by the Progressive Conservative caucus to be its interim leader until the 2015 leadership election.


Opposition under Patrick Brown (2015 to 2018)

On May 9, 2015, the membership elected Patrick Brown, a federal
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
MP from Barrie, as the leader of the party. Christine Elliott was the unsuccessful candidate with
Vic Fedeli Victor Anthony Fedeli (born August 8, 1956) is a Canadian politician who has been the Ontario minister of economic development, job creation and trade since 2019 and chair of Cabinet since 2018. He is the Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) ...
,
Lisa MacLeod Lisa Anne MacLeod (born 1974) is a Canadian politician who has represented Nepean (provincial electoral district), Nepean in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Elected in 2018, MacLeod is a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Onta ...
, and
Monte McNaughton Monte Gary McNaughton (born March 11, 1977) is a Canadian politician who has served as the minister of labour, immigration, training and skills development in Ontario since June 20, 2019. A Progressive Conservative (PC), McNaughton has sat as a ...
withdrawing prior to the vote. Since he did not hold a seat in the Legislature, the party requested that MPP
Garfield Dunlop Garfield Dunlop is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1999 to 2015 who represented the riding of Simcoe North. He resigned from the legislature in 2015 i ...
resign his seat in
Simcoe North Simcoe North (french: Simcoe-Nord) is a federal electoral district in central Ontario, Canada. It was established as a federal riding in 1867. Demographics :''According to the Canada 2011 Census''; 2013 representation'' Ethnic groups: 87.8% ...
so that Brown could run. Brown was elected as MPP for Simcoe North in a
by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...
held September 3, 2015. At the party's 2016 Annual General Meeting (the first since the leadership election) Brown announced that the PCs would take on a more inclusive and compassionate tone, shifting to the political centre by reach out to groups that do not typically support the party including
trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...
s, and pursue "sensible"
carbon pricing Carbon pricing (or pricing), also known as cap and trade (CAT) or emissions trading scheme (ETS), is a method for nations to reduce global warming. The cost is applied to greenhouse gas emissions in order to encourage polluters to reduce the co ...
. He also unveiled a new logo to represent the commitment to "inclusion, renewal, openness and change". Brown stated his intention to change the party by moving away from past campaigns where one particular issue often cost them support, such as Tim Hudak's proposed public sector job cuts in the 2014 election or
John Tory John Howard Tory (born May 28, 1954) is a Canadian politician who has served as the 65th and current mayor of Toronto since 2014. After a career as a lawyer, political strategist and businessman, Tory ran as a mayoral candidate in the 200 ...
's proposal to extend public funding to all faith-based schools in 2007. At the PC's weekend policy convention on November 25, 2017, their "People's Guarantee" platform was released. Brown's platform was described as centrist on many issues, and included proposals such as opting-in to the federal carbon tax "backstop" (while criticizing the Liberal's cap-and-trade system) and providing child care subsidies. Brown's platform also included more traditional PC platform items relating to cutting taxes and user fees, such as a 12 percent reduction in hydro bills, cutting "middle-class taxes by 22 per cent", and a commitment to balancing the provincial budget. Brown also attempted to distance himself from socially conservative policies, declaring himself pro-choice, and refusing to discuss abortion and gay marriage issues at the policy convention, stating that he believed the "vast majority" of the party was on board with socially progressive policies. Led by the Campaign Life Coalition, a socially conservative anti-abortion organization that had supported Brown's leadership bid and disapproved of his move to the centre a breakaway party called "Ontario Alliance" was formed to represent disaffected social conservatives. Similarly, the Trillium Party of Ontario aimed to represent conservative libertarians who have been left out. In particular, Brown expelled Carleton—Mississippi Mills MPP and former Ontario Land Association president Jack MacLaren out of the party after he made negative disparaging comments about Francophone language rights. MacLaren subsequently crossed the floor to become the Trillium Party's first member in the Ontario Legislature. As well, some conservatives in Northern Ontario who have felt unrepresented by the Tories and alienated by the party leadership have joined the Northern Ontario Party. On January 24, 2018, Brown was accused by two women of engaging in sexual misconduct. Brown denied the allegations and initially refused to step down. After pressure from within the party caucus, including calls for his resignation by deputy PC leaders Sylvia Jones and Steve Clark, he resigned as leader in the early hours of January 25, with some aspects of the allegations later proving to be false or unconfirmed.


Transition under Vic Fedeli (January to March 2018)

With Brown's resignation occurring less than five months before the next provincial election, the party executive met on January 25, 2018 to determine whether to have the next Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leadership election before the provincial election, and if so how it will proceed, or whether to have the interim leader lead the party into the election.
Vic Fedeli Victor Anthony Fedeli (born August 8, 1956) is a Canadian politician who has been the Ontario minister of economic development, job creation and trade since 2019 and chair of Cabinet since 2018. He is the Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) ...
, Nipissing MPP and former mayor of North Bay, was chosen as interim leader by caucus on January 26, 2018. The Party held a leadership convention on March 10, 2018. Fedeli's first major task as interim leader was to investigate the allegations of questionable spending on lawsuits and unsubstantiated favours to allies during Brown's tenure. Party president Rick Dykstra resigned on January 28, 2018. He indicated that it was time for "someone else to lead us through the hard work". Shortly afterwards, ''
Maclean's ''Maclean's'', founded in 1905, is a Canadian news magazine reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events. Its founder, publisher John Bayne Maclean, established the magazine to provide a uniquely Canadian persp ...
'' magazine revealed allegations of sexual assault against Dykstra, stemming from a 2014 incident when Dykstra was a federal MP. Several other key party and campaign staffers were dismissed or their positions eliminated due to a "reorganization" in the days after Brown's resignation.


Doug Ford leadership (March 2018 to present)

On March 10, 2018,
Doug Ford Douglas Robert Ford Jr. (born November 20, 1964) is a Canadian politician and businessman who has served as the 26th and current premier of Ontario since June 2018 and leader of the Progressive Conservative (PC) Party since March 2018. He ...
, former Toronto city councillor, the brother of the late former mayor of Toronto
Rob Ford Robert Bruce Ford (May 28, 1969 – March 22, 2016) was a Canadian politician and businessman who served as the 64th mayor of Toronto from 2010 to 2014. Before and after his term as mayor, Ford was a city councillor representing Ward 2 Etobi ...
and son of the late former MPP Doug Ford Sr., was elected as leader of the PC Party, narrowly defeating runner-up Christine Elliott on the third ballot with 50.6% of allocated points, although Elliot had more votes. Due to not having a seat in the legislature, Ford chose to have
Vic Fedeli Victor Anthony Fedeli (born August 8, 1956) is a Canadian politician who has been the Ontario minister of economic development, job creation and trade since 2019 and chair of Cabinet since 2018. He is the Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) ...
remain as leader of the opposition prior to the 2018 election. On June 7, 2018, Ford led the PCs to a majority government. The Tories won 76 of 124 seats and 40.5% of the vote. In the
2022 Ontario general election The 2022 Ontario general election will be held on or before June 2, 2022, to elect Members of Provincial Parliament to serve in the 43rd Parliament of Ontario. As of December 2016, Ontario elections are held on the first Thursday in June in th ...
, Ford led the PCs to another victory winning with an increased majority.


Ideology and principles


Ideology

The Ontario PC Party is a
centre-right Centre-right politics lean to the right of the political spectrum, but are closer to the centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure and the economy, moving away from the nobility and ...
conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
political party. Its beliefs and policies have been described as
fiscally conservative Fiscal conservatism is a political and economic philosophy regarding fiscal policy and fiscal responsibility with an ideological basis in capitalism, individualism, limited government, and ''laissez-faire'' economics.M. O. Dickerson et al., '' ...
,
capitalist Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...
, and
populist Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term develop ...
. The Ontario PC Party favours economic policies that centre around lower taxes, lower government spending, balanced budgets and deregulation. Its economic policies are more
laissez-faire ''Laissez-faire'' ( ; from french: laissez faire , ) is an economic system in which transactions between private groups of people are free from any form of economic interventionism (such as subsidies) deriving from special interest groups ...
than that of its main political opponents; it is generally in favour of, and seen as the party for, fiscal conservatism and
economic liberalism Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberali ...
. The party supports reducing taxes for individuals and businesses. It is strongly opposed to
carbon tax A carbon tax is a tax levied on the carbon emissions required to produce goods and services. Carbon taxes are intended to make visible the "hidden" social costs of carbon emissions, which are otherwise felt only in indirect ways like more sev ...
es and cap-and-trade systems. The Ontario PC Party's policies on social issues do not follow a particular ideology because social issues are usually dealt with at the federal level. The party has been described as both
socially conservative Social conservatism is a political philosophy and variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional power structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social institution ...
and
socially liberal Cultural liberalism is a social philosophy which expresses the social dimension of liberalism and advocates the freedom of individuals to choose whether to conform to cultural norms. In the words of Henry David Thoreau, it is often expressed a ...
. On drug policy, the PCs support the expansion of alcohol and cannabis sales to private retailers, but are skeptical of the benefits of supervised injection sites. In recent history, the party has supported access to abortion, and rejects the creation of provincial abortion regulation legislation in Ontario. The PC Party supports sex education, and believes that parents should be allowed to withdraw their children from sex education classes. The Ontario PC Party supports Canada's federal immigration system and
multiculturalism The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for " ethnic pluralism", with the two terms often used interchang ...
policy. Since Doug Ford became leader of the Ontario PC Party, the party has been described as
populist Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term develop ...
. Doug Ford has claimed that his party 'speaks for the majority of Ontarians', rather than for 'elites'. Ford stated that elites are 'people who believe that they are superior to others'. He described several politicians, political staffers, public sector executives, and journalists as being elitist. Ontario PC Party policies referred to as populist include the Ford government's decision to remove the board of
Hydro One Hydro One Limited is an electricity transmission and distribution utility serving the Canadian province of Ontario. Hydro One traces its history to the early 20th century and the establishment of the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario ( ...
and reduce the size of
Toronto City Council Toronto City Council is the governing body of the municipal government of Toronto, Ontario. Meeting at Toronto City Hall, it comprises 25 city councillors and the mayor of Toronto. The current term began on November 15, 2022. Structure The c ...
.


Party leaders

The party was known as the Liberal-Conservative Association of Ontario from 1867 to 1942, and then as the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario from 1942 to present.


Party presidents


Election results


See also

* Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet of the 40th Legislative Assembly of Ontario *
List of Ontario general elections This article provides a summary of results for the general elections to the Canadian province of Ontario's unicameral legislative body, the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. The number of seats has varied over time, from 82 for the first election in ...
* List of premiers of Ontario *
List of leaders of the opposition in Ontario The Leader of the Official Opposition (french: Chef de l'opposition officielle) in Ontario, officially Leader of His Majesty's Loyal Opposition (french: Chef de la loyale opposition de Sa Majesté), is the leader of the largest party in the Legis ...
*
List of political parties in Canada This article lists political parties in Canada. Federal parties In contrast with the political party systems of many nations, Canadian parties at the federal level are often only loosely connected with parties at the provincial level, despite ha ...
*
List of political parties in Ontario The following is a list of political parties in Ontario, Canada. Parties represented in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario Other parties registered with Elections Ontario Parties listed in the order they are alphabetized by Elections Ontario. ...
*
Ontario PC Youth Association The Ontario Young Progressive Conservative Association or Ontario Young PCs (OYPC) is the youth wing of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. The organization consists of Ontario Progressive Conservative Party activists between the ages o ...
*
Ontario PC Campus Association The Ontario PC Campus Association (OPCCA) was the student association of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, Canada. The organization consists of Ontario Progressive Conservative Party members attending universities and colleges in the ...


Notes


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Progressive Conservative Party Of Ontario Anti-Catholic organizations 1854 establishments in Ontario Conservative parties in Canada Organizations based in Toronto Political parties established in 1854 Populist parties Provincial political parties in Ontario Right-wing populism in Canada