The Reconstruction Party was a Canadian political party founded in 1935 by

Henry Herbert Stevens Henry Herbert Stevens, (8 December 1878 – 14 June 1973) was a Canadian politician and businessman. A member of R. B. Bennett's cabinet, he split with the Conservative Prime Minister to found the Reconstruction Party of Canada. Early l ...

, a long-time

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

Member of Parliament (MP). Stevens served as Minister of Trade in the

Arthur Meighen Arthur Meighen ( ; June 16, 1874 – August 5, 1960) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Canada from 1920 to 1921 and from June to September 1926. He led the Conservative Party from 1920 to 1926 and ...

government of 1921, and as Minister of Trade and Commerce from 1930 to 1934 in the

Depression-era The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

government of R. B. Bennett. He was Chairman of the Price-Spreads Commission in 1934. Stevens argued for drastic economic reform and government intervention in the economy. He quit the Bennett government and formed the Reconstruction Party when it became evident that the

Tories A Tory () is an individual who supports a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalist conservatism which upholds the established social order as it has evolved through the history of Great Britain. The T ...

would not implement the proposals of the Price-Spreads Commission. The party was also

isolationist Isolationism is a term used to refer to a political philosophy advocating a foreign policy that opposes involvement in the political affairs, and especially the wars, of other countries. Thus, isolationism fundamentally advocates neutrality an ...

: it opposed Canadian involvement in a European war and opposed the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

sanctions against

Fascist Italy Fascist Italy () is a term which is used in historiography to describe the Kingdom of Italy between 1922 and 1943, when Benito Mussolini and the National Fascist Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictatorship. Th ...

for its invasion of Ethiopia. The Reconstruction Party nominated 174 candidates in the 1935 federal election. It won more votes nationally than the other new parties. The Liberal vote was 2,076,394, the

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...

1,308,688, and that for the Reconstruction Party 389,708; while the

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; , FCC) was a federal democratic socialism, democratic socialistThe following sources describe the CCF as a democratic socialist political party: * * * * * * and social democracy, social-democ ...

and the

Social Credit Social credit is a distributive philosophy of political economy developed in the 1920s and 1930s by C. H. Douglas. Douglas attributed economic downturns to discrepancies between the cost of goods and the compensation of the workers who made t ...

parties garnered 386,484 and 187,045 votes respectively. Many of the votes that the party won were taken away from the Conservative Party. In 48 ridings, the margin of victory for the Liberal candidate over the Conservative candidate was less than the number of votes received by the Reconstruction Party candidate. Despite receiving 8.7% of the vote, the party won only one seat in the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...

- H. H. Stevens in the

Kootenay East Kootenay East (also known as Kootenay East—Revelstoke) was a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1917 to 1968 and from 1979 to 1997. This riding was created as ...

riding. The Reconstruction Party came to an end when Stevens rejoined the Conservatives in 1938. The party had a short-lived provincial wing in

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

that ran one candidate in the 1935 Alberta provincial election and picked up 192 votes.

Party program

Fifteen points summarized the "New National Policy of Reconstruction and Reform": * a pledge to youth, * a system of public works, including the completion of the

Trans-Canada Highway The Trans-Canada Highway (Canadian French, French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the A ...

, * a national housing program; and * in order to balance the budget, a Reconstruction government would administer federal taxes "through a single set of auditors" and would invite the provinces to cooperate in the system that would divide the returns on "an equitable and agreeable basis."

References

{{Canadian federal political parties Federal political parties in Canada Political parties established in 1934 National conservative parties

Party program

See also

References