Conservative Party of Canada
The Conservative Party of Canada, or Parti conservateur du Canada, and colloquially known as the Tories, is a Canadian federal political party, formed after the 2003 amalgamation of the national Progressive Conservative Party of Canada and the Canadian Alliance. The party united right-of-center and right-wing Canadians under one common banner and won a minority government in 2006, ending a 13-year reign by the Liberal Party of Canada. Its party leader until 2015, and Prime Minister of Canada until then, was the Right Honourable Stephen Harper. The party held a majority government with 166 out of 308 seats. There are also provincial versions of the Conservative party, of varying dominance, in almost every province, with the exception of Quebec. The party is currently led by Member of Parliament Andrew Scheer of Saskatchewan.
Its success proved to be short-lived. This party largely abandoned socially conservative issues and pursued the dead-end of fiscal reform alone. In 2015 this game-plan resulted in a landslide defeat.
History
After the 1993 defeat of the Canada's only female Prime Minister, Kim Campbell, the Progressive Conservatives, a center-right party, were reduced to just two seats in the House of Commons. Another right-wing party, the Reform Party, gained 52 seats in that election. In 2000, the Reform Party changed its name to the Canadian Alliance. After a decade of split votes between the Progressive Conservatives and the Canadian Alliance, the parties merged.
Policies
The party is generally supportive of privatization, a smaller federal government, larger provincial governments, closer relations with the United States, Senate reform, implementation of a two-tier health care system, and a stronger military. The party opposes legalization of cannabis, and held a free-vote on reopening the issue of same-sex "marriage" (which was ultimately defeated). They have also motioned for fixed election dates, raising both supporters and detractors among all Canadian political parties, removal of the per-vote subsidy, and for government accountability.
In 2016, the party voted at its National Policy Convention to remove opposition to same-sex "marriage" from its platform.
Controversies
The Conservative Party has gone through many controversies in its history. Often derided by center, and leftist Canadians as too far on the right, for its stances on criminal law and taxation, the Conservative Party is seen as a puppet of the American government. To observers from the United States, the Conservative Party is often seen as a misnomer, a wildly liberal political entity masquerading as a conservative organization, citing the party's stance on same-sex "marriage" and abortion. Recently, however, the controversies are around the F-35 scandal, criticized as too expensive, vastly overdue, and inferior to Canadian made aircraft. Another scandal that rocked the party was the Robocall Scandal, where it is alleged that certain MPs were deceitfully misleading voters on voting locations.
