How many political parties have represented your province?

[SignalHillHiker]

I was surprised and fascinated to learn about some of the unique parties that have represented Alberta in the past and I know there are probably many more in other provinces of which I've never heard.

So which political parties have represented your province? How often?

For Newfoundland and Labrador, our Prime Ministers/Premiers came from the following parties:

Liberal Party (14)
Years: 1855, 1858, 1889, 1894, 1895, 1900, 1907, 1918, 1928, 1949, 1989, 1996, 2000, 2001

Progressive Conservative Party (6)
Years: 1972, 1979, 1989, 2003, 2010, 2014

Conservative Party (4)
Years: 1861, 1865, 1874, 1878

People's Party (3)
Years: 1909, 1917, 1919

Liberal-Conservative Party (2)
Years: 1924, 1928

Liberal Reform Party (2)
Years: 1919, 1923

Tory Party (2)
Years: 1894, 1897

Anti-Confederation Party (1)
Year: 1870

Reform Party (1)
Year: 1885

United Newfoundland Party (1)
Year: 1932

No Party Affiliation (1):
Year: 1924

* Excludes the period 1933-1949, during which time our independence was dissolved and we were again part of the United Kingdom. Our Prime Ministers during that era were from:

Conservative (3)
National Labour (1)
Labour (1)

Locally, Newfoundland was governed by a body known as the Commission of Government. Appointed by the British Parliament, it was comprised of three British officials, three Newfoundlander officials, and officiated by a British Governor of Newfoundland with no official party affiliation.

[Xelebes]

1898-1905: Liberal-Conservative Party
1905-1922: Liberal Party
1922-1936: United Farmers of Alberta
1936-1971: Social Credit Party
1971-today: Progressive Conservative Party

[1overcosc]

Originally Posted by Xelebes

1898-1905: Liberal-Conservative Party
1905-1922: Liberal Party
1922-1936: United Farmers of Alberta
1936-1971: Social Credit Party
1971-today: Progressive Conservative Party

The 'dynasty effect' that Alberta has is incredible.

Ontario had that effect prior to 1985 for the most part:
-1867-1871: Conservative
-1871-1905: Liberal
-1905-1919: Conservative
-1919-1923: United Farmers
-1923-1934: Conservative
-1934-1943: Liberal
-1943-1985: Conservative (this was the longest run of any party in Canadian history until the Alberta PCs overtook that record last year).
-1985-1990: Liberal
-1990-1995: NDP
-1995-2003: Conservative
-2003-present: Liberals

That 42 year Conservative government was interesting because from the 1960s onward it was a left-wing government. Premiers John Robarts (1961-1971) and Bill Davis (1971-1984) were very progressive and under them Ontario built its welfare state & health care system. Bill Davis was quite progressive on urban planning too--he started the shift away from autos and towards transit. He stopped all urban freeway projects, cancelling the notorious Spadina Expressway in Toronto with the now-famous quote: "If we're building our cities for cars, the Spadina Expressway is a good place to start. But if we're building them for people, the Spadina Expressway is a good place to stop." This government actually lost power when Davis retired and Frank Miller, an actual conservative, was elected.

[Innsertnamehere]

I seriously wonder if Ontario is now in a new liberal dynasty, the liberals have taken about as hard a hit as you can get with the gas plants and are still polling positively enough to win another government.. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if we go 15-20 years with them in power. we are already at 11..

[SignalHillHiker]

Does anyone have any information about WTF the Liberal-Conservative Party was all about? Just the name interests me. Was it the era's way to say Progressive?

[MTLskyline]

4 parties. Essentially there is the Liberal Party, and everyone else.

Liberal ~ 75 years (first took office 1878)
Union Nationale ~ 23 years (first took office 1936, last held 1970)
Conservative ~ 23 years (first took office 1867, last held office 1897 - merged to form the Union Nationale in 1935)
Parti Québécois ~ 20 years (first took office 1976, last held office 2014)

Quebec goes back and forth between parties for the most part.

Conservative 1867-1878
Liberal 1878-1879
Conservative 1879-1887
Liberal 1887-1891
Conservative 1891-1897
Liberal 1897-1936
Union Nationale 1936-1939
Liberal 1939-1944
Union Nationale 1944-1960
Liberal 1960-1966
Union Nationale 1966-1970
Liberal 1970-1976
Parti Québécois 1976-1985
Liberal 1985-1994
Parti Québécois 1994-2003
Liberal 2003-2012
Parti Québécois 2012-2014
Liberal 2014-

[JHikka]

The dynasty effect takes place in New Brunswick:

New Brunswick

1935-1952 Liberal [Dysart, McNair]
1952-1960 Progressive Conservative [Flemming]
1960-1970 Liberal [Robichaud]
1970-1987 Progressive Conservative [Hatfield]
1987-1999 Liberal [McKenna, Frenette, Thériault]
1999-2006 Progressive Conservative [Lord]
2006-2010 Liberal [Graham]
2010-Present Progressive Conservative [Alward]

Liberal: 43 Years, 11 Wins
PC: 36 Years, 9 Wins

Each dynasty has a single premier except for the first Liberal (McNair served for 12 of the 17 years) whilst McKenna served for 10 of the 12 years with neither Frenette or Thériault winning an election as leader.

The NDP has only ever won three ridings in their history with at most a single member in the Legislature at any time. Their last member of the legislature was Elizabeth Weir winning Saint John Harbour in 2003. The Confederation of Regions won 8 seats in 1991 on the back of a PC collapse in 1987 in which the Liberals won all 58 seats with 60% of the popular vote.

[1overcosc]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Does anyone have any information about WTF the Liberal-Conservative Party was all about? Just the name interests me. Was it the era's way to say Progressive?

I believe it was because of the MacDonald-Cartier alliance. Sir John A was from Ontario's Conservative Party, George Cartier was from Quebec's Liberal Party and together they formed the coalition that created the country. So the party was initially known as "Liberal-Conservative" in honour of that coalition for some time before it just dropped the Liberal part.

[SignalHillHiker]

So weird that we ended up with a party of the same name in the 1920s.

[vid]

Which parties various cities voted for might be interesting to look at, though tricky since ridings change so often.

Thunder Bay-Superior North (previously Thunder Bay-Nipigon, and before that, Port Arthur) is interesting, as in the past decade it has been represented by a member of every mainstream national party.

Port Arthur and Fort William, Ontario were in Algoma riding from 1867 to 1904; it encompassed almost all of Northern Ontario. In 1904, the riding was split into several parts. Northwestern Ontario was put into the riding of Thunder Bay and Rainy River.

1867–1874: Conservative
1974–1878: Liberal
1878–1896: Conservative
1896–1911: Liberal
1911–1917: Conservative

At the 1917 election, the two cities were put into separate ridings, a situation that remains today. The election of 1930 was the last time a Conservative was elected here.

Port Arthur:

1917–1921: Conservative
1921–1925: Progressive
1925–1935: Conservative
1935–1957: Liberal
1957–1965: CCF/NDP
1965–1980: Liberal
1984–1988: NDP
1988–2007: Liberal
2007: Independent
2007–2008: Conservative
2008–2012: NDP
2012–2013: Independent
2013–present: Green Party

Fort William:

1917–1935: Conservative
1935–1984: Liberal
1984–1993: NDP
1993–2008: Liberal
2008–Present: NDP

All the intersting MPs—Simon Dawson, C. D. Howe, Doug Fisher, Bob Andras, Joe Comuzzi and Bruce Hyer—came from Port Arthur. Fort William's MPs aren't of any particular national interest aside from Robert Manion, who was leader of the Opposition in the late 1930s, but as an MP for London as he lost his seat here in 1935. The wildest political candidates and strangest races and controversies also happen in the Port Arthur ridings, while Fort William's campaigns are always calmer and predictable.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by vid

Which parties various cities voted for might be interesting to look at, though tricky since ridings change so often. .

Certainly something I can work on for New Brunswick in the next few days, although most of them should be pretty straightforward due to the linguistic voting of NB. In saying that, including %s should give a good idea of a trend, if not for forecasting than for fluctuations over time.

[Architype]

British Columbia, years in power by party:


1871-1903 No Party System
1903-1916 Conservative
1916-1945 Liberal
1945-1952 Lib-Con Coalition
1952-1972 Social Credit
1972-1975 NDP
1975-1991 Social Credit
1991-2001 NDP
2001-2014 Liberal

[Nathan]

Saskatchewan... Bold indicates majority governments

Pre-1905: Northwest Territories (although the capital was in Regina during the years 1888-1905)

1905-1929: Liberal
Elections in 1905, 1908, 1912, 1917, 1921, 1925

1929-1934: Co-operative (Coalition of Conservative and Progressive parties)
Election in 1929

1934-1944: Liberal
Elections in 1934, 1938

1944-1964: Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
Elections in 1944, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960

1964-1971: Liberal
Elections in 1964, 1967

1971-1982: NDP
Elections in 1971, 1975, 1978

1982-1991: Progressive Conservative
Elections in 1982, 1986

1991-2007: NDP
Elections in 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003

2007-Present: Saskatchewan Party
Elections in 2007, 2011

We have a history of majority governments (the election in 1999 resulted in the NDP having the same amount of seats as the Sask Party and Liberals together; i.e. 1 shy of a majority) and votes basically come down to two-way races in a given election: Liberal vs Conservative, Liberal vs CCF, Liberal vs NDP, NDP vs PC, NDP vs Sask Party.


Total elections won by political affiliations (years in power)
CCF/NDP: 12 (47 years)
Liberal: 10 (41 years)
Conservative/PC/Sask Party: 5 (21 years and counting)

[SignalHillHiker]

I copied you artistic folks to make a nice, colourful timeline one for Newfoundland as well. Red for liberal parties, blue for "conservative" (by our standards) parties, green for nationalist parties, and black for ones that don't fit into either of these categories.

1855 - 1861: Liberal Party
1861 - 1870: Conservative Party
1870 - 1874: Anti-Confederation Party
1874 - 1885: Conservative Party
1885 - 1889: Reform Party
1889 - 1894: Liberal Party
1894 - 1894: Tory Party
1894 - 1897: Liberal Party
1897 - 1900: Tory Party
1900 - 1909: Liberal Party
1909 - 1918: People's Party
1918 - 1919: Liberal Party
1919 - 1919: People's Party
1919 - 1924: Liberal Reform Party
1924 - 1924: No Party Affiliation
1924 - 1928: Liberal-Conservative Party
1928 - 1932: Liberal Party
1932 - 1934: United Newfoundland Party
1934 - 1949: Newfoundland is no longer independent; part of United Kingdom
1949 - 1972: Liberal Party
1972 - 1989: Progressive Conservative Party
1989 - 2003: Liberal Party
2003 - Present: Progressive Conservative Party

One thing that strikes me about Newfoundland's politics is how dysfunctional it seems. Even in the list above there are several periods in which the government changed frequently - and hidden within each block are other examples. For example, in the Liberal reign from 1989-2003, there were four elections and three appointments.

Perhaps the most interesting period is 1855-1870. Scandals galore as the Anglican upper classes, who were deadset against independence because they knew they were a minority of the population, attempted to hold on to political power despite the fact most people, and therefore most elected politicians, were Irish Roman Catholics. The government even forbid one predominantly Roman Catholic town from voting in 1861.

[Xelebes]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Does anyone have any information about WTF the Liberal-Conservative Party was all about? Just the name interests me. Was it the era's way to say Progressive?

The Liberal-Conservative Party was a merger of some Liberals and Conservatives. The party dissolved sometime in the late 1900s.

Early parties in Canada:

Liberal Party
Reform Party
Conservative Party
Progressive Party

The Progressives and the Conservatives merged sometime in the 1920s.

[vid]

Weren't the Progressives a split from the Conservatives in the first place, similar to how the Reform party left and then re-joined the party 15 years ago?

[Nathan]

Originally Posted by Xelebes

The Liberal-Conservative Party was a merger of some Liberals and Conservatives. The party dissolved sometime in the late 1900s.

Early parties in Canada:

Liberal Party
Reform Party
Conservative Party
Progressive Party

The Progressives and the Conservatives merged sometime in the 1920s.

We should also keep in mind that the Liberal-Conservative government pre-1905 was in charge of the Northwest Territories, not a province, and territorial politics were quite a bit different than provincial, especially from that era. The NWT was also in its infancy in terms of holding actual regional governmental elections.

[Xelebes]

Originally Posted by vid

Weren't the Progressives a split from the Conservatives in the first place, similar to how the Reform party left and then re-joined the party 15 years ago?

No, they were associated with the United Farmers.

[Kibb]

Nevermind the word Liberal doesn't actually mean what we commonly use it for today in north america, where we think of it in the context of social policies (left of center)... social liberalism.

The term comes from the ideas of freemarket, laissez faire,free trade, property rights, free elections, and individual rights vs the state.

So in a manner of speaking both the modern LPC and modern CPC are liberal parties but differ in social policies.