Unionist Party (Canada)
The Unionist Party was formed in 1917 by MPs who supported the Union government formed by Sir Robert Borden during World War I.
In May 1917, Conservative Prime Minister Borden proposed the formation of a coalition government to Liberal leader Sir Wilfred Laurier in order to enact conscription as well as govern for the remainder of the war. Laurier rejected this proposal because of the opposition of his Quebec MPs and fears that Quebec nationalist leader Henri Bourassa would be able to exploit the situation.
As an alternative to a coalition with Laurier, on October 12, 1917 Borden formed the Union government with a Cabinet of 12 Conservatives, 9 Liberals and Independents and one Labour MP as ministers.
Borden then called an election for December on the issue of conscription (see also Conscription Crisis of 1917 running as head of a Unionist Party composed of Borden's Conservatives, independent MPs and members of the Liberals who left the caucus of Sir Wilfred Laurier in order to support conscription.
Supporters of the Borden government ran for parliament as Unionists while some of the Liberals running as government supporters preferred to call themselves Liberal-Unionist.
This tactic split Laurier's Liberals and resulted in a landslide election victory for Borden.
Borden attempted to continue the Unionist Party after the war and when Arthur Meighen succeeded him in 1920, he renamed it, the National Liberal and Conservative Party in hopes of making the coalition permanent. The Unionists had never been officially a single party, and therefore lacked the structure of an official party. Meighen hoped to change this.
In the 1921 general election, most of the Liberal-Unionist MPs did not join this party, and rather ran as Liberals under the leadership of its new leader, William Lyon Mackenzie King, only a handful ran again as Liberal-Unionists or joined Meighen's renamed party. Prominent Liberal Unionist who stayed with the Conservatives include Hugh Guthrie and Robert Manion.
Following the defeat of Meighen's government the National Liberal and Conservative Party changed its name to the Liberal-Conservative Party of Canada though it was commonly known as the Conservative Party.
See also:
Referenced By
Arthur Meighen | Borden | Canadian political parties | Conscription Crisis of 1917 | Conservative Party of Canada (historic) | List of political parties in Canada | Robert Borden | Robert Laird Borden | Unionist Party
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