History
PCYF had operated in various capacities for more than 60 years. Its genesis arose from two unique sources – campus politics and riding politics. In a time when few Canadians went to University, a young Progressive Conservative was any person under the age of 35. The president of the early Young Conservatives was often a successful person in their 30s - a Member of Parliament or senior political staffer.
Conservative campus politics can be traced back to the University of Toronto campus club in 1926. However, the national Progressive Conservative Student Federation was not created until 1946. Campus politics gained importance in the 1950s and played a key role in the rise to power of John Diefenbaker and his eventual overthrow (through a Leadership review). Former Canadian Prime Minister Joe Clark got his political start as a "Youth for Diefenbaker". Today, campus clubs are a way of organizing and involving students in the party, but in the 1950s, campus politics were a venue for the political parties to control student politics.
In the 1960s, the two national youth organizations that had served the party for decades merged into one group. The federation of campus clubs (Progressive Conservative Student Federation) and the non-University, riding-based youth group (Young Progressive Conservative Association) merged to create the Progressive Conservative Youth Federation. PCYF was then sanctioned as the PC Party’s official youth wing.
As in many political parties, youth members could vote at national conventions that pick leaders and establish policy. In the Progressive Conservative Party, they accounted for 1/3 of all elected delegates, giving youth a significant influence on the direction the party took. This incorporated a democratic counterweight to established party hierarchy, manifesting itself dramatically in grassroots conventions that elected (and eventually removed) John Diefenbaker, Brian Mulroney, and Kim Campbell.
Many prominent Tories got their start in the youth wing, including: Brian Mulroney, Joe Clark and Jean Charest.
Read more about this topic: Progressive Conservative Youth Federation
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