Conservative Party of Canada - Regional Conservative Parties

Regional Conservative Parties

The Conservative Party, while officially having no current provincial wings, largely works with the former federal Progressive Conservative Party's provincial affiliates. There have been calls to change the names of the provincial parties from "Progressive Conservative" to "Conservative". However, there are other small "c" conservative parties with which the federal Conservative Party has close ties, such as the Saskatchewan Party and the British Columbia Liberal Party (not related to the federal Liberal Party of Canada). The federal Conservative party has the support of many of the provincial Conservative leaders. In Ontario, successive provincial PC Party leaders John Tory, Bob Runciman and Tim Hudak have expressed open support for Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party of Canada, with former Mike Harris cabinet members Jim Flaherty, Tony Clement, and John Baird now ministers in Harper's government. In Quebec, former federal Conservative Party MP Luc Harvey leads a new Conservative Party of Quebec which was formed in 2009 in the wake of the decline of the Action démocratique du Québec (ADQ) which had formerly won the support of many provincial conservatives.

Cross-support between federal and provincial Conservatives is more tenuous in some other provinces. In Alberta, relations have been strained between the federal Conservative Party and the Progressive Conservatives. Part of the federal Tories' loss in the 2004 election was often blamed on then Premier Klein's public musings on health care late in the campaign. Klein had also called for a referendum on same-sex marriage. With the impending 2006 election, Klein predicted another Liberal minority, though this time the federal Conservatives won a minority government. Klein's successor Ed Stelmach has generally tried to avoid causing similar controversies, however Harper's surprise pledge to restrict bitumen exports drew a sharp rebuke from the Albertan government, who warned such restrictions would violate both the Constitution of Canada and the North American Free Trade Agreement. The rise of the Wildrose Party in Alberta has caused a further rift between the federal Conservatives and the Albertan PC's, as some Conservative backbench MP's have openly endorsed Wildrose. For the 2012 Alberta general election, Prime Minister Harper has remained neutral and instructed federal cabinet members to also remain neutral while allowing Conservative backbenchers to back whomever they choose if they wish, while Wildrose candidates for the concurrent Senate nominee election have announced they will sit in the Conservative caucus should they be appointed to the Senate.

After the 2007 budget was announced the two conservative governments in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador accused the federal Conservatives of breaching the terms of the Atlantic Accord.

As a result relations have worsened between the two provincial governments, leading Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams to publicly denounce the federal Conservatives, which has given rise to his ABC (Anything But Conservative) campaign in the 2008 election. While officially separate, federal Conservative Party documents, such as membership applications, can be picked up from most provincial Progressive Conservative Party offices. Several of the provincial parties also contain open links to the federal Conservative website on their respective websites.