Origins
The origins of the Progressive Party can, in many ways, be traced to the politics of compromise under Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier. The most important issue to farmers in western Canada at the time was free trade with the United States. The National Policy implemented by Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald in the 1890s forced farmers to pay higher prices for equipment, and to sell their produce for less. After World War I, however, neither of the major political parties supported free trade.
At the turn of the century voters in Western Canada began to consider an influx of radical political ideas. From the United States came Progressivism and the Non-Partisan League. From Britain, the new immigrants brought Fabian socialism. This mix of ideology and discontent led to discussion of forming an independent party, especially in the "Grain Growers Guide", a magazine of the day. The first organizations of agricultural protest were the farmers’ organizations such as the Manitoba Grain Growers Association and the United Farmers of Alberta.
In the period immediately following World War I farmers' organizations across Canada were becoming more politically active and were entering electoral politics on the provincial level. The United Farmers of Ontario ran in the 1919 provincial election and, surprisingly, won.
In June 1919, Thomas Crerar, Minister of Agriculture in the Unionist government of Robert Borden, quit the Borden cabinet because Minister of Finance Thomas White introduced a budget that did not pay sufficient attention to farmers' issues. Farmer leader and MP John Archibald Maharg also withdrew his support from the government and joined Crerar. In 1919 and 1920 several by-elections were won by "United Farmers" candidates. In 1920, Crerar and his supporters founded the Progressive Party of Canada with Crerar as its first leader. The new party won 58 of the 235 seats in the 1921 general election.
Read more about this topic: Progressive Party Of Canada
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