Progressive Conservative Association of Nova Scotia
Template:Short description Template:Primary sources Template:Infobox political party
The Progressive Conservative Association of Nova Scotia,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> more commonly known as the Progressive Conservative Party of Nova Scotia, is a political party in Nova Scotia, Canada. Like most conservative parties in Atlantic Canada, it has been historically associated with the Red Tory<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> faction of Canadian conservatism. The party is currently led by Pictou East MLA Tim Houston. The party won a majority government in the 2021 provincial election. He called a snap election in 2024, increasing his party's majority mandate.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Progressive Conservative Party of Nova Scotia and the Conservative Party of Canada are two separate entities.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
History
The Progressive Conservative Association of Nova Scotia, registered under the Nova Scotia Elections Act as the Progressive Conservative Party of Nova Scotia, originated from the Confederation Party of Charles Tupper. Tupper united members of the pre-Confederation Conservative Party (who were predominantly United Empire Loyalists and members of the business elite) and supporters of Sir John A. Macdonald's national Conservative coalition. The party supported Macdonald's protectionist National Policy, nation-building, and the unification of British North America.
Canadian Confederation was initially unpopular in Nova Scotia, and the party was out of government for most of the late 19th century. It formed government for only six years between 1867 and 1956. It bottomed out in 1945, when the party was shut out of the legislature altogether.
The modern party was built by Robert Stanfield after World War II. Stanfield, the scion of a wealthy textile family, had considered himself socialist in university; though he later moderated his views, he always remained a progressive. Under his leadership, what was by then the "Progressive Conservative Party" became a moderate Red Tory organization.<ref name= RobertLewis>Template:Cite web</ref> He was able to get the party back into the House of Assembly soon after taking the leadership. By 1956, he had built it into an organization that was able to sweep to power, winning re-election four times.
As premier, he led reforms in human rights, education, municipal government and health care and also created Industrial Estates Limited, a crown corporation that successfully attracted investment from world companies such as Michelin Tire.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He worked to modernized the road system, brought in the first form of Medicare, established the first economic development agency, invested heavily in education at all levels and established the predecessor to the Nova Scotia Community College.
After Stanfield left provincial politics to become leader of the federal Progressive Conservative Party in 1967, G. I. Smith served as premier until 1970.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> After being elected party leader in 1971, John Buchanan was elected premier in 1978.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He was re-elected in 1981, 1984 and 1988. In the 1984 election, voters served his largest majority, capturing 42 of the 52 seats in the legislature.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Buchanan's government first succeeded in convincing federal government to give Nova Scotia control over offshore resources such as gas and oil, resulting in future revenue for the province through the Crown Share.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Roger Bacon became premier in 1990 after Buchanan was appointed to the Senate of Canada and until the party selected Donald W. Cameron as party leader and premier. During his term, Cameron reformed government finance practices, promoted anti-discrimination measures, introduced new government accountability measures and established the first non-partisan electoral boundaries revision commission in 1992.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Recent history
After six years of Liberal governments led by John Savage and later Russel MacLellan, PC leader John Hamm was elected premier in 1999. After taking office, he invested more in education and health care, implemented some tax cuts and sold or closed government-owned industries such as Sydney Steel.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> His government also passed tough lobbyist registration legislation, introduced smoking cessation initiatives, provided new funding for community college modernization and achieved historically high economic growth and employment numbers.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> His government was the first to balance provincial finances in 25 years in 2002.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Hamm retired as Premier of Nova Scotia and leader of the PC party in 2006.
Rodney MacDonald was elected to replace Hamm as party leader in 2006 and subsequently became Premier of Nova Scotia. Through strategic investments in rural broadband infrastructure, MacDonald continued to expand high-speed internet access throughout the province.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> MacDonald's government moved to help stabilize energy costs, grow the economy and attract new investment to the province.
The 2006 election resulted in a reduced minority for MacDonald and the Progressive Conservatives were reduced to third-party status in the 2009 election.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On June 24, 2009, MacDonald stepped down as leader and Karen Casey was named the interim leader.
Jamie Baillie became leader of the PC Party on October 30, 2010 after running unopposed.<ref>"New N.S. PC leader promises fiscal restraint". CBC News, October 30, 2010.</ref> He led the party into the 2013 election, and won eleven seats allowing the PC party form the Official Opposition.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the 2017 election, the party retained official opposition status, and increased their seat count to 17.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
On November 1, 2017, Baillie announced he was stepping down as leader.<ref name="Baillie resigned">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Baillie was to remain in the position until a new leader was chosen, however on January 24, 2018, he resigned after the party executive requested his immediate resignation due to "allegations of inappropriate behaviour".<ref name="Baillie resigns">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Following his resignation, Pictou West MLA Karla MacFarlane was named interim leader.<ref name="Baillie resigns"/>
In 2018, Tim Houston was elected the leader of the PC party after getting a large plurality of the points in the first round.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In the 2021 Nova Scotia general election, Tim Houston fought the campaign on a pledge to spend more to fix healthcare.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Progressive Conservative party won a majority government for the first time since 1999 and formed government for the first time since 2006.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
According to the PC Party website, their mission is "to form a fiscally responsible, socially progressive government that promotes individual achievement and personal responsibility, is accountable to its citizens, listens to its people, embraces innovation, preserves the best of our unique heritage and diverse cultures and learns from the past".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Current elected members
Party leaders
- James William Johnston (1843–1864)
- Charles Tupper (1864–1867)
- Hiram Blanchard (1867–1874)
- Simon Hugh Holmes (1874–1882)
- John Sparrow David Thompson (1882)
- Adam Carr Bell (1882–1887)
- William McKay (1887–1890)
- Charles Cahan (1890–1894)
- William McKay (1894–1897)
- John Fitzwilliam Stairs (1897–1904)
- Charles Wilcox (1898–1901) (house leader)
- Charles E. Tanner (1901–1908) (house leader)
- Charles Wilcox (1908–1909) (house leader)
- John M. Baillie (1909–1912) (house leader)
- Charles E. Tanner (1912–1922)
- W.L. Hall (1922–1925)
- Edgar Nelson Rhodes (1925–1930)
- Gordon Sidney Harrington (1930–1937)
- Percy C. Black (1937–1940)
- Leonard William Fraser (1940–1948)
- Fred M. Blois (1940–1945) (house leader)
- Robert Stanfield (1948–1967)
- G.I. Smith (1967–1971)
- John Buchanan (1971–1990)
- Roger Stuart Bacon (1990–1991) (interim)
- Donald W. Cameron (1991–1993)
- Terry Donahoe (1993–1995) (interim)
- John Hamm (1995–2006)
- Rodney MacDonald (2006–2009)
- Karen Casey (2009–2010) (interim)
- Jamie Baillie (2010–2018)
- Karla MacFarlane (2018) (interim)
- Tim Houston (2018–present)
- Bold indicates Party leaders who served as Premier of the colony or province of Nova Scotia.
Electoral performance
See also
- List of premiers of Nova Scotia
- List of political parties in Canada
- Progressive Conservative Association of Nova Scotia leadership elections
References
Template:Nova Scotia provincial political parties Template:Canadian Conservative Parties Template:Nova Scotia politics