Intra-Party Federalism and the Progressive Conservative Parties of Alberta and Ontario, 1943 to 2008
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Intra-Party Federalism and the Progressive Conservative Parties of Alberta and Ontario, 1943 to 2008 Bradley Walchuk Political Science Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts MAIESA Faculty of Social Science, Brock University St. Catharines, Ontario ©2008 Acknowledgements This project could not have been completed without the assistance of a number of individuals and institutions to whom I owe considerable gratitude. I would like to thank my entire thesis committee- Garth Stevenson, Larry Savage, Liviarma Tossutti, Peter Woolstencroft, and Thomas Dunk- as well as Pierre Lizee and Charles Smith. Their considerable support and advice has been both a tremendous asset and an invaluable resource. Despite the judicious review of the committee, any oversights or errors of fact remain the sole responsibility of the author. I also owe a great deal of thanks to the staff at the Archives of Ontario for their help on numerous research trips, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Department of Graduate Studies at Brock University for graciously providing financial assistance, and the staff of the Political Science Department at Brock University for their assistance in the preparation of this thesis. Lastly, I owe tremendous thanks to my mom and dad and to Mary Rose and Carly for their love and support. 1 11 Contents Introduction 1-29 Chapter 1 : The Ontario Progressive Conservative Party and Post-War Politics 30-76 Chapter 2: The Oil War: Clark, Davis and Lougheed 77-1 1 Chapter 3 : The Mulroney Era 1 1 2- 1 42 Chapter 4: New Challenges: Reform, Canadian Alliance, and 'Unite the Right' 143-176 Conclusion 177-189 Bibliography 190-197 Abstract iii This thesis examines intra-party federalism. Broadly defined, intra-party federalism is the relationship between the provincial wing and the federal wing of a political party of the same name and partisan affiliation. While past work on this topic has tended to identify what the internal structure of a political party looks like, the present work places considerable emphasis on how provincial parties interact with their federal cousins and why these parties act in the manner they do. Using the Conservative Party of Canada and its various predecessors as an example, it relies on four case studies to focus on two primary relationships: the relationship between the federal party and the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, and the relationship between the federal party and the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party. This thesis illustrates that intra-party relations within the Conservative Party of Canada and its various predecessors have, at times, been considerably divisive. In most situations, provincial parties have illustrated that they have only limited loyalty toward their federal counterparts. That loyalty generally exists insomuch as the federal party is able to provide some direct benefit to the provincial party. Quite simply, there is no guarantee that the provincial party will be an active supporter of the federal party. Despite sharing the same name and often a similar ideology, the two parties exist in different worlds. The federal party is forced to balance competing interests from coast-to-coast, while the provincial party is only required to look out for its ovm territorial-based interests. Consequently the intra-party relationship tends be based on pragmatic concerns more so than it is on partisan concerns. Introduction 1 Introduction ; This thesis examines intra-party federalism in Canada's conservative parties from 1943 to the present day.' In doing so, it seeks to improve our understanding of how Canadian federalism and Canadian political parties interact with one another. Broadly defined, intra-party federalism is the relationship between the provincial wing and the federal wing of a political party of the same name and partisan affiliation. One area of Canadian politics that has been understudied is the way in which these two sub-fields, federalism and political parties, interact with one another. As a result, answers to a number of important questions have been underdeveloped. These questions include: What role do Canadian political parties play in the country's federal system? How does the presence of a federal system affect Canadian political parties? What is the general relationship between federalism and Canadian political parties? How do federal and provincial parties interact with one another? With some exceptions, scholars within both subfields have by and large overlooked the study of 'intra-party federalism.' However, it is a seemingly logical conclusion that Canada's federal system would have a great deal of impact on the parties which operate within ^•'- < its confines and thus merits considerable attention. iW mr'-. sr , -s i- .-. With ten provincial governments, three territorial governments, the federal government, and the existence of three major political parties in English Canada (not to mention many more now defianct parties), the potential scope of the study of intra-party federalism is rather broad. However, this study will focus on the relationship between the Conservative Party of Canada and its predecessors, and provincial governments headed by Progressive Conservative administrations in Alberta and Ontario over four distinct time periods. An examination of intra- This includes the federal Progressive Conservative Party, the Reform/Canadian Alliance, the Conservative Party of Canada, and the Alberta and Ontario Progressive Conservative Parties. Introduction 2 party relationships in Alberta and Ontario is useful because both provinces have seen long periods of dominance by the Progressive Conservative Party. In Ontario, the party governed uninterrupted from 1943 to 1985 and again from 1995 to 2003. In Alberta, the party has governed continuously from 1971 to the present day. At the same time, however, the Progressive Conservative Party governed at the federal level only sparingly, forming the ' government from 1957 to 1963, from 1984 to 1993, and for ten months in 1979 and 1980. This study focuses on four chronologically ordered time periods in a further attempt to narrow the large scope offered by the study of intra-party federalism. Specifically, this study examines: (1) the Ontario government and its relation with the federal party from its own rise to power in 1943 to the rise of Trudeaumania in the late 1960s, (2) the federal party under Joe Clark from 1976 to 1980 and its relationship with the Ontario and Alberta governments, especially during the oil pricing dispute of 1979, (3) the relationship between the Progressive Conservative federal government and the Alberta provincial government from 1984 to 1993, and (4) the rise of the Reform party in 1993, its relationship with the provincial Conservative governments in Ontario and Alberta, and its effects on intra-party federalism. The conclusions attempt to generalize the findings from all of these eras, and also briefly examine the state of intra-party federalism since the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the federal Progressive Conservative -' ...'^^^ Party in 2003. .!i; i :;;• . An examination of these four time periods allows for the detailed examination of at least three sets of relationships. The two primary relafionships that this thesis will focus on are: (1) the relationship between the federal party and the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, and (2) the relationship between the federal party and the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party. The third relationship- which is best classified as a secondary relationship- examines the intra- :vm'-i ^:i,fi/i!VKt^l.) ef'.*-''- -.:v Introduction 3 party relationship between the Alberta and Ontario provincial wings of the Progressive Conservative Party. The time period for each of the relationships varies however. For example, the first relationship- that between the federal and Ontario party is examined from 1943 to 2003. For the vast majority of this period (1943 to 1985, 1995 to 2003), the Progressive Conservative Party formed the Ontario government. The second relationship- the federal and Alberta party- is examined from 1971 to 2003. The Alberta Tories were elected in 1971 and, at the time of writing in 2008, still form the provincial government. While the study of the third relationship- that between the Alberta and Ontario provincial parties- can begin in 1971, the primary focus is on the oil pricing dispute of the late 1970s. As each provincial wing operates in relative isolation of one another and rarely has need for direct contact with another wing, this relationship is appropriately classified as a secondary relationship for the purposes of this study. The primary focus, therefore, is on the relationship between the federal and provincial parties. A review of the academic literature on intra-party federalism necessarily draws on two broad themes in Canadian politics: the study of political parties and the study of federalism. The study of political parties in Canada is often divided into a series of party systems at both the provincial and federal level. At the provincial level, party systems have been classified based upon their competitiveness and the role played by major and minor parties, while at the federal level the party system takes into account partisan competition, the institutional and legal framework of parties, and the discursive fi-amework in which politics are practiced. There has also been considerable emphasis placed on brokerage