| Description | The Liberal-Conservative Party was the formal name of the Conservative Party of Canada until 1873, although some Conservative candidates continued to run under the label as late as the 1911 election and others ran as simple Conservatives prior to 1873. In many of Canada's early elections, there were both "Liberal-Conservative" and "Conservative" candidates; however, these were simply different labels used by candidates of the same party, both were part of Sir John A. Macdonald's government and official Conservative and Liberal-Conservative candidates would not, generally, run against each other. It was also not uncommon for a candidate to run on one label in one election and the other in a subsequent election.
The roots of the name are in the Great Coalition of 1864 in which various Tories and Reformers united in pursuit of Canadian Confederation which was accomplished three years later. Thus, some who used the label Liberal-Conservative, were former Liberals (or Reformers) who had joined Macdonald before or shortly after Confederation. |
