Northwest Territories Liberal-Conservative Party
Encyclopedia
The Northwest Territories Liberal-Conservative Party also known formally as the Liberal-Conservative Association prior to 1903 and the Territorial Conservative Association after 1903, was a short lived political party in the Northwest Territories
, Canada
. from 1897-1905. It was a branch of the federal Conservative Party of Canada
.
returned to Northwest Territories to enforce the new laws in the Northwest Territories Act that gave new powers to the territories. It was speculated that Robert Brett
was plotting to form a Conservative led Government backed by a majority coalition of MLA's in the Legislative Assembly of Northwest Territories
. Members answered in the media and denied there was a plot. Mackintosh would stick with his original plan of asking Frederick Haultain who was already Chairman of the Executive Committee to form the government, leaving Robert Brett to form the Official opposition of the Northwest Territories Liberal Party
and oppose the Haultain administration as he had done so since 1891.
The influence and popularity of Premier Haultain helped him build his coalition of lawmakers in the Legislative Assembly. The party was formed as a consequence of executive powers being released to elected members from the Lieutenant Governor that had been held since 1870. The beginning of party politics in the territories sparked controversy and was not done through any Grass roots
movement or formed on traditional ideological lines, and was done by Haultain in such a way that there was very little visiability to the public until years later after the party system began to mature.
Haultain's first appointment to his executive council was a Liberal by the name of James Hamilton Ross
. Haultain led a large cabinet into the 4th Northwest Territories general election
in 1898. Only Haultain and Ross held portofolios while the rest of the ministers did not. The government became widely known as the Haultain-Ross government.
with a large majority.
with a reduced majority. The party itself had little visibility as Haultain abhorred Dominion party lines and did not wish to promote it. He believed in the consensus model of government
, and wanted it for all provinces and territories.
After the election of 1898, Haultain appointed two Liberals and one Conservative to his cabinet. Liberal-Conservative party members accused Haultain's government of being a "Grit hive
". To appease party supporters, he subsequently appointed two Conservatives and one Liberal.
. The convention attracted delegates from all parts of the populated Northwest Territories, some travelled 700+ miles to make the journey. The convention attraced a large number of federal Conservative Members of Parliament and Conservative Senators.
The convention laid out a formal structure to the party for the first time, as well as setting creating a policy book and putting together an executive council to operate outside of the legislature. The main focus of the party was to put together a coherent policy which the party previously lacked and is thought to have led to the decline in seats for the Liberal-Conservative government.
Among the policy resolutions put forward and adopted was provincial rights, better conditions for settlers, and electoral reform in the creation of an enumerated voters list. The delegates voted to run the party banner in the next territorial election, and that includes contested nominations.
One delegate stated in an interview to the Calgary Herald, if the Liberals don't want to address the provincial autonomy Robert Borden was also congratulated on becoming leader of the federal Conservative party to run for Prime Minister of Canada.
The Liberal party was also heavily attacked during the convention, with two different motions condemning them for corrupt electoral practice, and following the federal Liberal Party of Canada
policy on the question of provincial powers, and labor laws for the Territories.
Premier Haultain was shocked by the Convention and openly opposed the move towards defining the political lines in the legislature. The organizers of the convention planned the election of officer without Haultains knowledge.
The great Moose Jaw convention stands to this day as the largest political gathering in Northwest Territories history.
The remainder of the time was spent lobbying the federal government for more resources to deal with the huge influx of settlers to the territories. Haultain personally clashed with Wilfrid Laurier
to settle the provincial rights question.
The last session of the legislature ended in October 1904 and would not be held again in the territories until 1921. Premier Haultain spent the early part of 1905 meeting with the federal government to work out an arrangement to settle provincial autononmy.
After the arrangement of creating Alberta and Saskatchewan were passed in the federal parliament. The party in its last months held nominations and began working on plans to prepare for the new elections in Saskatchewan and Alberta. On August 31, 1905 the 5th North-West Legislative Assembly
was dissolved along with the Association and party politics in the Territories came to an end.
In September 1905 provinces of Alberta
and Saskatchewan
were created out of the more heavily populated, southern regions of the Northwest Territories. Party members then joined the Alberta Conservative Party, and the Provincial Rights Party
in Saskatchewan
. Many members, including some Members of the Legislative Assembly
(MLAs) defected to the Alberta Liberal Party
and Saskatchewan Liberal Party
, draining the Conservative parties of man power and experienced politicians.
There was a lot of anger among remaining Conservatives at Sir Wilfrid Laurier
and the Liberals for passing over Haultain and appointing Liberal members to form government in both provinces. Laurier also appointed Liberal Party supporters to draw up the new electoral boundaries, which consequently were said to favour Liberal candidates.
Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. from 1897-1905. It was a branch of the federal Conservative Party of Canada
Conservative Party of Canada (historical)
The Conservative Party of Canada has gone by a variety of names over the years since Canadian Confederation. Initially known as the "Liberal-Conservative Party", it dropped "Liberal" from its name in 1873, although many of its candidates continued to use this name.As a result of World War I and the...
.
The founding of the party
The Liberal-Conservatives formed government in October 1897, when Lieutenant Governor Charles H. MackintoshCharles H. Mackintosh
Charles Herbert Mackintosh was a journalist, mayor of Ottawa from 1879–1881, represented Ottawa City as a Liberal-Conservative in the Canadian House of Commons from 1882 to 1887, and from 1890 to 1893, and served as Lieutenant Governor of the Northwest Territories from 1893 to 1898.-Parentage and...
returned to Northwest Territories to enforce the new laws in the Northwest Territories Act that gave new powers to the territories. It was speculated that Robert Brett
Robert Brett
Robert George Brett was a politician and physician in the North-West Territories and later Alberta, Canada....
was plotting to form a Conservative led Government backed by a majority coalition of MLA's in the Legislative Assembly of Northwest Territories
Legislative Assembly of Northwest Territories
The Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories or Legislative Council of the Northwest Territories, Canada, is located in Yellowknife. The Assembly is a unicameral elected body that creates and amends law in the Northwest Territories...
. Members answered in the media and denied there was a plot. Mackintosh would stick with his original plan of asking Frederick Haultain who was already Chairman of the Executive Committee to form the government, leaving Robert Brett to form the Official opposition of the Northwest Territories Liberal Party
Northwest Territories Liberal Party
The Northwest Territories Liberal Party was a short-lived branch of the Liberal Party of Canada in the Northwest Territories.The party existed between 1898 and 1905. In 1905, the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan were created from the heavily populated areas of the Northwest Territories...
and oppose the Haultain administration as he had done so since 1891.
The influence and popularity of Premier Haultain helped him build his coalition of lawmakers in the Legislative Assembly. The party was formed as a consequence of executive powers being released to elected members from the Lieutenant Governor that had been held since 1870. The beginning of party politics in the territories sparked controversy and was not done through any Grass roots
Grass Roots
Grass Roots is an Australian television series produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation between 2000 and 2003.The series is set around the fictional Arcadia Waters Council near Sydney, and was primarily a satirical look at the machinations of local government...
movement or formed on traditional ideological lines, and was done by Haultain in such a way that there was very little visiability to the public until years later after the party system began to mature.
Haultain's first appointment to his executive council was a Liberal by the name of James Hamilton Ross
James Hamilton Ross
James Hamilton Ross was a Canadian politician, the Yukon Territory's third Commissioner, and an ardent defender of territorial rights...
. Haultain led a large cabinet into the 4th Northwest Territories general election
Northwest Territories general election, 1898
The Northwest Territories general election of 1898 took place on 4 November 1898. This was the fourth general election in the history of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories....
in 1898. Only Haultain and Ross held portofolios while the rest of the ministers did not. The government became widely known as the Haultain-Ross government.
4th general election
The party swept the 1898 general electionNorthwest Territories general election, 1898
The Northwest Territories general election of 1898 took place on 4 November 1898. This was the fourth general election in the history of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories....
with a large majority.
5th general election
It went on to win the 1902 electionNorthwest Territories general election, 1902
The Northwest Territories general election of 1902, occurred on 21 May 1902 and was the fifth general election in the history of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories. This was the last election held until 1951,...
with a reduced majority. The party itself had little visibility as Haultain abhorred Dominion party lines and did not wish to promote it. He believed in the consensus model of government
Consensus government
Consensus government is a form of consensus democracy government in Canada in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, as well as Nunatsiavut, an autonomous area in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador....
, and wanted it for all provinces and territories.
After the election of 1898, Haultain appointed two Liberals and one Conservative to his cabinet. Liberal-Conservative party members accused Haultain's government of being a "Grit hive
Clear Grits
Clear Grits were reformers in the Province of Upper Canada, a British colony that is now the Province of Ontario, Canada. Their support was concentrated among southwestern Ontario farmers, who were frustrated and disillusioned by the 1849 Reform government of Robert Baldwin and Louis-Hippolyte...
". To appease party supporters, he subsequently appointed two Conservatives and one Liberal.
1903 Moose Jaw Convention
A large convention was held on 26 March 1903 in Moose JawMoose Jaw, Saskatchewan
Moose Jaw is a city in south-central Saskatchewan, Canada on the Moose Jaw River. It is situated on the Trans-Canada Highway, west of Regina. Residents of Moose Jaw are known as Moose Javians. It is best known as a retirement and tourist city that serves as a hub to the hundreds of small towns...
. The convention attracted delegates from all parts of the populated Northwest Territories, some travelled 700+ miles to make the journey. The convention attraced a large number of federal Conservative Members of Parliament and Conservative Senators.
The convention laid out a formal structure to the party for the first time, as well as setting creating a policy book and putting together an executive council to operate outside of the legislature. The main focus of the party was to put together a coherent policy which the party previously lacked and is thought to have led to the decline in seats for the Liberal-Conservative government.
Among the policy resolutions put forward and adopted was provincial rights, better conditions for settlers, and electoral reform in the creation of an enumerated voters list. The delegates voted to run the party banner in the next territorial election, and that includes contested nominations.
One delegate stated in an interview to the Calgary Herald, if the Liberals don't want to address the provincial autonomy Robert Borden was also congratulated on becoming leader of the federal Conservative party to run for Prime Minister of Canada.
The Liberal party was also heavily attacked during the convention, with two different motions condemning them for corrupt electoral practice, and following the federal Liberal Party of Canada
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
policy on the question of provincial powers, and labor laws for the Territories.
Premier Haultain was shocked by the Convention and openly opposed the move towards defining the political lines in the legislature. The organizers of the convention planned the election of officer without Haultains knowledge.
The great Moose Jaw convention stands to this day as the largest political gathering in Northwest Territories history.
The 5th Legislature
From 1903 to 1905 there were three short sittings in the Legislative Assembly. The bulk of the Legislation moved by the Liberal-Conservative government was minor and had to do with incorporating organizations and communities and concurring municipal by-laws.The remainder of the time was spent lobbying the federal government for more resources to deal with the huge influx of settlers to the territories. Haultain personally clashed with Wilfrid Laurier
Wilfrid Laurier
Sir Wilfrid Laurier, GCMG, PC, KC, baptized Henri-Charles-Wilfrid Laurier was the seventh Prime Minister of Canada from 11 July 1896 to 6 October 1911....
to settle the provincial rights question.
The last session of the legislature ended in October 1904 and would not be held again in the territories until 1921. Premier Haultain spent the early part of 1905 meeting with the federal government to work out an arrangement to settle provincial autononmy.
After the arrangement of creating Alberta and Saskatchewan were passed in the federal parliament. The party in its last months held nominations and began working on plans to prepare for the new elections in Saskatchewan and Alberta. On August 31, 1905 the 5th North-West Legislative Assembly
5th North-West Legislative Assembly
The 5th North-West Legislative Assembly lasted from 1902 until dissolution in 1905. This would be the largest membership of any Assembly to date in the Northwest Territories and the only one that truly had political parties, it would also be the last one to be fully elected and have a speaker until...
was dissolved along with the Association and party politics in the Territories came to an end.
In September 1905 provinces of Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
and Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
were created out of the more heavily populated, southern regions of the Northwest Territories. Party members then joined the Alberta Conservative Party, and the Provincial Rights Party
Provincial Rights Party
The Provincial Rights Party was a Canadian political party founded and led by Frederick W.A.G. Haultain in 1905 to contest elections in the new province of Saskatchewan.Haultain had been Premier of the North-West Territories prior to the province's creation...
in Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
. Many members, including some Members of the Legislative Assembly
Member of the Legislative Assembly
A Member of the Legislative Assembly or a Member of the Legislature , is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to the legislature or legislative assembly of a sub-national jurisdiction....
(MLAs) defected to the Alberta Liberal Party
Alberta Liberal Party
The Alberta Liberal Party is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Originally founded in 1905, when the province was created, it was the dominant political party until 1921 when it was defeated. It has never been in government since that time...
and Saskatchewan Liberal Party
Saskatchewan Liberal Party
The Saskatchewan Liberal Party is a liberal political party in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.-Early history :The party dominated Saskatchewan politics for the province's first forty years providing six of the first seven Premiers, and being in power for all but five of the years between the...
, draining the Conservative parties of man power and experienced politicians.
There was a lot of anger among remaining Conservatives at Sir Wilfrid Laurier
Wilfrid Laurier
Sir Wilfrid Laurier, GCMG, PC, KC, baptized Henri-Charles-Wilfrid Laurier was the seventh Prime Minister of Canada from 11 July 1896 to 6 October 1911....
and the Liberals for passing over Haultain and appointing Liberal members to form government in both provinces. Laurier also appointed Liberal Party supporters to draw up the new electoral boundaries, which consequently were said to favour Liberal candidates.
Party executive
No formal executive party structure aside from the Executive Council of the Haultain Government is known to exist prior to 1897, officers of the party were first elected in 1903.- Party leader: Frederick HaultainFrederick W. A. G. HaultainSir Frederick William Alpin Gordon Haultain was a lawyer and a long serving Canadian politician and judge. His career in provincial and territorial legislatures stretched into four decades...
(1897–1905) - President: Thomas TweedThomas TweedThomas Andrew Tweed was a merchant and political figure in the Northwest Territories, Canada. He represented Medicine Hat in the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories from 1888 to 1894 as a Conservative....
(1903-1905) - Honorary President: Frederick HaultainFrederick W. A. G. HaultainSir Frederick William Alpin Gordon Haultain was a lawyer and a long serving Canadian politician and judge. His career in provincial and territorial legislatures stretched into four decades...
(1903–1905) - First Vice President: T.C. Spence (1903-1905)
- Second Vice President: William Carlos Ives (1903-1905)
- Alberta Region: Richard BennettR. B. BennettRichard Bedford Bennett, 1st Viscount Bennett, PC, KC was a Canadian lawyer, businessman, politician, and philanthropist. He served as the 11th Prime Minister of Canada from August 7, 1930, to October 23, 1935, during the worst of the Great Depression years...
(1903-1905) - Assiniboia Region: Dr. Creamer (1903-1905)
- Saskatchewan Region: Thomas McKayThomas McKayThomas McKay was a Canadian businessman who was one of the founders of the city of Ottawa, Ontario. He was born in Perth, Scotland and became a skilled stonemason...
(1903-1905) - Western Assiniboia Region: George Annable (1903-1905)
See also
- List of Northwest Territories political parties
External links
- Robert Brett plot to lead the new Territorial Conservative Government October 4, 1897 Calgary Herald
- Interview with MLA Frank Tims clarifying support for Haultain instead October 6, 1897 Calgary Herald
- New Government sworn in October 8, 1897 Calgary Herald
- 1903 Moose Jaw convention
- Liberal-Conservative Convention Calgary Herald March 28, 1903
- Calgary Herald Editorial on the Moose Jaw Convention April 1, 1903
- Premier Haultain begins talks with Laurier Calgary Herald January 4, 1905
- A.E. Cross fonds Communication with the Liberal-Conservative Association 1898 - 1899
- Terms of the Creation of the Province of Alberta Calgary Herald February 22 1905
