Socialism and social democracy in Canada
Encyclopedia
Democratic socialism
Democratic socialism
Democratic socialism is a description used by various socialist movements and organizations to emphasize the democratic character of their political orientation...

and Social democracy
Social democracy
Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...

have been, along with liberalism
Liberalism in Canada
Liberalism has been a strong force in Canadian politics since the late 18th Century. While Canada has the same features of other liberal democracies in the Western democratic political tradition, it is, in some respects, an exemplar of liberalism. This article gives an overview of liberalism in...

 and conservatism
Canadian conservatism
Conservatism in Canada is generally considered to be primarily represented by the Conservative Party of Canada at the federal level, and by various right-wing parties at the provincial level...

, a political force in Canada.

The radical years

Canada's socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...

 movement is believed to have originated in Western Canada
Western Canada
Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces and commonly as the West, is a region of Canada that includes the four provinces west of the province of Ontario.- Provinces :...

. The Winnipeg General Strike of 1919
Winnipeg General Strike of 1919
The Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 was one of the most influential strikes in Canadian history, and became the platform for future labour reforms....

 and Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

 (1929–1939) are considered to have fuelled socialism in Canada.
The Socialist Party of Canada
Socialist Party of Canada
There have been two different but related political parties in Canada that called themselves the Socialist Party of Canada . The current Socialist Party is an electorally inactive and unregistered federal political party in Canada...

 was the first Canadian based left-wing
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...

 party. Founded in 1904, it collapsed as a national party in 1924.

During the Great Depression, the Communist Party of Canada
Communist Party of Canada
The Communist Party of Canada is a communist political party in Canada. Although is it currently a minor or small political party without representation in the Federal Parliament or in provincial legislatures, historically the Party has elected representatives in Federal Parliament, Ontario...

 experienced a brief surge in popularity, becoming influential in various labour union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

s and electing a single Member of Parliament, Fred Rose
Fred Rose (politician)
Fred Rose was a Communist politician and trade union organizer in Canada. He was born in Lublin in what is now Poland, part of Russia at the time. He emigrated to Canada as a child in 1916. He became involved with the Young Communist League of Canada, and then joined the Communist Party of Canada...

. The Communist Party of Canada was created in Guelph
Guelph
Guelph is a city in Ontario, Canada.Guelph may also refer to:* Guelph , consisting of the City of Guelph, Ontario* Guelph , as the above* University of Guelph, in the same city...

, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

 in 1921 by a group of Marxist activists led by William Moriarty
William Moriarty
William Moriarty was a Canadian Communist and Right Oppositionist.Moriarty was born in England and became a trade unionist working as a tin miner in Cornwall, a railway worker and then a miner in Wales. He moved to Canada in 1912 and worked first as a harvest worker...

. During the early years of their existence the party's membership faced persecution and arrest for their political activities. In 1935 the Communists gained notoriety by organizing a massive march of unemployed workers known as the On-to-Ottawa Trek
On-to-Ottawa Trek
The On-to-Ottawa Trek was a long journey where thousands of people had unemployed men protesting the dismal conditions in federal relief camps scattered in remote areas across Western Canada. The men lived and worked in these camps at a rate of twenty cents per day before walking out on strike in...

 and before that organized the young inmates of the relief camps into the Relief Camp Workers' Union
Relief Camp Workers' Union
The Relief Camp Workers' Union was the union into which the inmates of the Canadian government relief camps were organized in the early 1930s. It was affiliated with the Workers' Unity League, the trade union umbrella of the Communist Party of Canada...

 to resist the poor conditions of the camps. The On-to-Ottawa Trek never made it to Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

, instead it ended with the Regina Riot of July 1, 1935. The trek and the living conditions in the government's "relief camps" helped to discredit Conservative Prime Minister R. B. Bennett
R. B. Bennett
Richard 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...

, leading to his defeat at the hands of the Liberals
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...

 in 1935
Canadian federal election, 1935
The Canadian federal election of 1935 was held on October 14, 1935 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 18th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal Party of William Lyon Mackenzie King won a majority government, defeating Prime Minister R.B. Bennett's Conservative Party.The central...

. After the trek the communists were instrumental in organizing over 1,448 Canadians to fight in the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...

.

Joined by volunteers of other political stripes, the Canadian contingent known as the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion
Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion
The Mackenzie–Papineau Battalion or Mac-Paps were a battalion of Canadians who fought as part of the XV International Brigade on the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War. Except for France, no other country gave a greater proportion of its population as volunteers in Spain than Canada. The...

 joined the International Brigades
International Brigades
The International Brigades were military units made up of volunteers from different countries, who traveled to Spain to defend the Second Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War between 1936 and 1939....

 (a coalition of volunteers from many countries) to fight for the elected leftwing government of the Second Spanish Republic
Second Spanish Republic
The Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco....

 against the fascist
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...

 supported insurgency of General Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...

. The "Mac-Paps" fought bravely in many battles but were forced to leave Spain in 1938 by Prime Minister Juan Negrín López
Juan Negrín
Juan Negrín y López was a Spanish politician and physician.-Early years:Born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Negrín came from a religious middle-class family...

 along with the other foreign volunteers as it became clear that the war was lost. Of the close 1,500 Canadians known to have fought in Spain, 721 are known to have lost their lives. The most famous Canadian to serve in the Mackenzie–Papineau Battalion was Dr. Norman Bethune
Norman Bethune
Henry Norman Bethune was a Canadian physician and medical innovator. Bethune is best known for his service in war time medical units during the Spanish Civil War and with the Communist Eighth Route Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War...

, a surgeon who would invent the world's first mobile medical unit. Dr. Bethune would later be killed during the Second Sino-Japanese War
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...

, while aiding the Communist Party of China
Communist Party of China
The Communist Party of China , also known as the Chinese Communist Party , is the founding and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China...

. Today he is a national hero in the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

 and is remembered as being a friend of Chinese leader Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...

.

By the start of the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, the Communist Party began to lose its momentum. Its only elected federal representative, Fred Rose was accused of being a Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 spy. Rose was expelled from parliament, arrested for four years and then tailed at every jobsite by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...

 (RCMP). He eventually left for Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 with the intention of returning to clear his name, but had his Canadian citizenship revoked in 1957.

"CCF to Victory", the rise of democratic socialism

By a wide margin, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation was a Canadian political party founded in 1932 in Calgary, Alberta, by a number of socialist, farm, co-operative and labour groups, and the League for Social Reconstruction...

 (CCF), a democratic socialist
Democratic socialism
Democratic socialism is a description used by various socialist movements and organizations to emphasize the democratic character of their political orientation...

 political party from the Prairies
Canadian Prairies
The Canadian Prairies is a region of Canada, specifically in western Canada, which may correspond to several different definitions, natural or political. Notably, the Prairie provinces or simply the Prairies comprise the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, as they are largely covered...

 with its origins in the Christian left
Christian left
The Christian left is a term originating in the United States, used to describe a spectrum of left-wing Christian political and social movements which largely embraces social justice....

 and the social gospel
Social Gospel
The Social Gospel movement is a Protestant Christian intellectual movement that was most prominent in the early 20th century United States and Canada...

, became the most influential socialist party in Canada.

The CCF gained support in the Prairies as well as from many labour unions. Led by Tommy Douglas
Tommy Douglas
Thomas Clement "Tommy" Douglas, was a Scottish-born Baptist minister who became a prominent Canadian social democratic politician...

, the CCF was elected to power during the 1944 Saskatchewan election
Saskatchewan general election, 1944
The Saskatchewan general election of 1944 was the tenth provincial election in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It was held on June 15, 1944 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan....

. Douglas governed Saskatchewan until 1961. Today his party remain an important force in the politics of the province.

The CCF and the early democratic socialist movement is seen, by some political scientists (such as Gad Horowitz
Gad Horowitz
Gad Horowitz is a noted Canadian political scientist and professor emeritus at the University of Toronto.-Biography:Horowitz was born in Jerusalem and immigrated to Canada with his parents at the age of 2. He grew up in Calgary, Winnipeg, and Montreal.Horowitz earned his BA from the University of...

), as mainly a Christian and European Canadian movement.

In 1961, the CCF joined with the Canadian Labour Congress
Canadian Labour Congress
The Canadian Labour Congress, or CLC is a national trade union centre, the central labour body in English Canada to which most Canadian labour unions are affiliated.- Formation :...

 to form the New Democratic Party
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...

 (NDP). The NDP is more moderate
Centre-left
Centre-left is a political term that describes individuals, political parties or organisations such as think tanks whose ideology lies between the centre and the left on the left-right spectrum...

 and social-democratic
Social democracy
Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...

 than its predecessor, the CCF. The Regina Manifesto
Regina Manifesto
The Regina Manifesto was the programme of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and was adopted at the first national convention of the CCF held in Regina, Saskatchewan in 1933. The primary goal of the "Regina Manifesto" was to eradicate the system of capitalism and replace it with a planned...

 of the CCF called for abolishing capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...

, while the NDP merely wants to reform capitalism. They are generally perceived as being responsible for the creation of universal healthcare
Universal health care
Universal health care is a term referring to organized health care systems built around the principle of universal coverage for all members of society, combining mechanisms for health financing and service provision.-History:...

, pension
Pension
In general, a pension is an arrangement to provide people with an income when they are no longer earning a regular income from employment. Pensions should not be confused with severance pay; the former is paid in regular installments, while the latter is paid in one lump sum.The terms retirement...

s, a human rights code and for the development of Canada's social safety net
Social safety net
Social safety nets, or "socioeconomic safety nets", are non-contributory transfer programs seeking to prevent the poor or those vulnerable to shocks and poverty from falling below a certain poverty level. Safety net programs can be provided by the public sector or by the private sector...

 in general. In the past the NDP has formed provincial governments in British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, Yukon Territory, Saskatchewan, Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...

, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

 and Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

. At present Manitoba and Nova Scotia have New Democratic governments, while the NDP is the second largest party in Saskatchewan and British Columbia. At the federal level the NDP has held strong influence over various minority government
Minority government
A minority government or a minority cabinet is a cabinet of a parliamentary system formed when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in the parliament but is sworn into government to break a Hung Parliament election result. It is also known as a...

s, in particular a Liberal minority led by Pierre Trudeau
Pierre Trudeau
Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau, , usually known as Pierre Trudeau or Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada from April 20, 1968 to June 4, 1979, and again from March 3, 1980 to June 30, 1984.Trudeau began his political career campaigning for socialist ideals,...

 from 1972-1974. During this period the NDP was successful in forcing the government to create a state-owned oil company, called Petro Canada.

The NDP has also held influence over other Liberal-led minority governments during the Lester B. Pearson
Lester B. Pearson
Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson, PC, OM, CC, OBE was a Canadian professor, historian, civil servant, statesman, diplomat, and politician, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for organizing the United Nations Emergency Force to resolve the Suez Canal Crisis...

 government (1963-1968) and the Paul Martin
Paul Martin
Paul Edgar Philippe Martin, PC , also known as Paul Martin, Jr. is a Canadian politician who was the 21st Prime Minister of Canada, as well as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....

 government (2004-2006). Their self stated goal is to one day form a federal government on their own and introduce social-democratic policies.

In the province of Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

 the NDP has been considerably less popular, but recently, in the May 2nd, 2011 election, elected a record number of Members of Parliament for a total of 59 of the 75 elected members coming from Quebec. The party is now the Official Opposition.

For most of the late 20th century the strongest social-democratic party in Quebec has been the sovereigntist
Quebec sovereignty movement
The Quebec sovereignty movement refers to both the political movement and the ideology of values, concepts and ideas that promote the secession of the province of Quebec from the rest of Canada...

 Parti Québécois
Parti Québécois
The Parti Québécois is a centre-left political party that advocates national sovereignty for the province of Quebec and secession from Canada. The Party traditionally has support from the labour movement. Unlike many other social-democratic parties, its ties with the labour movement are informal...

. Like the NDP, the Parti Québécois officially considers itself to be "social democratic".

Radical versions of socialism

Many socialists in Canada have attempted to organize outside of the framework of parliamentary politics, to pursue conceptions of socialism that are more radical than the social-democratic politics of either the CCF or the NDP.

Some of the radical socialist organizations operating in Canada today include the International Socialists (Canada)
International Socialists (Canada)
The International Socialists is a Canadian socialist organization. It is part of the International Socialist Tendency. The I.S. publishes an English-language monthly paper, Socialist Worker and holds an annual Marxism conference every spring in Toronto....

, the New Socialist Group, the Communist League (Canada)
Communist League (Canada)
The Communist League in Canada was founded as the "Revolutionary Workers League/Ligue Ouvrière Révolutionnaire" in 1977 as the result of a merger of the League for Socialist Action , the Revolutionary Marxist Group and the Groupe Marxiste Revolutionaire.Originally a Trotskyist party, the RWL was...

, Autonomy & Solidarity, and the London Project for a Participatory Society, among others.

Socialist and social democratic parties in Canada

  • The New Democratic Party
    New Democratic Party
    The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...

    , (NDP) is a federal political party which officially adheres to social democracy while still being the most left-wing of Canada's mainstream parties, now forming the Official Opposition
    Official Opposition (Canada)
    In Canada, Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition , commonly known as the Official Opposition, is usually the largest parliamentary opposition party in the House of Commons or a provincial legislative assembly that is not in government, either on its own or as part of a governing coalition...

    . However a minority faction are committed to democratic socialism, including, but not restricted to the radical, Socialist Caucus. The policies of various provincial and territorial branches of the NDP have varied in the past from the left-wing to the third way
    Third way (centrism)
    The Third Way refers to various political positions which try to reconcile right-wing and left-wing politics by advocating a varying synthesis of right-wing economic and left-wing social policies. Third Way approaches are commonly viewed from within the first- and second-way perspectives as...

    . The party's youth group is known as the New Democratic Youth of Canada. The provincial branches of the NDP are:
    • Yukon New Democratic Party
      Yukon New Democratic Party
      The Yukon New Democratic Party is a social-democratic political party in the Yukon territory of Canada.The Yukon NDP first formed the government of the territory under the leadership of Tony Penikett from 1985 to 1992, and under the leadership of Piers McDonald from 1996 to 2000. The party's...

       - third party
    • British Columbia New Democratic Party - official opposition
    • Alberta New Democratic Party
      Alberta New Democratic Party
      The Alberta New Democratic Party or Alberta NDP is a social-democratic political party in Alberta, Canada, which was originally founded as the Alberta section of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation...

       - third party
    • Saskatchewan New Democratic Party
      Saskatchewan New Democratic Party
      The Saskatchewan New Democratic Party is a social-democratic political party in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It currently forms the official opposition, but has been a dominant force in Saskatchewan politics since the 1940s...

       - official opposition
    • New Democratic Party of Manitoba
      New Democratic Party of Manitoba
      The New Democratic Party of Manitoba is a social-democratic political party in Manitoba, Canada. It is the provincial wing of the federal New Democratic Party, and is a successor to the Manitoba Co-operative Commonwealth Federation...

       - governing party
    • Ontario New Democratic Party
      Ontario New Democratic Party
      The Ontario New Democratic Party or , formally known as New Democratic Party of Ontario, is a social democratic political party in Ontario, Canada. It is a provincial section of the federal New Democratic Party. It was formed in October 1961, a few months after the federal party. The ONDP had its...

       - third party
    • New Democratic Party of Newfoundland and Labrador
      New Democratic Party of Newfoundland and Labrador
      The Newfoundland and Labrador New Democratic Party is a social-democratic provincial political party in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The party is the successor to the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and the Newfoundland Democratic Party...

       - third party
    • Nova Scotia New Democratic Party
      Nova Scotia New Democratic Party
      The Nova Scotia New Democratic Party is a social-democratic provincial party in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is aligned with the federal New Democratic Party . Originally founded as the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation in 1932, it became the New Democratic Party in 1961. It became the governing...

       - governing party
    • New Brunswick New Democratic Party
      New Brunswick New Democratic Party
      The New Brunswick New Democratic Party is a social-democratic provincial political party in New Brunswick, Canada linked with the federal New Democratic Party .-Origins and early history:...

       - not represented in the legislature
    • New Democratic Party of Prince Edward Island - no longer represented in the legislature

  • The Communist Party of Canada
    Communist Party of Canada
    The Communist Party of Canada is a communist political party in Canada. Although is it currently a minor or small political party without representation in the Federal Parliament or in provincial legislatures, historically the Party has elected representatives in Federal Parliament, Ontario...

     sees itself as being "Canada's party of socialism" and with its origins going back to 1921 the CPC is the second oldest existing political party in Canada after the 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...

    . The Communist Party has active branches in Alberta
    Communist Party (Alberta)
    Communist Party – Alberta is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. It is a provincial branch of the Communist Party of Canada.-History:...

    , Ontario
    Communist Party of Ontario
    The Communist Party of Canada is the Ontario, Canada provincial wing of the Communist Party of Canada. In the 1940s and 1950s under the name Labour-Progressive Party, the group won two seats in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario: A.A. MacLeod and J.B...

    , Manitoba
    Communist Party of Canada (in Manitoba)
    The Communist Party of Canada was founded in 1921. It was an illegal organization for several years, and its meetings were conducted with great secrecy. Until 1924, the "Workers Party" functioned as its public, legal face...

    , Saskatchewan
    Communist Party of Canada (Saskatchewan)
    The Communist Party of Canada was a communist political party in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It was the Saskatchewan section of the Communist Party of Canada...

    , and British Columbia
    Communist Party of British Columbia
    The Communist Party of British Columbia is the British Columbia branch of the Communist Party of Canada. Its leader is Sam Hammond.From the 1945 British Columbia election to the 1956 election, it was known as the Labour Progressive Party....

    . In Quebec
    Quebec
    Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

     there was a split in 2006 between a separatist and federalist faction in the Communist Party of Quebec
    Communist Party of Quebec
    The Parti communiste du Québec or PCQ is a communist political party in Quebec. The PCQ was the Quebec branch of the Communist Party of Canada until 2005 when the PCQ split at convention with a majority opposing the CPC's stance on Quebec independence...

    . The PCQ is now led by Andre Parizeau
    André Parizeau
    André Parizeau is a politician in the Canadian province of Quebec, who is currently the leader of the Parti communiste du Québec.A split followed a lengthy dispute between Parizeau and the Central Executive Committee of the CPC. In November 2004, Parizeau introduced a series of amendments to the...

     the leader of the separatist faction, while the party's federalists have regrouped into the PCC/PCQ and are tied to the federal party.. The CPC also has a youth group, known as the Young Communist League of Canada
    Young Communist League of Canada
    The Young Communist League of Canada is a Marxist-Leninist youth organization which fights to build a powerful youth and student movement across Canada and for socialism.According to their website,- History :...

    .

  • The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist)
    Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist)
    The Communist Party of Canada is a Canadian federal Marxist–Leninist political party.The party is registered with Elections Canada as the Marxist–Leninist Party of Canada...

     was created in 1971 as a so-called Anti-Revisionist
    Anti-Revisionist
    In the Marxist–Leninist movement, anti-revisionism refers to a doctrine which upholds the line of theory and practice associated with Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin, and usually either Mao Zedong or Enver Hoxha as well...

     party supportive of Maoism
    Maoism
    Maoism, also known as the Mao Zedong Thought , is claimed by Maoists as an anti-Revisionist form of Marxist communist theory, derived from the teachings of the Chinese political leader Mao Zedong . Developed during the 1950s and 1960s, it was widely applied as the political and military guiding...

     and of Albanian leader Enver Hoxha
    Enver Hoxha
    Enver Halil Hoxha was a Marxist–Leninist revolutionary andthe leader of Albania from the end of World War II until his death in 1985, as the First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania...

    . Today the ideology of the CPC (ML) or Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada is less doctrinaire than in the past but still considered more radical than that of the Communist Party of Canada. They support radically changing the way candidates are nominated and elected and are generally supportive of North Korea
    North Korea
    The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...

    . Their members are active in the Canadian Union of Postal Workers
    Canadian Union of Postal Workers
    The Canadian Union of Postal Workers or CUPW is a public sector trade union representing postal workers employed at Canada Post as well as private sector workers outside Canada Post.-Activities:...

     and United Steelworkers of America. The CPC (ML) has active provincial branches in British Columbia (the People's Front
    People's Front (British Columbia)
    The People's Front is the British Columbia, Canada wing of the Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada.In the 2001 British Columbia election, it nominated 11 candidates, received a total of 720 votes...

    ), Manitoba
    Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) (in Manitoba)
    The Communist Party of Canada is a political party that espouses revolutionary communism. Its orientation is Anti-Revisionist . Between 1970 and 1997, the party was led by Hardial Bains; since his death, it was led by Sandra L. Smith...

    , Ontario
    Independent Renewal candidates, 2003 Ontario provincial election
    The Communist Party of Canada - Marxist-Leninist ran ten candidates in the 2003 Ontario provincial election. They did not use the CPC-ML name, but instead campaigned as "Independent Renewal" candidates...

     and in Quebec (the Parti marxiste-léniniste du Québec
    Parti marxiste-léniniste du Québec
    The Parti marxiste-léniniste du Québec or PMLQ is a Quebec communist political party. Its orientation is Marxism-Leninism. The PMLQ is the Quebec branch of the Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada...

    ).

  • Revolutionary Communist Party (Organizing Committees)
    Revolutionary Communist Party (Organizing Committees)
    The Revolutionary Communist Party is a Canada-based communist organization advocating the overthrow of the capitalist system. It is in the organizing stage. The ideology of the organization, founded in 2000, can be regarded as anti-revisionist in character. They describe their ideology as...

     is a communist organization advocating the overthrow of the capitalist
    Capitalism
    Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...

     system. It is in the organizing stage. The ideology of the organization, founded in 2000, can be regarded as anti-revisionist
    Anti-Revisionist
    In the Marxist–Leninist movement, anti-revisionism refers to a doctrine which upholds the line of theory and practice associated with Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin, and usually either Mao Zedong or Enver Hoxha as well...

     in character. They describe their ideology as "Marxism-Leninism-Maoism" which they consider the third phase of Marxism
    Marxism
    Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...

    . The group does not take part in electoral politics, instead aiming to educate the working class about the need for a revolution
    Revolution
    A revolution is a fundamental change in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time.Aristotle described two types of political revolution:...

     in the style of the Russian and Chinese revolutions. The RCP(OC) is non-collaborationist and opposes all Canadian political parties, including ones calling themselves communist.

  • Québec Solidaire
    Québec Solidaire
    Québec solidaire is a democratic socialist and sovereigntist political party in Quebec, Canada, that was created on 4 February 2006 in Montreal. It was formed by the merger of the left-wing party Union des forces progressistes and the alter-globalization political movement Option Citoyenne, led...

     ("Solidarity Quebec") is Quebec's most popular left-wing party. They claim to be devoted to the causes of democratic socialism, such as environmentalism
    Environmentalism
    Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...

    , feminism
    Feminism
    Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...

    , Quebec Sovereignty and alter-globalization
    Alter-globalization
    Alter-globalization is the name of a social movement that supports global cooperation and interaction, but which opposes the negative effects of economic globalization, feeling that it often works to the detriment of, or does not...

    . They have gained support amongst left-wing sovereigntist voters who are dissilusioned with the Parti Québécois' embrace of neoliberalism
    Neoliberalism
    Neoliberalism is a market-driven approach to economic and social policy based on neoclassical theories of economics that emphasizes the efficiency of private enterprise, liberalized trade and relatively open markets, and therefore seeks to maximize the role of the private sector in determining the...

    .

  • Parti Québécois
    Parti Québécois
    The Parti Québécois is a centre-left political party that advocates national sovereignty for the province of Quebec and secession from Canada. The Party traditionally has support from the labour movement. Unlike many other social-democratic parties, its ties with the labour movement are informal...

     (PQ) considers itself to be a social-democratic political party, similar to the NDP. However unlike most NDP governments the Parti Québécois followed a fiscal conservative
    Fiscal conservatism
    Fiscal conservatism is a political term used to describe a fiscal policy that advocates avoiding deficit spending. Fiscal conservatives often consider reduction of overall government spending and national debt as well as ensuring balanced budget of paramount importance...

     agenda during its previous stint in office 1994-2003 by greatly reducing social spending
    Government spending
    Government spending includes all government consumption, investment but excludes transfer payments made by a state. Government acquisition of goods and services for current use to directly satisfy individual or collective needs of the members of the community is classed as government final...

    . The PQ is better known in the "Rest of Canada" (outside Quebec) for its support of Quebec sovereignty movement
    Quebec sovereignty movement
    The Quebec sovereignty movement refers to both the political movement and the ideology of values, concepts and ideas that promote the secession of the province of Quebec from the rest of Canada...

    . The PQ has informal links to the federal Bloc Québécois
    Bloc Québécois
    The Bloc Québécois is a federal political party in Canada devoted to the protection of Quebec's interests in the House of Commons of Canada, and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty. The Bloc was originally a party made of Quebec nationalists who defected from the federal Progressive Conservative...

    .

Historical parties

Parties that have held seats in the Canadian House of Commons
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...

 and provincial legislatures.
  • Canadian Labour Party
    Canadian Labour Party
    The Canadian Labour Party was an early, unsuccessful attempt at creating a national labour party in Canada. Although it ran candidates in the federal elections of 1917, 1921, 1925 and 1926, it never succeeded in its goal of providing a national forum for the Canadian labour movement...

     (1917-1942)
  • Ginger Group
    Ginger group
    A ginger group is a formal or informal group within, for example, a political party seeking to inspire the rest with its own enthusiasm and activity....

     (1924-1932) - a group of radical members of the Progressive Party of Canada
    Progressive Party of Canada
    The Progressive Party of Canada was a political party in Canada in the 1920s and 1930s. It was linked with the provincial United Farmers parties in several provinces and, in Manitoba, ran candidates and formed governments as the Progressive Party of Manitoba...

  • United Farmers - farmer advocacy groups tied to the Progressive Party of Canada
    Progressive Party of Canada
    The Progressive Party of Canada was a political party in Canada in the 1920s and 1930s. It was linked with the provincial United Farmers parties in several provinces and, in Manitoba, ran candidates and formed governments as the Progressive Party of Manitoba...

    . In Ontario, the United Farmers of Ontario
    United Farmers of Ontario
    The United Farmers of Ontario was a political party in Ontario, Canada. It was the Ontario provincial branch of the United Farmers movement of the early part of the 20th century.- Foundation and rise :...

     governed from 1919 to 1924 with a fairly social democratic agenda, while the United Farmers of Alberta
    United Farmers of Alberta
    The United Farmers of Alberta is an association of Alberta farmers that has served many different roles throughout its history as a lobby group, a political party, and as a farm-supply retail chain. Since 1934 it has primarily been an agricultural supply cooperative headquartered in Calgary...

     governed Alberta from 1921 to 1930 following more conservative guidelines.
  • Socialist Party of Canada
    Socialist Party of Canada
    There have been two different but related political parties in Canada that called themselves the Socialist Party of Canada . The current Socialist Party is an electorally inactive and unregistered federal political party in Canada...

     - names used by two political parties. The first existed from 1905 to 1925 and was created by the Socialist Party of British Columbia; it played an important role in the creation of the CCF. The second has existed since 1931 and has been very marginal in terms of support.
  • Labour-Progressive Party
    Labour-Progressive Party
    For the Labour-Progressive Coalition Government in New Zealand see the Fifth Labour Government of New ZealandThe Labor-Progressive Party was the legal political organization of the Communist Party of Canada between 1943 and 1959....

     - was the name used by the Communist Party of Canada
    Communist Party of Canada
    The Communist Party of Canada is a communist political party in Canada. Although is it currently a minor or small political party without representation in the Federal Parliament or in provincial legislatures, historically the Party has elected representatives in Federal Parliament, Ontario...

     from 1941 to 1959 while it was an illegal party. The LPP followed a Marxist line and succeeded in not only electing a member of the House of Commons, but also electing representatives to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba
    Legislative Assembly of Manitoba
    The Legislative Assembly of Manitoba and the lieutenant governor form the Legislature of Manitoba, the legislature of the Canadian province of Manitoba. Fifty-seven members are elected to this assembly in provincial general elections, all in single-member constituencies with first-past-the-post...

     and the Legislative Assembly of Ontario
    Legislative Assembly of Ontario
    The Legislative Assembly of Ontario , is the legislature of the Canadian province of Ontario, and is the second largest provincial legislature of Canada...

    .
  • Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
    Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
    The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation was a Canadian political party founded in 1932 in Calgary, Alberta, by a number of socialist, farm, co-operative and labour groups, and the League for Social Reconstruction...

     (1932-1962) - known as the CCF, it was, before the NDP, Canada's most popular left-wing party. The CCF was formed during The Great Depression by members of the centrist Progressive Party of Canada
    Progressive Party of Canada
    The Progressive Party of Canada was a political party in Canada in the 1920s and 1930s. It was linked with the provincial United Farmers parties in several provinces and, in Manitoba, ran candidates and formed governments as the Progressive Party of Manitoba...

     (the Ginger Group), the United Farmers, the Labour Party and a social advocacy group known as the League for Social Reconstruction
    League for Social Reconstruction
    The League for Social Reconstruction was a circle of Canadian socialist intellectuals officially formed in 1932, though it had its beginnings during a camping retreat in 1931. These academics were advocating radical social and economic reforms and political education. Industrialization,...

    . At the party's first convention in Regina, Saskatchewan
    Regina, Saskatchewan
    Regina is the capital city of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province and a cultural and commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. It is governed by Regina City Council. Regina is the cathedral city of the Roman Catholic and Romanian Orthodox...

    , the Regina Manifesto
    Regina Manifesto
    The Regina Manifesto was the programme of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and was adopted at the first national convention of the CCF held in Regina, Saskatchewan in 1933. The primary goal of the "Regina Manifesto" was to eradicate the system of capitalism and replace it with a planned...

    was launched announcing that: "No CCF Government will rest content until it has eradicated capitalism and put into operation the full programme of socialized planning which will lead to the establishment in Canada of the Co-operative Commonwealth." The radical Regina Manifesto was replaced by the more moderate Winnipeg Declaration
    Winnipeg Declaration
    The Winnipeg Declaration was the programme adopted by the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation in Canada to replace the Regina Manifesto...

    in 1956. The CCF went onto form one of Canada's most popular and historically significant provincial governments in 1944 in the Canadian province of 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....

     under Tommy Douglas. In Ontario
    Ontario
    Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

     the CCF formed the official opposition in 1943 and again in 1948 until losing that position to the Liberals. In British Columbia
    British Columbia
    British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

     the CCF also formed the official opposition after 1941. Federally the party never got past third place and in an attempt to broaden their support base the CCF merged with the Canadian Labour Congress
    Canadian Labour Congress
    The Canadian Labour Congress, or CLC is a national trade union centre, the central labour body in English Canada to which most Canadian labour unions are affiliated.- Formation :...

     to create the NDP.
  • Cape Breton Labour Party
    Cape Breton Labour Party
    The Cape Breton Labour Party was a social democratic provincial political party in Nova Scotia, Canada that advocated separate provincial status for Cape Breton, which is the northern part of the Province of Nova Scotia.-Founding:...

    , the Cape Breton Labour Party was a social-democratic party from the province of Nova Scotia
    Nova Scotia
    Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

     represented in the Nova Scotia legislature from 1981-1988 by a former NDP member Paul MacEwan
    Paul MacEwan
    Paul MacEwan is a former politician in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada, and long-time member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly.-Biography:...

    .
  • New Democratic Party of Quebec was the Quebec
    Quebec
    Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

     wing of the NDP. The Quebec NDP failed to win any significant support or win any seats in the Quebec legislature (its parent party, the Quebec CCF won one). After years of infighting in 1989, the party broke off relations with the federal NDP and in 1994 changed its name to the Parti de la Democratie Socialiste
    Parti de la démocratie socialiste
    The Parti de la Democratie Socialiste was a political party in Quebec, Canada.The early origins of the PDS can be traced back to the Fédération du Commonwealth Coopératif , later renamed Parti social démocratique du Québec...

     (PDS) or "Socialist Democratic Party". The PDS adopted a program calling for Quebec's separation from Canada and had attempted to nominate a former terrorist, Paul Rose (formerly of the FLQ
    Front de libération du Québec
    The Front de libération du Québec was a left-wing Quebecois nationalist and Marxist-Leninist paramilitary group in Quebec, Canada. It was active between 1963 and 1970, and was regarded as a terrorist organization for its violent methods of action...

    ) as a federal candidate. The PDS contested the 1998 Quebec election
    Quebec general election, 1998
    The Quebec general election of 1998 was held on November 30, 1998, to elect members of the National Assembly of the Province of Quebec, Canada. The incumbent Parti Québécois, led by Lucien Bouchard, won re-election, defeating the Quebec Liberal Party, led by Jean Charest.After the narrow defeat of...

     without any success. In 2002 the PDS joined the Communist Party of Quebec
    Communist Party of Quebec
    The Parti communiste du Québec or PCQ is a communist political party in Quebec. The PCQ was the Quebec branch of the Communist Party of Canada until 2005 when the PCQ split at convention with a majority opposing the CPC's stance on Quebec independence...

     and other far left, sovereigntist parties in an alliance known as the Union des forces progressistes (UFP). In 2006 the UFP became Quebec solidaire
    Québec Solidaire
    Québec solidaire is a democratic socialist and sovereigntist political party in Quebec, Canada, that was created on 4 February 2006 in Montreal. It was formed by the merger of the left-wing party Union des forces progressistes and the alter-globalization political movement Option Citoyenne, led...

    .

See also

  • Politics of Canada
    Politics of Canada
    The politics of Canada function within a framework of parliamentary democracy and a federal system of parliamentary government with strong democratic traditions. Canada is a constitutional monarchy, in which the Monarch is head of state...

  • History of Canada
    History of Canada
    The history of Canada covers the period from the arrival of Paleo-Indians thousands of years ago to the present day. Canada has been inhabited for millennia by distinctive groups of Aboriginal peoples, among whom evolved trade networks, spiritual beliefs, and social hierarchies...

  • History of Socialism
    History of socialism
    The history of socialism has its origins in the French Revolution of 1789 and the changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution, although it has precedents in earlier movements and ideas. The Communist Manifesto was written by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels in 1848 just before the Revolutions...

  • League for Social Reconstruction
    League for Social Reconstruction
    The League for Social Reconstruction was a circle of Canadian socialist intellectuals officially formed in 1932, though it had its beginnings during a camping retreat in 1931. These academics were advocating radical social and economic reforms and political education. Industrialization,...

  • Douglas-Coldwell Foundation
    Douglas-Coldwell Foundation
    The Douglas-Coldwell Foundation is a Canadian think tank devoted, in the words of its slogan, to "promoting education and research into social democracy." It was founded in 1971, and is based in Ottawa....

  • Liberalism in Canada
    Liberalism in Canada
    Liberalism has been a strong force in Canadian politics since the late 18th Century. While Canada has the same features of other liberal democracies in the Western democratic political tradition, it is, in some respects, an exemplar of liberalism. This article gives an overview of liberalism in...

  • Conservatism in Canada
  • Republicanism in Canada
    Republicanism in Canada
    Canadian republicanism is the appreciation amongst Canadians for the replacement of the Canadian system of constitutional monarchy with a republican form of government in the sense of the state headed by a president. These beliefs are expressed either individually generally in academic circles or...

  • Monarchism in Canada
    Monarchism in Canada
    Canadian monarchism is the appreciation amongst Canadians for, and thus also advocacy for the retention of, their distinct system of constitutional monarchy, countering anti-monarchical reform as being generally revisionist, idealistic, and ultimately impracticable...

  • Fascism in Canada
    Fascism in Canada
    Fascism in Canada consisted of a variety of movements and political parties in Canada during the twentieth century. Largely a fringe ideology, fascism has never commanded a large following amongst the Canadian people, and was most popular during the Great Depression...

  • Anarchism in Canada
    Anarchism in Canada
    Anarchism in Canada spans a range of anarchist philosophy including anarchist communism, green anarchy, anarcho-syndicalism, individualist anarchism, Libertarian Communism as well as other lesser known forms...


External links

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