Reconstruction Party
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Reconstruction Party of Canada
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|---|---|
| Former federal party | |
| Founded | 1935 |
| Dissolved | 1938 |
| Split from | Conservative Party |
| Ideology |
Keynesianism National Conservatism Isolationism |
| Political position | Centre-right |
The Reconstruction Party was a Canadian political party founded by Henry Herbert Stevens, a long-time Conservative Member of Parliament (MP). Stevens served as Minister of Trade in the Arthur Meighen government of 1921, and as Minister of Trade and Commerce from 1930 to 1934 in the Depression-era government of R. B. Bennett. He was Chairman of the Price-Spreads Commission in 1934.
Stevens argued for drastic economic reform and government intervention in the economy. He quit the Bennett government and formed the Reconstruction Party when it became evident that the Tories would not implement the proposals of the Price-Spreads Commission.
The party was also isolationist and opposed Canadian involvement in a European war and opposed the League of Nations sanctions against fascist Italy for its invasion of Ethiopia.
The Reconstruction Party nominated 174 candidates in the 1935 federal election. It won more votes nationally than the other new parties. The Liberal vote was 2,076,394, the Conservatives 1,308,688, and that for the Reconstruction Party 389,708; while the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and the Social Credit parties garnered 386,484 and 187,045 votes respectively. Many of the votes that the party won were taken away from the Conservative Party. In 48 ridings, the margin of victory for the Liberal candidate over the Conservative candidate was less than the number of votes received by the Reconstruction Party candidate.
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