The Progressive Conservative Association of Nova Scotia, registered under the Nova Scotia Elections Act as the Progressive Conservative Party of Nova Scotia, originated from the
Confederation Party of
Charles Tupper. Tupper united members of the pre-
Confederation Conservative Party (who were predominantly
United Empire Loyalists and members of the business elite) and supporters of Sir
John A. Macdonald's national Conservative coalition. The party supported Macdonald's protectionist
National Policy, nation-building, and the unification of
British North America.
Canadian Confederation was initially unpopular in
Nova Scotia, and the party was out of government for most of the late 19th century. It formed government for only six years between 1867 and 1956. It bottomed out in 1945, when the party was shut out of the legislature altogether. The modern party was built by
Robert Stanfield after
World War II. Stanfield, the scion of a wealthy textile family, had considered himself
socialist in university; though he later moderated his views, he always remained a progressive. Under his leadership, what was by then the "Progressive Conservative Party" became a moderate
Red Tory organization. He was able to get the party back into the House of Assembly soon after taking the leadership. By 1956, he had built it into an organization that was able to sweep to power, winning re-election four times. As premier, he led reforms
in human rights, education, municipal government and health care and also created
Industrial Estates Limited, a crown corporation that successfully attracted investment from world companies such as Michelin Tire. He worked to modernized the road system, brought in the first form of
Medicare, established the first economic development agency, invested heavily in education at all levels and established the predecessor to the
Nova Scotia Community College. After Stanfield left provincial politics to become leader of the federal
Progressive Conservative Party in 1967,
G. I. Smith served as premier until 1970. After being elected party leader in 1971,
John Buchanan was elected premier in 1978. He was re-elected in 1981, 1984 and 1988. In the
1984 election, voters served his largest majority, capturing 42 of the 52 seats in the legislature. Buchanan's government first succeeded in convincing federal government to give Nova Scotia control over offshore resources such as gas and oil, resulting in future revenue for the province through the Crown Share.
Roger Bacon became premier in 1990 after Buchanan was appointed to the
Senate of Canada and until the party selected
Donald W. Cameron as party leader and premier. During his term, Cameron reformed government finance practices, promoted anti-discrimination measures, introduced new government accountability measures and established the first non-partisan electoral boundaries revision commission in 1992.
Recent history After six years of Liberal governments led by
John Savage and later
Russel MacLellan, PC leader
John Hamm was elected premier in
1999. After taking office, he invested more in
education and
health care, implemented some
tax cuts and sold or closed government-owned industries such as
Sydney Steel. His government also passed tough lobbyist registration legislation, introduced smoking cessation initiatives, provided new funding for community college modernization and achieved historically high economic growth and employment numbers. His government was the first to balance provincial finances in 25 years in 2002. Hamm retired as Premier of Nova Scotia and leader of the PC party in 2006.
Rodney MacDonald was elected to replace Hamm as party leader in 2006 and subsequently became Premier of Nova Scotia. Through strategic investments in rural broadband infrastructure, MacDonald continued to expand high-speed internet access throughout the province. MacDonald's government moved to help stabilize energy costs, grow the economy and attract new investment to the province. The
2006 election resulted in a reduced minority for MacDonald and the Progressive Conservatives were reduced to third-party status in the 2009 election. On June 24, 2009, MacDonald stepped down as leader and
Karen Casey was named the
interim leader.
Jamie Baillie became leader of the PC Party on October 30, 2010 after running unopposed. He led the party into the
2013 election, and won eleven seats allowing the PC party form the Official Opposition. In the
2017 election, the party retained official opposition status, and increased their seat count to 17. On November 1, 2017, Baillie announced he was stepping down as leader. Baillie was to remain in the position until a new
leader was chosen, however on January 24, 2018, he resigned after the party executive requested his immediate resignation due to "allegations of inappropriate behaviour". Following his resignation, Pictou West MLA Karla MacFarlane was named interim leader. In the
2021 Nova Scotia general election, Tim Houston fought the campaign on a pledge to spend more to fix healthcare. The Progressive Conservative party won a majority government for the first time since 1999 and formed government for the first time since 2006. According to the PC Party website, their mission is "to form a fiscally responsible, socially progressive government that promotes individual achievement and personal responsibility, is accountable to its citizens, listens to its people, embraces innovation, preserves the best of our unique heritage and diverse cultures and learns from the past". ==Current elected members==