Prince Edward Island Liberal Party
The Prince Edward Island Liberal Party was created by Reformers who agitated for the system of responsible government which was granted to the then-colony in 1851 by the British crown.George Coles was its dominant figure in its first decades. While initially supportive of Canadian confederation, Coles and the Liberals soured on the project and it wasn't until 1873 that the island joined Canada as a means of relieving the PEI government's severe debts.
The early party supported the abolition of school fees and a resolution to the land question that divided the province. The Liberals supported land reform in the form of state acquisition of large landed estates so they could be broken up and turned over to tenants and squatters.
The Liberals have been one of only two parties forming government on the island since 1851, the other being the Conservatives though the Liberals have formed government more often. In practice, their is little to distinguish the two parties from each other with both leaning towards the centre of the political spectrum with the Liberals being slightly to the left and the Tories slightly to the right.
Traditionally, the Tories have done better among Protestant voters while Liberals have had more support from Catholics but politics on the island has never been sectarian and both parties have always had voters and members from both populations. Indeed, it has been the custom until recently for a Liberal incumbent of one denomination to be opposed by a Tory challenger of the same denomination and vice versa and this had tended to minimise religious sectrianism within the parties. The Liberals have also traditionally enjoyed the support of the province's small Acadian population concentrated in Prince County at the west end of the island. Conservative support has tended to be greater on the eastern half of the island.
In the past forty years the most significant figures in the party have been Alexander B. Campbell and, later, Joe Ghiz. Liberal governments in the 1960s and 1970s under Campbell supporterd diversification of the province's agricultural economy with government incentives to attract manufacturing and tourism. Under Ghiz in the 1980s, the Liberals opposed free trade and the federal Tory government's decision to close a military base on the island though the party's enthusiasm for economic intervention in the economy had waned since the Campbell years.
While both parties tend towards moderation, the Liberals lean slightly to the left and are aligned with the federal Liberal Party of Canada.
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