Evaluate the reasons for the collapse of the Progressive Conservative Party in Canada.

Candidates will make an appraisal of the reasons for the collapse of the Progressive Conservative Party (PCP). Candidates could argue that the party continued in a different form after it merged with the Canadian Alliance Party in 2003 to form the Conservative Party of Canada. Nevertheless, candidates should provide some explanation of the party’s sharp decline in support from 1993 onwards. Issues that may be addressed include the heterogeneous nature of its support in that it included Quebec nationalists from the East and conservatives from the West, the inability of Mulroney to satisfy Quebec nationalists illustrated by the failure of the Meech Lake Accord and the referendum defeat of the Charlottetown Accord, and the recession of the late 1980s with its increase in unemployment and debt. It might be argued that the collapse was not complete since the PCP won provincial elections in Ontario in 1995.