The Parti bleu (, "Blue Party") was a political group that contested elections in the Eastern section of the Province of Canada. The Blue Party was ideologically located on the political right; it was also defined by its support for the Catholic Church, and later for supporting confederation.
The party was formed in 1854 by conservative members of the former Reform movement, following in the tradition of Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine and Francis Hincks. After confederation in 1867, the party was dissolved; members became part of the Conservative Party of Quebec at the provincial level, and the Conservative Party of Canada federally.
History
The Reform Party was a broad movement, organized around achieving responsible government in the Province of Canada. Because responsible government was required to enact any form of self-government, it was supported by both liberals and conservatives who could not achieve their own policy aims without it. The French-Canadian conservatives initially called themselves Ministerialists, in recognition of their support of the government and opposition of the Rouges and Liberals. By 1856, the Ministerialist faction had changed their name to Bleu. The Blue Party was opposed to the anti-clerical and republican positions of the Parti rouge.
Leaders
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Picture
! Name
! Term start
! Term end
! Notes
|-
|100px
|Sir Étienne-Paschal Taché
|27 January 1855
|26 November 1857
|Used the "Ministerialist" party label during first term
|-
|100px
|Sir George-Étienne Cartier
|26 November 1857
|24 May 1864
|First leader using the "Bleu" party label
|-
|100px
|Sir Étienne-Paschal Taché
|30 May 1864
|30 July 1865
|Senior statesman to lead the Great Coalition government; died in office
|-
|100px
|Sir Narcisse-Fortunat Belleau
|30 July 1865
|30 June 1867
|Appointed Lieutenant Governor of Quebec after Confederation
|}
Timeline
<timeline>
ImageSize = width:800 height:250
PlotArea = top:40 bottom:80 right:130 left:40
AlignBars = late
DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy
Period = from:1854 till:1867
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:3 start:1855
Colors =
id:canvas value:rgb(0.97,0.97,0.97)
id:Bleu value:rgb(0,0.28,0.67) legend:Bleu
Legend = columns:1 left:150 top:40 columnwidth:150
TextData =
pos:(20,40) textcolor:black fontsize:M
text:"Political parties:"
Backgroundcolors = canvas:canvas
BarData =
bar:ept
bar:gec
bar:nfb
PlotData=
width:10 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till
bar:ept
from:27/01/1855 till:02/08/1858 color:Bleu text:"Sir Étienne-Paschal Taché"
from:30/05/1864 till:30/07/1865 color:Bleu text:"Sir Étienne-Paschal Taché"
bar:gec
from:26/11/1857 till:26/11/1857 color:Bleu text:"Sir George-Étienne Cartier"
from:06/08/1858 till:24/05/1865 color:Bleu text:"Sir George-Étienne Cartier"
bar:nfb
from:30/07/1865 till:30/07/1867 color:Bleu text:"Sir Narcisse-Fortunat Belleau"
</timeline>