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In 2003, two parties joined to form the Conservative Party of Canada which has existed in some form since Confederation.

Notable past Conservative Party Prime Ministers include John A. Macdonald, Sir Robert Borden, Arthur Meighen, R. B. Bennett, John Diefenbaker, Joe Clark, Brian Mulroney, and Kim Campbell.

The new Conservative Party elected its leader in a 2004 leadership election, making Stephen Harper the official party leader.

Harper led the Conservatives to secure 99 seats in the House of Commons in the 2004 general election and became the Leader of the Official Opposition.

The Conservatives held a founding convention in 2005 to establish and present a new series of ideas for the party which would be used to show the party as tough-to-beat for the then sitting Liberals in the next election.

In early 2006, Harper led his party to a minority win collecting 124 seats in the House and securing himself as the new Prime Minister.

The following election in 2008 saw Harper’s Conservatives gain seats, reaching 143, but not the required number to secure a majority government. This would be Harper’s second minority government.

In the 2011 general election, Harper got a majority government when his party won a resounding 166 seats. This government would last until the 2015 federal election, where the Liberals would win a majority government.

After the Conservative defeat, Stephen Harper stepped down as leader and Rona Ambrose took over as interim leader until a new leader could be chosen. Andrew Scheer won the 2017 vote. After failing to lead the party to an election win in 2019, Scheer stepped down as leader in December 2019. In 2020, Erin O’Toole won the leadership race and took over as leader.

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