Editing Unity (Canada)

'''Unity''', '''United Progressive Movement''' and '''United Reform''' were the names used in [[Canada]] by a [[popular front]] party initiated by the [[Communist Party of Canada]] in the late 1930s.

==United Progressive/Unity in Saskatchewan==
Two of the movement's members, [[Dorise Nielsen]] and [[Walter George Brown]], were elected to the federal House of Commons in the [[1940 Canadian federal election|1940 Canadian election]] and two United Progressives, [[Alan Carl Stewart]] and [[Herman Kersler Warren]], were elected to the [[Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan]] in the [[1938 Saskatchewan general election|1938 provincial election]]. The unity movement included Communists, members of the [[Co-operative Commonwealth Federation]] (despite objections from the CCF leadership), supporters of the [[Canadian social credit movement]], and other populists and reformers opposed to the Liberal and Conservative parties.

[[Dorise Nielsen]] was elected in [[North Battleford (electoral district)|North Battleford]] under the Unity label, and [[Walter George Brown]] was elected as a [[United Reform]] Member of Parliament in [[Saskatoon City (federal electoral district)|Saskatoon City]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=May 2007|title=LECTURE OF THE 2007 RECIPIENT - Robert S. Kenny Prize|url=http://www.library.utoronto.ca/fisher/kenny-prize/faith-johnston.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303192344/http://www.library.utoronto.ca/fisher/kenny-prize/faith-johnston.html|archive-date=2016-03-03|website=[[University of Toronto Libraries]]}}</ref>

Nielsen was a supporter of the Communist Party and ran for re-election in [[1945 Canadian federal election|1945 federal election]] as a [[Labor-Progressive Party]] candidate (the name adopted by the Communist Party after it was banned) and was defeated.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://networks.h-net.org/node/6077/reviews/7195/scully-johnston-great-restlessness-life-and-politics-dorise-nielsen|title=Scully on Johnston, 'A Great Restlessness: The Life and Politics of Dorise Nielsen' &#124; H-HOAC &#124; H-Net|website=networks.h-net.org}}</ref><ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://lop.parl.ca/sites/ParlInfo/default/en_CA/SiteInformation/parlinfoMoved|title=ParlInfo Has Moved|website=lop.parl.ca|access-date=2025-05-08|archive-date=2020-05-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200511063417/https://lop.parl.ca/sites/ParlInfo/default/en_CA/SiteInformation/parlinfoMoved|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.duhaime.org/LawMuseum/CanadianLegalHistory/LawArticle-177/1941-Communists.aspx|title=1941, Communists!|website=Duhaime.org - Learn Law|access-date=2014-07-17|archive-date=2014-08-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808062907/http://www.duhaime.org/LawMuseum/CanadianLegalHistory/LawArticle-177/1941-Communists.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===United Reform in Saskatoon===
The '''United Reform Movement''' or '''United Reform''' was an attempt in [[Saskatoon, Saskatchewan|Saskatoon]], [[Saskatchewan]], Canada, to create a left wing farmer-labour coalition. It was part of an effort in [[Saskatchewan]] and [[Alberta]] by the [[Communist Party of Canada]] to create a [[united front]] bringing together the [[Co-operative Commonwealth Federation]], Communists, other leftists and even the populist [[Social Credit Party of Canada|Social Credit]] movement against the Liberals and Conservatives. While the movement was opposed and denounced by the leadership of the CCF it succeeded in some areas to bring local CCF activists on board.

Clergyman [[Walter George Brown]] won election to the [[House of Commons of Canada|House of Commons]] as a United Reform Movement candidate in a 1939 by-election in the [[electoral district (Canada)|riding]] of [[Saskatoon City (federal electoral district)|Saskatoon City]], and was re-elected in the [[1940 Canadian federal election|1940 general election]] with the endorsement of the [[National Government (Canada)|National Government]] party (as the Tories were called in 1940). He died on April 1, 1940, five days after being re-elected.

The URM recruited [[Agnes Macphail]], a longtime [[Member of Parliament]] (MP) who had been defeated in the 1940 election to run in the by-election to fill Brown's vacancy. MacPhail had been an MP since 1921, first as a representative for the [[Progressive Party of Canada]] and since 1930 as a [[United Farmers of Ontario]]-[[Labour Party of Canada|Labour]] MP, although she was active with the [[Co-operative Commonwealth Federation]]. In deference to her nominators, she ran as a "United Reform" candidate in the August 1940 by-election, but was defeated by the Conservative candidate.

There was also a "United Reform" candidate in the Saskatchewan riding of [[Weyburn (federal electoral district)|Weyburn]] who ran in the 1940 general election against [[Tommy Douglas]] of the CCF.

==United Progressive in Alberta==
In the 1940 federal election, William Halina sought election to the Canadian House of Commons in the [[electoral district (Canada)|riding]] of [[Vegreville (federal electoral district)|Vegreville]], [[Alberta]] under the '''United Progressive''' banner.  Halina won 2,727&nbsp;votes, or 19.4%&nbsp;of the total cast, placing third behind the [[Social Credit Party of Canada|Social Credit]] and [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]] candidates, but ahead of the [[Co-operative Commonwealth Federation]] candidate.<ref name="auto"/> Halina ran for the communist [[Labor-Progressive Party]] in the 1945 election.<ref name="auto"/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==See also==
*[[Labor-Progressive Party]]
*[[Communist Party (Alberta)]]
*[[List of political parties in Canada]]
*[[Walter George Brown]]
*[[Politics of Saskatchewan]]
*[[Communist Party of Canada (Saskatchewan)]]

[[Category:Federal political parties in Canada]]
[[Category:Politics of Saskatchewan]]
[[Category:Popular fronts]]
[[Category:Socialist parties in Canada]]
[[Category:Communist parties in Canada]]