In Ottawa, that percentage is 8.5 per cent, according to research by the
Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness.
The merger of the Progressive Conservatives with the
Canadian Alliance in 2003 created today's Conservative Party.
The right took power a decade ago after the unification of their two parties-the far-right
Canadian Alliance led by Harper and the center right Progressive Conservatives under Peter MacKay, who recently retired from politics and who is married to Iranian-Canadian Nazanin Afshin-Jam.
Orchard would step out of the race as long as MacKay promised not to merge the party with the
Canadian Alliance, a promise that MacKay quickly and controversially ignored.
Yet by 2004, the Liberals found themselves rocked by the Sponsorship scandal, while the once seemingly intractable divisions which separated the
Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservatives had been resolved in the form of a new Conservative Party of Canada.
Those from Reform,
Canadian Alliance, and Conservative MPs tend to focus on law and order, while those from their Liberal, NDP, and BQ counterparts emphasize health, immigration, labour and consumer concerns.
In Canada, the appearance of the Reform Party (1987), then the
Canadian Alliance (2000), and finally the Conservative Party of Canada (2003) embodied a fearful and belligerent determination to turn the clock back to a supposed simpler time when women, First Nations, and workers no longer contested elite rule.
Interestingly enough,
Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness President Tim Richter found the group "disgusting" itself.
It renamed itself as the
Canadian Alliance (the full name of the new party was the Canadian Reform-Conservative Alliance).
This is precisely what happened when, in 2003, the
Canadian Alliance (previously the Reform Party) and the Progressive Conservatives merged to form the Conservative Party of Canada.
Following the delivery of his prepared statement, six other groups--representing an eclectic mix of interests ranging from the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada to the Shipbuilding Association of Canada to the
Canadian Alliance of Student Associations-- made statements.