The Ginger Group was not a formal political party in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

, but a faction of radical Progressive and Labour

Members of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

who advocated

socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes th ...

. The term

ginger group The Ginger Group was not a formal political party in Canada, but a faction of radical Progressive and Labour Members of Parliament who advocated socialism. The term ginger group also refers to a small group with new, radical ideas trying to a ...

also refers to a small group with new, radical ideas trying to act as a catalyst within a larger body. The Ginger Group split with the Progressive Party in 1924 when Progressive leader Robert Forke proved too eager to accommodate the Liberal government of William Lyon Mackenzie King and agreed to support the government's budget with only minimal concessions. J. S. Woodsworth, using his right as the leader of the Independent Labour MPs, moved a stronger amendment to the budget based on demands the Progressives had made in earlier years but had since abandoned. The Progressive and Labour MPs who broke with their Progressive colleagues to support Woodsworth became the "Ginger Group". It was made up of United Farmers of Alberta MPs

George Gibson Coote George Gibson Coote (August 18, 1880 – November 24, 1959) was a Canadian accountant, bank manager, farmer, and federal politician. Political career Coote was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1921 Canadian federal election as ...

, Robert Gardiner,

Edward Joseph Garland Edward Joseph Garland (March 16, 1887 – December 19, 1974) was a farmer, diplomat and a Canadian federal politician. He was born in Dublin, Ireland and attended Belvedere College and Trinity College Dublin. Political career Garland, an a ...

, Donald MacBeth Kennedy and

Henry Elvins Spencer Henry Elvins Spencer (7 March 1882 – 1 October 1972) was a Canadian politician. Born in the United Kingdom, Spencer worked as a printer and publisher in Paris from 1906 to 1907 before emigrating to Canada in 1908. Settling in Alberta, h ...

as well as United Farmers of Ontario MP

Agnes Macphail Agnes Campbell MacPhail (March 24, 1890 – February 13, 1954) was a Canadian politician and the first woman elected to Canada's House of Commons. She served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1921 to 1940; from 1943 to 1945 and again from 1948 ...

. The group was later joined by Labour MPs J. S. Woodsworth, William Irvine, Abraham Albert Heaps and

Angus MacInnis Angus MacInnis (September 2, 1884 – March 3, 1964) was a Canadian socialist politician and parliamentarian. MacInnis, a trade unionist who had served for five years as a Vancouver Alderman, was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada ...

, independent MP

Joseph Tweed Shaw Joseph Tweed Shaw (August 30, 1883 – July 12, 1944) was a Canadian politician. He served in the House of Commons of Canada from 1921 to 1925 as an independent Labour Member of Parliament (MP), and later became an MLA and leader of the Alberta ...

and Progressive MPs

Milton Neil Campbell Milton Neil Campbell (January 21, 1881 – November 11, 1965) was a Canadian politician. He represented the electoral district of Mackenzie from 1921 to 1933, in the House of Commons of Canada. He resigned from the House of Commons in 1933 ...

, William John Ward, William Charles Good, and Preston Elliott. Members of the Ginger Group played a role in forming the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation in 1932, with Woodsworth becoming the new party's leader. The only sitting United Farmers of Alberta who did not join the CCF at its founding was William Thomas Lucas who ran for re-election unsuccessfully as a Conservative in 1935. The name Ginger Group was also used to refer to a group of Conservative MPs who, in 1917 opposed

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Robert Borden's use of the Military Service Act to introduce

conscription Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to Ancient history, antiquity and it continues in some countries to th ...

during the Conscription Crisis of 1917.

References

{{Canadian federal political parties 1924 establishments in Canada Agrarian parties in Canada Nationalist parties in Canada Co-operative Commonwealth Federation Federal political parties in Canada Labour history of Canada Political party factions in Canada Political schisms Progressivism in Canada Social democratic parties in Canada Socialist parties in Canada United Farmers

See also

References