The Progressive Group for Independent Business (PGIB) is a membership-funded business and taxpayer association in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

founded in 1992 with the goal of promoting the interests of their membership, which consists of small-business owners, entrepreneurs and taxpayers. The firm also offers lobbying services and full-service campaign consulting. Its CEO is Craig Chandler. Since the mid-1990s, the PGIB has claimed to have influenced the development of some of the policies of the

Common Sense Revolution The phrase Common Sense Revolution (CSR) has been used as a political slogan to describe conservative platforms with a main goal of reducing taxes while balancing the budget by reducing the size and role of government. It has been used in places ...

platform that elected

Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC; ), often shortened to the Ontario PC Party, or simply the PCs, colloquially known as the Tories, is a Centre-right politics, centre-right political party in Ontario, Canada. During its uninterr ...

leader

Mike Harris Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a retired Canadian politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party) from 1990 to 2002. Taking the PC ...

to provincial government. The PGIB also claims that in its 1995 campaign "Focus Federally for Reform" (FFR), it successfully restrained the Reform Party from creating a provincial party in Ontario, thereby splitting the right-wing provincial vote. Mark Dyrholm

In 1998, under the auspices of the PGIB, Chandler organized the " Unite the Right - Roots of Change" conference in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. The conference included social conservative delegates from the

Reform Reform refers to the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The modern usage of the word emerged in the late 18th century and is believed to have originated from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement, which ...

and Progressive Conservative Parties. It was criticized for also including representatives of the

Christian Heritage Party of Canada The Christian Heritage Party of Canada (), also known as CHP Canada, is a Canadian federal political party that is part of the Christian right. Founded in 1987, it was the brainchild of two couples in British Columbia, namely Bill and Heathe ...

, Confederation of Regions Party, Freedom Party of Ontario, Renaissance Canada and the Alliance for the Preservation of English in Canada. Attendees also included conservative commentators Michael Coren and Linda Leatherdale. In 2003, the PGIB launched the "2cards.ca" initiativeCanadian Alliance/Progressive Conservative website
/ref> that called for a United Alternative. Chandler ran as the PGIB candidate in the Progressive Conservative leadership convention, 2003. In June 2009, Mark Dyrholm, the group's National Vice President and a

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

chiropractor, ran for the Leadership of the newly formed Wildrose Alliance Party to succeed

Paul Hinman Paul Hinman (born 1959) is a Canadian politician and businessman who is currently the leader of the Wildrose Loyalty Coalition. He was the leader of the Wildrose Independence Party of Alberta from 2020 to 2022, and was the leader of the Wild ...

in their 2009 Leadership Convention. In the end, Dyrholm lost to

Danielle Smith Marlaina Danielle Smith (born April 1, 1971) is a Canadian politician, former lobbyist, and former columnist and media personality who has been serving as the 19th premier of Alberta and leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP) since 20 ...

, an Alberta journalist and broadcaster. In 2022, the group launched an email marketing campaign which targeted small businesses. Despite many complaints, the PGIB made it impossible to be removed from their server lists. Uninterested business owners continue to receive emails from the PGIB.

References

External links

Progressive Group for Independent Business Webpage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Progressive Group For Independent Business Conservatism in Canada Political advocacy groups in Canada