One of the first "third parties" in Canada was organized by Protestant evangelist and prohibitionist Alexander Sutherland in 1887 in Ontario.
The Dictionary of Canadian Biography states:
"By the mid 1880s Sutherland was frustrated with the absence of national legislation imposing prohibition, and he persuaded a bare majority of the Dominion Alliance meeting of 1887 to take independent political action by forming “Canada’s New Party.”
Apart from absolute prohibition of liquor traffic, the platform insisted upon by an uncompromising Sutherland was an assortment of social reform objectives and criticism of the Catholic influence in Canadian life."
It is not known if any "New Party" candidates were elected.
"In the 1890s, as the Methodist Church developed a social gospel, Sutherland’s dedication to reform remained rooted in the evangelical tradition. He emphasized that the creation of the kingdom of God began with the regeneration of individuals, not society. “Perpetual tinkering at laws and institutions” would not bring about fundamental reform. Indeed, Sutherland was alarmed that the Social Gospel, which seemed to him to concentrate on the material aspects of the kingdom of God, represented a dangerous secularization of Christian thought." (DCB)
In the early 1900s his responsibilities were reduced to overseeing Methodist Church's foreign missions.
"Despite this unfortunate conclusion to his long and invaluable service, Sutherland left an important legacy in his final years. His historical account, Methodism in Canada: its work and its story (Toronto, 1904), reflected the late Victorian view of Canadian Methodist history and has influenced subsequent generations of scholars. He argued that the story of Methodism in Canada was one of progress through the efforts of its missionaries. Not only had the church grown into a national institution, but it was also responsible for the establishment of religious equality, civil liberty, and the intellectual advancement of the nation." (DCB)
Thanks for reading.
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