Nationalist Liberal

Nationalist Liberal is a banner under which several Canadian political have run or sat.

It was first used by Luc Letellier de St-Just in the Senate in 1867.

It was also the label under which Fleming Blanchard McCurdy ran in a by-election held in Colchester, Nova Scotia, Canada, on September 20, 1920.

McCurdy had been a Conservative Member of Parliament since 1911 and, as all Conservatives, became a Unionist in 1917, serving as Parliamentary Secretary to Sir Robert Borden.

Prime Minister Arthur Meighen appointed McCurdy to his Cabinet as Minister of Public Works in July 1920. At that time, new Cabinet appointees were required to seek re-election in a by-election. It is unknown why McCurdy ran as a Nationalist Liberal, but it may have had something to do with the fact that the Conservative/Unionist Party had changed its formal name to the National Liberal and Conservative Party or because his sole challenger was a member of the newly formed, left-wing United Farmers. McCurdy won the 1920 by-election by a narrow margin. He reverted to the Conservative label in 1921 and was defeated.

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