Parti national social chrétien
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The National Unity Party should not be confused with the Unity Party of Canada.
The Parti national social chrétien was a Canadian political party formed by Adrien Arcand in February 1934. The party identified with fascism, anti-semitism, and German leader Adolf Hitler's Nazism. The party was later known, in English, as the Canadian National Socialist Unity Party.
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[edit] 1930s
The party was formed by Adrien Arcand in February 1934. It was known in English as the Christian National Socialist Party. Arcand was a Quebec-based fascist and anti-semite. An admirer of Adolf Hitler, Arcand referred to himself as the "Canadian führer".
In October 1934, the party merged with the Canadian Nationalist Party, which was based in the Prairie provinces. By the mid 1930s, the party had some success, with a few thousand members mainly concentrated in Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta.
In June 1938, it merged with Nazi and fascist clubs in Ontario and Quebec, many of which were known as Swastika clubs, to form the National Unity Party. At a time of English-French Canadian tension, Arcand tried to create a pan-Canadian (English and French) nationalist political movement. It was based on the National Socialist (Nazi) Party in Germany.
The group was known colloquially as the "Blue Shirts", and commonly fought with immigrants, Canadian minorities and leftist groups. The group boasted that it would seize power in Canada, but the party exaggerated its own influence.
On December 2, 1937, P.M. Campbell ran in a by-election for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in the Lethbridge riding under the Unity Party of Alberta banner, and won by 700 votes over A.J. Burnapp from the Alberta Social Credit Party. Campbell was re-elected as an independent in the 1940 Alberta election.
[edit] 1940s
On May 30, 1940, the party was banned under the War Measures Act, and Arcand and many of his followers were arrested and detained for the duration of the war.
Arcand ran in the 1949 federal election in the riding of Richelieu—Verchères as a candidate for the National Unity Party. He placed second, winning 5,590 votes (29.1% of the total).[1]
