DCHP-1 Online

Reformer Hist.

• 1 n. in Upper and Lower Canada, a member of a political group advocating a greater measure of responsible government and other reforms, the movement being among the antecedents of the present Liberal Party

  See also: Liberal Party  Radical Reformer  Reform party  

  • 1832  It is not an uncommon thing to hear Reformers, besides their other numerous and equally appropriate titles, distinguished by the appellation of Mackenzieites.
  • 1853  The faithfulness with which I stood by Lower Canada Reformers for thirty years ruined my worldly prospects, injured my constitution, impoverished my family in a foreign land, and covered me with obloquy.
  • 1909  Suppose, for instance, some bigoted old Conservative storming, when approached by a prospective son-in-law of Liberal tendencies, "What! my daughter marry a Reformer! When her mother and I and our people before us have always been good Conservatives, and she has been brought up in the same faith! Never, sir!"
  • 1963  This, perhaps the most pregnant sentence in Canadian political history, was written by a moderate Reformer.

• 2 n. in Nova Scotia, a supporter of the Reform movement led by Joseph Howe in the 1830's and 40's.

  • 1837  The eager and determined manner in which the Reformers pushed their violent measures at the commencement of the last Session, plainly shows how all obstacles to their views would be disposed of.
  • 1963  Thomson intervened tactfully and persuaded Campbell to take some Reformers into the executive council [of Nova Scotia].