Preston Manning, who split the conservative vote when he created the Reform Party in 1987, had always been an outsider. And the story of the Reconstruction Party is one Bernier will have to avoid repeating if he doesn't want to end up right next to Stevens in the dustbin of Canadian political history. Bennett, Liberal Leader Mackenzie King and Reconstruction Party Leader Henry Herbert Stevens in the Lethbridge Herald, Oct. 15, 1935. He then started his own party — the Reconstruction Party. According to Wilbur, in as many as 62 ridings "the combined Tory and Reconstruction vote would have defeated the successful Liberal candidates."

Source: CBC News September 15, 2018 08:00 UTC