The Carleton-Mississippi Mills Conservative Association serves federal conservative interests in the Canadian federal electoral district of Carleton-Mississippi Mills, located just West of Canada’s capital city, Ottawa, Ontario. 

The Carleton-Mississippi Mills Conservative Association was founded in response to the historic “unite the right” merger between the former Progressive Conservative and Canadian Alliance Parties that created the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC). The first few months of the Association’s existence were busy and marked by a number of significant events. The founding meeting was quickly followed by a candidate selection process, a CPC leadership vote and a federal election which brought the riding its first Member of Parliament, our own candidate, Gordon O’Connor.

Following is a brief history of the key events impacting the creation and work of the Carleton-Mississippi Mills Conservative Association.

16 October 2003: Canadian Alliance Leader, Stephen Harper, and Progressive Conservative Leader, Peter McKay, announced that they had reached an agreement in principle to merge their two parties. Members of both Parties subsequently participated in a mail-in vote to either confirm or reject the merger proposal. Both memberships voted overwhelmingly in favour of unifying the two Parties.

8 December 2003: The new Conservative Party of Canada was officially registered as a new entity with Elections Canada.

12 January 2004: Founding meeting held in Stittsville to establish the Carleton-Lanark Conservative Association, in response to two key events:

• The merger of the former Progressive Conservative and Canadian Alliance Parties in December 2003.
• The anticipated electoral boundary changes that brought about the formation of the Carleton-Lanark (later renamed Carleton-Mississippi Mills) Electoral District.

21 February 2004:Gordon O’Connor chosen by the membership as the Conservative candidate for Carleton-Lanark in the next federal election.

20 March 2004: The Conservative Party Leadership Vote takes place, with thousands of members across Canada casting ballots. Stephen Harper was elected as the first leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.

28 June 2004: Gordon O’Connor elected as the first Member of Parliament for Carleton-Mississippi Mills. Voters in our Riding turned out in record numbers, with about 76% of eligible voters casting a ballot. Gordon received more votes than any other candidate in Ontario, and won the seat with 50% of the votes.

23 January 2006: Gordon O’Connor re-elected as the Member of Parliament for Carleton-Mississippi Mills. Gordon received 56% of the votes, more than double any other candidate in this Riding.

06 February 2006: Gordon O’Connor sworn in as Minister of National Defence in the new Conservative government.

14 August 2007: Gordon O’Connor sworn in as Minister of National Revenue in the Conservative government.

30 October 2008: Gordon O’Connor sworn in as Minister of State and Chief Government Whip in the Conservative government.

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