Political Party, forerunner of today's Liberal Party
The Clear Grit party was formed by William MacDougall
as an Upper Canada
reform movement against special privilege and aristocracy (Canada was not a country until 1867). It could not be described as fully egalitarian, however, since it reflected the Orange
prejudices of 1850s Toronto--Anti-Catholic
, Anti-French. The Grits were absorbed by the more moderate Reform Party
, under newspaperman George Brown
. The political tradition would form the eventual basis of the Liberal Party of Canada.