André Bachand

André Bachand, a Progressive Conservative MP for Richmond—Arthabaska since 1997, refused to join the newly merged Conservative Party of Canada on February 2, 2004, choosing instead to sit as an Independent. Bachand was a Quebec Red Tory who viewed the merger between Peter MacKay's PCs and Stephen Harper's Canadian Alliance as a hostile takeover that abandoned the progressive elements of the PC tradition. He was particularly concerned that the new party's western populist and social conservative base would alienate moderate Quebec voters who had been drawn to the PCs' centrist tradition under Stanfield, Clark, and Mulroney.

Bachand did not seek re-election in the June 2004 election. His refusal to join the CPC, along with John Herron's and Joe Clark's similar stands, represented the death of the Progressive Conservative tradition as a distinct political force in Canadian politics. The three were the last holdouts — the final MPs to insist they were Progressive Conservatives rather than members of Harper's unified Conservative Party. The Richmond—Arthabaska riding was won by the Bloc Québécois in 2004, validating Bachand's warning that the new CPC would struggle in Quebec.