The Protestant Protective Association was an anti-Catholic group in the 1890s based in Ontario, Canada, associated with the Orange Order. Originally a spinoff of the American group the American Protective Association, it became independent in 1892. The PPA denounced the role of Catholics and French-Canadians in politics, and warned Protestants that Catholics were attempting to take over Ontario. It aimed to eliminate French language education in schools in Ontario and western Canada (particularly Manitoba), and to roll back or block Catholic school systems in those provinces.
The party began to achieve success following the surprise victory of Peter Duncan McCallum in the 1893 provincial by-election in Lambton East.[1] By 1894, the mayors of Brantford, London, Hamilton, Chatham, Kincardine, and Petrolia, Ontario were all elected as members of the PPA.[1]
In the 1894 provincial election the party succeeded in winning nine seats in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.[1] These members worked closely with the opposition Ontario Conservative Party.
No PPA candidates ran in the 1898 Ontario election, or in any subsequent Ontario election. William Henry Reid of the Durham West riding was the only PPA MPP to return to the 1898 provincial legislature, but in 1898 he ran and was elected as a member of the Conservative Party.
The PPA ran several candidates in Ontario for the 1896 federal election as a protest against the Conservative Party's conflicted position on the Manitoba Schools Question. The PPA failed to win any seats in the House of Commons of Canada, but was instrumental in defeating Conservative candidates in four of the five ridings in which it nominated candidates.
