Catholic Labour Party (Sainte-Chloé)
Parti Catholique des Travailleurs | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | PCT |
| President | Michel Thiele |
| Premier | Genevieve Chevallier |
| Party Chair | Henri Verlois |
| Founder | Raymond Rivière and Camille Pétain |
| Founded | 17 April 1953 |
| Merger of | Catholic Party and Labour Party |
| Newspaper | Christus Vincit La Croix (affiliated) |
| Student wing | Catholic Labour Students |
| Youth wing | Catholic Youth |
| Membership (2020) |  1,342,921 |
| Ideology | Sotirian Democracy Social Conservativism Trade Unionism Corporatism Catholic social teaching |
| Political position | Centre-right (From Centre to Right) |
| Religion | Solarian Catholic Church |
| Colours | Blue |
| Chamber of Commons | 96 / 171 |
| Senate | 20 / 65 |
| Provincial Governments | 381 / 643 |
The Catholic Labour Party (Gaullican: Parti Catholique des Travailleurs), often abbreviated as the PCT, is a centre-right political party in Sainte-Chloé. It is one of Sainte-Chloé's two major parties alongside with its rival, the Social Democratic Party.
Founded in 1953 in a merger between the Catholic Party and Labour Party by Raymond Rivière and Camille Pétain, it was founded to form a united front against the control of the Democratic Party over the United Provinces, and to advocate for the creation of a centralized Republic in place of the federal model originally designed to also contain Imagua and the Assimas. Combining a platform of constitutional reform, the newly-formed party won the 1953 Parliamentary elections and forced the Constitutional reform upon the Democratic President, Pierre Voloix. It was the driving force behind the 1954 Constitution of Sainte-Chloé, and became the primary ruling party of the early Republic, with its success forcing the other parties to form the Social Democratic Party, creating the two-party system which Sainte-Chloé still operates under.
The party's ideological roots stems from the pre-Great War Holistique movement, which embraces the idea of Catholic state, saying that the laws of the Republic must be influenced by Catholic social teaching. Socially, the party is socially conservative, generally supporting traditional values, and is heavily against social reform on policies such as abortion and same-sex marriage. The party is also committed to publically funding and promoting Catholic institutions and schools. Economically, the party is corporatist, and has from its beginning been a firm supporter of trade unions, especially religious ones. While ideologically opposed to both socialism and capitalism as forms of materialism, it pursues a middle-ground between the two with a social market economy. The party also is Pro-Gaullican, being in part inspired by the Catholic Labour Union structuring the constitution in part off of Gaullica's model, as well as promoting Sainte-Chloé's Gaullican heritage.
Since creation of the independent Republic in 1954, the Catholic Labour Party has been a dominant force in Chloéois politics, having controlled a government in Parliament for a total of 47 years, well over twice the 19 years which the Social Democrats have had a government. The party has also fielded 5 out of 10 Presidents and 8 out of 13 Premiers. The Catholic Labour Party is the current ruling party of Sainte-Chloé, under the Presidency of Michel Thiele and the Premiership of Genevieve Chevallier. It also currently has a majority of seats in the Chamber of Commons and a majority of provincial appointed seats in the Senate.