I've been rereading Anne of Green Gables, and one of the small-town peccadilloes that keep coming up is clannishness as far as political affiliation, whether Liberal or Conservative (Grit or Tory). However, in keeping with the fact that, as with so many small town things in the books, one's politics were not so much linked to actual values as to who one's grandfather voted for, I really can't get a handle on what it actually MEANT to support one of the two parties. So,

1) What exactly was the difference between the Grits and the Tories?

2) Did it say anything about a person which one they voted for (much as today people would make assumptions about a person based on the person's party)? I can't figure out any sort of correlation between the characters and the parties they vote for, which would actually fit in with the way it's depicted in the books, but it's still worth asking.

3) Did the meaning/difference change over the course of the 40 years over which the books take place (1870s-1910s)?

4) What issues would small town farmers/fishermen in the Maritimes in this time period care about in Canadian politics, and how would that manifest itself in their political parties?

5) Is the clannishness which Montgomery depicts actually accurate? Would people generally vote for/align themselves with an ancestral political party, or would they change based on the issues?

Thank you!