Liberal Party of Canada
Liberal Party of Canada Parti libéral du Canada | |
---|---|
Youth wing | Young Liberals of Canada |
Membership (2014) | 300,000[1][needs update] |
Ideology | Liberalism (Canadian) Social liberalism[2] |
Political position | Centre to centre-left |
International affiliation | Liberal International[3] |
Colours | Red |
Senate[a] | 0 / 105 |
House of Commons | 156 / 338 |
Website | |
liberal | |
The Liberal Party of Canada (LPC;
The party first came into power in 1873 under
The Liberals' signature policies and legislative decisions include
The Liberal Party, led by Justin Trudeau since 2013, won a majority government in the 2015 federal election. In both the federal elections of 2019 and 2021, the party was re-elected with a minority government.
History
19th century
Origins
The Liberals are descended from the mid-19th century
Confederation
At the time of
Wilfrid Laurier
In their early history, the Liberals were the party of continentalism and opposition to imperialism. The Liberals also became identified with the aspirations of Quebecers as a result of the growing hostility of French Canadians to the Conservatives. The Conservatives lost the support of French Canadians because of the role of Conservative governments in the execution of Louis Riel[27] and their role in the Conscription Crisis of 1917, and especially their opposition to French schools in provinces besides Quebec.
It was not until
Laurier led the Liberals to power in the
20th century
Organization
Until the early part of the century, the Liberal Party was a loose coalition of local, provincial, and regional bodies with a strong national party leader and caucus, but with an informal and regionalized extra-parliamentary organizational structure. There was no national membership of the party. An individual became a member by joining a provincial Liberal party. Laurier called the party's first national convention in 1893 to unite Liberal supporters behind a programme and build the campaign that successfully brought the party to power in 1896, but no efforts were made to create a formal national organization outside Parliament.
As a result of the party's defeats in the 1911 and 1917 federal elections, Laurier attempted to organize the party on a national level by creating three bodies: the Central Liberal Information Office, the National Liberal Advisory Committee, and the National Liberal Organization Committee. However, the advisory committee became dominated by members of Parliament and all three bodies were underfunded and competed with both local and provincial Liberal associations and the national caucus for authority. The party did organize the national party's second convention in 1919 to elect William Lyon Mackenzie King as Laurier's successor (Canada's first leadership convention), yet following the party's return to power in the 1921 federal election the nascent national party organizations were eclipsed by powerful ministers and local party organizations largely driven by patronage.
As a result of both the party's defeat in the 1930 federal election and the Beauharnois scandal, which highlighted the need for distance between the Liberal Party's parliamentary wing and campaign fundraising,[29] a central coordinating organization, the National Liberal Federation, was created in 1932 with Vincent Massey as its first president. With the Liberal return to power, the national organization languished except for occasional national committee meetings, such as in 1943 when Mackenzie King called a meeting of the federation (consisting of the national caucus and up to seven voting delegates per province) to approve a new platform for the party in anticipation of the end of World War II and prepare for a post-war election.[30] No national convention was held, however, until 1948; the Liberal Party held only three national conventions prior to the 1950s – in 1893, 1919 and 1948.[31] The National Liberal Federation remained largely dependent on provincial Liberal parties and was often ignored and bypassed the parliamentary party in the organization of election campaigns and the development of policy. With the defeat of the Liberals in the 1957 federal election and in particular 1958, reformers argued for the strengthening of the national party organization so it would not be dependent on provincial Liberal parties and patronage. A national executive and Council of presidents, consisting of the presidents of each Liberal riding association, were developed to give the party more co-ordination and national party conventions were regularly held in biennially where previously they had been held infrequently. Over time, provincial Liberal parties in most provinces were separated from provincial wings of the federal party and in a number of cases disaffiliated. By the 1980s, the National Liberal Federation was officially known as the Liberal Party of Canada.[32]
Canadian sovereignty
Under Laurier, and his successor
The Liberals also promoted the idea of Canada being responsible for its own foreign and defence policy. Initially, it was Britain which determined external affairs for the dominion. In 1905, Laurier created the
Social safety net
In the period just before and after the
Lester B. Pearson was easily elected Liberal leader at the party's 1958 leadership convention. However, only months after becoming Liberal leader, Pearson led the party into the 1958 federal election that saw Diefenbaker's Progressive Conservatives win the largest majority government, by percentage of seats, in Canadian history.[35] The Progressive Conservatives won 206 of the 265 seats in the House of Commons, while the Liberals were reduced to just 48 seats. Pearson remained Liberal leader during this time and in the 1962 election managed to reduce Diefenbaker to a minority government. In the 1963 election Pearson led the Liberal Party back to victory, forming a minority government. Pearson served as prime minister for five years, winning a second election in 1965. While Pearson's leadership was considered poor and the Liberal Party never held a majority of the seats in parliament during his premiership, he left office in 1968 with an impressive legacy.[36] Pearson's government introduced Medicare, a new immigration act, the Canada Pension Plan, Canada Student Loans, the Canada Assistance Plan, and adopted the Maple Leaf as Canada's national flag.[37]
Pierre Trudeau
Under Pierre Trudeau, the mission of a progressive social policy evolved into the goal of creating a "just society".[38] In the late 1970s, Trudeau stated that his Liberal Party adhered to the "radical centre".[39][40]
The Liberal Party under Trudeau promoted
The Trudeau Liberals are also credited with support for
The most lasting effect of the Trudeau years has been the
The other primary legacy of the Trudeau years has been financial. Net federal debt in fiscal 1968, just before Trudeau became Prime Minister, was about $18 billion CAD, or 26 percent of gross domestic product; by his final year in office, it had ballooned to over 200 billion—at 46 percent of GDP, nearly twice as large relative to the economy.[48]
John Turner
After Trudeau's retirement in 1984, many Liberals, such as
Trudeau stepped down as Prime Minister and party leader in 1984, as the Liberals were slipping in polls. At that year's leadership convention, Turner defeated Chrétien on the second ballot to become Prime Minister.
The party began a long process of reconstruction.[26] A small group of young Liberal MPs, known as the Rat Pack, gained fame by criticizing the Progressive Conservative government of Brian Mulroney at every turn. Also, despite public and backroom attempts to remove Turner as leader, he managed to consolidate his leadership at the 1986 review.
The
Jean Chrétien
Turner announced that he would resign as leader of the Liberal Party on May 3, 1989. The Liberal Party set a leadership convention for June 23, 1990, in Calgary. Five candidates contested the leadership of the party, with former Deputy Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, who had served in every Liberal cabinet since 1965, and Paul Martin, MP and former CEO of Canada Steamship Lines, as the frontrunners. A key moment in that race took place at an all-candidates debate in Montreal, where the discussion quickly turned to the Meech Lake Accord. Martin, favouring Meech, attempted to force Chrétien to abandon his nuanced position on the deal and declare for or against it. When Chrétien refused to endorse the deal, young Liberal delegates crowding the hall began to chant "vendu" ("sellout" in French) and "Judas" at Chrétien. The incident damaged Chrétien's reputation in Quebec, and lead to a lasting animosity between Chrétien and Martin. Chrétien won on the first ballot.[51]
Chrétien's Liberals campaigned in the
For the next decade, the Liberals dominated Canadian politics in a fashion not seen since the early years of Confederation. This was because of the splintering of the Progressive Conservative's electoral coalition. The PCs' Western support, for all practical purposes, transferred en masse to the Western-based
While the Chrétien Liberals campaigned from the left, their time in power is most marked by the cuts made to many social programs, including health transfers, in order to balance the federal budget.
After a proposal for Quebec independence was narrowly defeated in the
In Chrétien's final weeks as prime minister, he introduced legislation to reduce the maximum allowable donation to a political party or candidate to $5,000. The move came as a surprise even to Liberal supporters, as Chrétien had not done anything about election financing at any other point in his ten years in office. Political observers suggested that the move allowed Chrétien to retire on a positive note while saddling Martin, his longstanding rival and successor, with the burden of having to fight an election under the strict new rules.[61]
21st century
Paul Martin
Martin succeeded Chrétien as party leader and prime minister in 2003. Despite the personal rivalry between the two, Martin was Minister of Finance during the 1990s and was the architect of the Liberals' economic policies. Chrétien left office with a high approval rating and Martin was expected to make inroads into Quebec and Western Canada, two regions of Canada where the Liberals had not attracted much support since the 1980s and 1990s, respectively.
The political situation changed with the revelation of the sponsorship scandal, in which advertising agencies supporting the Liberal Party received grossly inflated commissions for their services. Having faced a divided conservative opposition for the past three elections, Liberals were seriously challenged by competition from the newly united Conservative Party led by Stephen Harper. The infighting between Martin and Chrétien's supporters also dogged the party. Nonetheless, by criticizing the Conservatives' social policies, the Liberals were able to draw progressive votes from the NDP, which made the difference in several close races. In the 2004 election, the Liberals retained enough support to continue as the government, though they were reduced to a minority.
In the midst of various court rulings in 2003 and 2004 that allowed for the legalization of
Following the release of the first
The Liberal campaign was dogged from start to finish by the sponsorship scandal, which was brought up by a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) criminal investigation into the leak of the income trust announcement. Numerous gaffes, contrasting with a smoothly run Conservative campaign, put Liberals as many as ten points behind the Conservatives in opinion polling. They managed to recover some of their momentum by election night, but not enough to retain power. They won 103 seats, a net loss of 30 from when the writs were dropped, compared to 123 for the Tories. Martin resigned as Liberal leader on March 18.[65]
Struggles in opposition
The ensuing leadership election was set for December 2, 2006, in Montreal.[66] Eight candidates entered the contest, but only Michael Ignatieff, Bob Rae, Stéphane Dion and Gerard Kennedy were considered to be the capable of garnering enough support to be able to win the leadership, with Ignatieff and Rae being considered the front-runners.[67][68] Although Ignatieff lead on the first two ballots, on the third ballot Dion picked up enough support from the eliminated Kennedy to leapfrog both Rae and Ignatieff, eliminating Rae. On the fourth and final ballot, Dion defeated Ignatieff to become leader of the Liberal Party.[69]
Dion campaigned on environmental sustainability during the leadership race, which later evolved into the "Green Shift": a proposal for a national carbon tax that would be offset by reductions to income tax rates.[70] The plan was a key policy for the party in the 2008 federal election, but it was not well received and was continuously attacked by both the Conservatives and NDP.[71][72][73][74] On election night, the Liberal Party won 26.26 percent of the popular vote and 77 of the 308 seats in the House of Commons. At that time, their popular support was the lowest in the party's history, and weeks later Dion announced he would step down as Liberal leader once his successor was chosen.[75]
However, the 2008–2009 Canadian parliamentary dispute made Dion's continued leadership untenable: an agreement to form a coalition government between the with NDP faced public opposition if it meant Dion was to be become prime minister, even if only until the leadership election.[76] Dion thus resigned as leader on December 8, with caucus selecting Ignatieff as interim leader.[77] However, Harper prorogued Parliament before a confidence vote could be scheduled. When parliament resumed on January 28, 2009, the Ignatieff Liberals agreed to support the budget as long as it included regular accountability reports, which the Conservatives accepted. This ended the possibility of the coalition government with the New Democrats.[78] Ignatieff was formally named leader on May 2, 2009.[79]
By the time Ignatieff was confirmed as party leader, the Liberal Party had a comfortable lead over the governing Conservatives.[80][81][82] Support fell over the summer as Ignatieff was characterized of "missing in action", and Ignatieff announced on August 31, 2009, that the Liberals would not support the minority Conservative government when Parliament resumed.[83][84][85] A month later, on October 1, the Liberals put forth a non-confidence motion; however, the NDP abstained from voting and the Conservative government survived.[86] The attempt to force an election, just a year after the previous one, was viewed as a miscalculation, as polls showed that most Canadians did not want another election.[87] Afterwards, popularity for Ignatieff and his party continued to fall.[88] Over the next year and a half, with the exception of a brief period in early 2010, support for the Liberals remained below 30 percent, and behind the Conservatives.[89]
Shortly after the Harper government was found to be in
On election day, the Liberals took the biggest loss in their history. The result was a third-place finish, with only 19 percent of the vote and returning 34 seats in the House of Commons. Notably, their support in Toronto and Montreal, their power bases for the last two decades, all but vanished. The Conservatives won 40 percent of the vote and formed a majority government, while the NDP won 31 percent of the vote and formed the Official Opposition.[95] It marked the first time the Liberals were unable to form either government or the official opposition. Ignatieff was defeated in his own riding, and announced his resignation as Liberal leader shortly after. Bob Rae was chosen as the interim leader on May 25, 2011.[96]
Pundits widely viewed the 2011 election as a
Justin Trudeau
On April 14, 2013, Justin Trudeau, son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, was elected leader of the Liberal Party on the first ballot, winning 80% of the vote.[101] Following his win, support for the Liberal Party increased considerably, and the party moved into first place in public opinion polls.[102][103] In response, the Conservatives ran a series of ads attempting to "[paint] him as a silly dilettante unfit for public office" and the surge levelled off in the following year.[104]
In 2014, Trudeau removed all Liberal senators from the Liberal Party caucus. In announcing this, Trudeau said the purpose of the unelected upper chamber is to act as a check on the power of the prime minister, but the party structure interferes with that purpose.[5] Following this move, Liberal senators chose to keep the designation "Liberal" and sit together as a caucus, albeit not one supported by the Liberal Party of Canada. This independent group continued to refer to itself in publications as the Senate Liberal Caucus until 2019.[105]
By the time the 2015 federal election was called, the Liberals had fallen back to third place. Trudeau and his advisors mounted a campaign based on economic stimulus in the hopes of regaining the mantle of being the party that best represented change from the New Democrats.[106] The campaign was successful, and the Liberals won the election in a dramatic fashion: with 39.5 percent of the popular vote and 184 seats, it was the first time a party had won a parliamentary majority after placing third in a previous general election.[107][108][109] Chantal Hébert deemed the result "a Liberal comeback that is headed straight for the history books",[110] while Bloomberg's Josh Wingrove and Theophilos Argitis similarly described it as "capping the biggest political comeback in the country’s history."[111] Spencer McKay, writing for the National Post, suggested that "maybe we've witnessed a revival of Canada's 'natural governing party'".[112]
At the 2019 federal election, Trudeau's Liberal Party lost 20 seats in the House of Commons (lowering its total from 177 to 157) from the time of dissolution, they still won the most seats of any party—enough seats to allow Trudeau to form a minority government.[113][114] For the first time since 1979, the party that garnered the largest share of the national popular vote did not win the most seats; the Liberals under Trudeau had 33.1 per cent of the popular vote, while the Conservatives under Andrew Scheer had 34.4 per cent.[115][116] It was also the first time a government took power with less than 35 per cent of the national popular vote since the Conservatives of John A. Macdonald, in 1867, who had 34.8 per cent of the votes.[117]
In the 2021 federal election, Trudeau and the Liberals secured a third mandate and his second minority government after winning 160 seats. However, the Liberals again came in second in the national popular vote, behind the Conservatives.[118] They received 32.6 percent of the popular vote, the lowest percentage of the national popular vote for a governing party in Canadian history.[119]
In March 2022, Trudeau's Liberal Party agreed to a confidence and supply deal with the New Democratic Party.[120]
Systems and realignment model
Scholars and political experts have recently used a
- The first party system emerged from pre-Confederation colonial politics, had its "heyday" from 1896 to 1911 and lasted until the Conscription Crisis of 1917, and was characterized by local patronage administered by the two largest parties, the Liberals and the Conservatives.
- The second system emerged following the First World War, and had its heyday from 1935 and 1957, was characterized by Social Credit Party, and the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation.
- The third system emerged in 1963 and had its heyday from 1968 to 1983 and began to unravel thereafter. The two largest parties were challenged by a strong third party, the Keynesianeconomics.
- The fourth party system has involved the rise of the Reform Party, the Bloc Québécois, and the merger of the Canadian Alliance with the Progressive Conservatives. Most parties moved to one-member-one-vote leadership contests, and campaign finance laws were reformed in 2004. The fourth party system has been characterized by market-oriented policies that generally abandoned Keynesian policies, but maintained the welfare state.
Stephen Clarkson (2005) shows how the Liberal Party has dominated all the party systems, using different approaches. It began with a "clientelistic approach" under
Principles and policies
The principles of the party are based on
It also legalized same-sex marriage.2021 party platform
During the 2021 federal election, the Liberal Party of Canada introduced their platform, which included a "Gender and Diversity Impact Summary" for each chapter,[126] as well as six key categories. These included: the pandemic, housing, health care, the economy, climate change, and reconciliation.[127][128]
Key Liberal policies of the 2021 platform included:
- Requiring travellers on interprovincial trains, commercial flights, cruise ships, and other federally regulated vessels be vaccinated against COVID-19.[126]
- Making an investment of $6 billion—on top of $4 billion already committed—to support the elimination of health system waitlists.[126]
- Providing various investments in order to build, preserve, or revitalize 1.4 million new homes by 2025–26.[126]
- Allocating funds to spend $2 billion over the next five years on measures to address the legacy of residential schools with "truth, justice, and healing" initiatives.[127]
- Re-introducing legislation within the first 100 days in office to eliminate the practice of gay conversion therapy for everyone.[126]
- Achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.[126]
- Presenting a National Action Plan on Combating Hate by 2022 as part of a renewed Anti-Racism Strategy, including the Black Canadians Justice Strategy.[126]
- Updating the committed number to receive 40,000 Afghan refugees.[126]
- Creating a minimum tax rule so that everyone who earns enough to qualify for the top bracket pays at least 15% each year (the tax rate paid by people earning less than $49,000), removing their ability to artificially pay no tax through excessive use of deductions and credits.[126]
- Establishing a permanent Council of Economic Advisors to provide independent advice to government on long-term growth. The council will be gender- balanced and reflect Canada's diversity.[126]
- Reform economic immigration programs to expand pathways to permanent residence for temporary foreign workers and former international students through the Express Entry points system.[126]
- Setting aside a minimum of $1 billion to support provinces or territories who implement a ban on handguns across their jurisdiction.[126]
Provincial parties
Eight provinces and one territory in Canada have a Liberal Party in their legislatures. Neither Nunavut nor the Northwest Territories have party-based electoral and governing systems (both operate with consensus democracy). British Columbia had a Liberal Party whose name and ideology have shifted, BC United; Saskatchewan also had a Liberal Party whose name has changed, Saskatchewan Progress Party. Yukon, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec each have a Liberal Party that may align ideologically with the federal party but operates as a completely separate entity (though at one time were affiliated): Those provincial parties have separate policies, finances, memberships, constituency associations, executives, conventions and offices. The New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island provincial Liberals are each politically and organizationally affiliated with the federal Liberal Party.
Electoral performance
Election | Leader | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Position | Government |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1867 | George Brown | 60,818 | 22.70 | 62 / 180
|
62 | 2nd | Opposition |
1872 | Edward Blake | 110,556 | 34.70 | 95 / 200
|
33 | 2nd | Opposition |
1874 | Alexander Mackenzie | 128,455 | 39.50 | 129 / 206
|
34 | 1st | Majority |
1878 | 180,074 | 33.10 | 63 / 206
|
66 | 2nd | Opposition | |
1882 | Edward Blake | 160,547 | 31.10 | 73 / 211
|
10 | 2nd | Opposition |
1887 | 312,736 | 43.10 | 80 / 215
|
7 | 2nd | Opposition | |
1891 | Wilfrid Laurier | 350,512 | 45.20 | 90 / 215
|
10 | 2nd | Opposition |
1896 | 401,425 | 41.40 | 117 / 213
|
27 | 1st | Majority | |
1900 | 477,758 | 50.30 | 128 / 213
|
11 | 1st | Majority | |
1904 | 521,041 | 50.90 | 137 / 214
|
9 | 1st | Majority | |
1908 | 570,311 | 48.90 | 133 / 221
|
4 | 1st | Majority | |
1911 | 596,871 | 45.82 | 85 / 221
|
48 | 2nd | Opposition | |
1917 | 729,756 | 38.80 | 82 / 235
|
3 | 2nd | Opposition | |
1921 | Mackenzie King | 1,285,998 | 41.15 | 118 / 235
|
36 | 1st | Majority |
1925 | 1,252,684 | 39.74 | 100 / 245
|
18 | 2nd | Minority | |
Opposition | |||||||
1926 | 1,397,031 | 42.90 | 116 / 245
|
16 | 1st | Minority | |
1930 | 1,716,798 | 45.50 | 89 / 245
|
27 | 2nd | Opposition | |
1935 | 1,967,839 | 44.68 | 173 / 245
|
84 | 1st | Majority | |
1940 | 2,365,979 | 51.32 | 179 / 245
|
6 | 1st | Majority | |
1945 | 2,086,545 | 39.78 | 118 / 245
|
61 | 1st | Minority | |
1949 | Louis St. Laurent | 2,874,813 | 49.15 | 191 / 262
|
73 | 1st | Majority |
1953 | 2,731,633 | 48.43 | 169 / 265
|
22 | 1st | Majority | |
1957 | 2,702,573 | 40.50 | 105 / 265
|
64 | 2nd | Opposition | |
1958 | Lester Pearson | 2,432,953 | 33.40 | 48 / 265
|
67 | 2nd | Opposition |
1962 | 2,846,589 | 36.97 | 99 / 265
|
51 | 2nd | Opposition | |
1963 | 3,276,996 | 41.48 | 128 / 265
|
29 | 1st | Minority | |
1965 | 3,099,521 | 40.18 | 131 / 265
|
3 | 1st | Minority | |
1968 | Pierre Trudeau | 3,686,801 | 45.37 | 154 / 264
|
23 | 1st | Majority |
1972 | 3,717,804 | 38.42 | 109 / 264
|
46 | 1st | Minority | |
1974 | 4,102,853 | 43.15 | 141 / 264
|
32 | 1st | Majority | |
1979 | 4,595,319 | 40.11 | 114 / 282
|
27 | 2nd | Opposition | |
1980 | 4,855,425 | 44.34 | 147 / 282
|
33 | 1st | Majority | |
1984 | John Turner | 3,516,486 | 28.02 | 40 / 282
|
107 | 2nd | Opposition |
1988 | 4,205,072 | 31.92 | 83 / 295
|
43 | 2nd | Opposition | |
1993 | Jean Chrétien | 5,647,952 | 41.24 | 177 / 295
|
94 | 1st | Majority |
1997 | 4,994,277 | 38.46 | 155 / 301
|
22 | 1st | Majority | |
2000 | 5,252,031 | 40.85 | 172 / 301
|
17 | 1st | Majority | |
2004 | Paul Martin | 4,982,220 | 36.73 | 135 / 308
|
37 | 1st | Minority |
2006 | 4,479,415 | 30.23 | 103 / 308
|
32 | 2nd | Opposition | |
2008 | Stéphane Dion | 3,633,185 | 26.26 | 77 / 308
|
26 | 2nd | Opposition |
2011 | Michael Ignatieff | 2,783,175 | 18.91 | 34 / 308
|
43 | 3rd | Third party |
2015 | Justin Trudeau | 6,928,055 | 39.47 | 184 / 338
|
150 | 1st | Majority |
2019 | 6,018,728 | 33.12 | 157 / 338
|
27 | 1st | Minority | |
2021 | 5,556,629 | 32.62 | 160 / 338
|
3 | 1st | Minority (with NDP confidence and supply) |
Party leadership
To date, only seven Liberal leaders never served as Prime Minister, three of whom were interim leaders.
Leaders
Portrait | Name | Term start | Term end | Date of birth | Date of death | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
George Brown | 1867 | 1867 | November 29, 1818 | May 9, 1880 | Unofficial (The leader of the Clear Grits, a forerunner of the federal Liberal Party) | |
Edward Blake | 1869 | 1870 | October 13, 1833 | March 1, 1912 | Unofficial | |
Alexander Mackenzie | March 6, 1873 | April 27, 1880 | January 28, 1822 | April 17, 1892 | 2nd Prime Minister (1st Liberal Prime Minister) | |
Edward Blake | May 4, 1880 | June 2, 1887 | October 13, 1833 | March 1, 1912 | ||
Wilfrid Laurier | June 23, 1887 | February 17, 1919 | November 20, 1841 | February 17, 1919 | 7th Prime Minister | |
Daniel Duncan McKenzie | February 17, 1919 | August 7, 1919 | January 8, 1859 | June 8, 1927 | Interim leader | |
William Lyon Mackenzie King |
August 7, 1919 | August 7, 1948 | December 17, 1874 | July 22, 1950 | 10th Prime Minister | |
Louis St. Laurent | August 7, 1948 | January 16, 1958 | February 1, 1882 | July 25, 1973 | 12th Prime Minister | |
Lester B. Pearson | January 16, 1958 | April 6, 1968 | April 23, 1897 | December 27, 1972 | 14th Prime Minister | |
Pierre Trudeau | April 6, 1968 | June 16, 1984 | October 18, 1919 | September 28, 2000 | 15th Prime Minister | |
John Turner | June 16, 1984 | June 23, 1990 | June 7, 1929 | September 18, 2020 | 17th Prime Minister | |
Jean Chrétien | June 23, 1990 | November 14, 2003 | January 11, 1934 | living | 20th Prime Minister | |
Paul Martin | November 14, 2003 | March 19, 2006 | August 28, 1938 | living | 21st Prime Minister | |
Bill Graham | March 19, 2006 | December 2, 2006 | March 17, 1939 | August 7, 2022 | Interim leader | |
Stéphane Dion | December 2, 2006 | December 10, 2008 | September 28, 1955 | living | ||
Michael Ignatieff | December 10, 2008 | May 25, 2011 | May 12, 1947 | living | Interim leader until May 2, 2009 (when ratified as permanent leader) | |
Bob Rae | May 25, 2011 | April 14, 2013 | August 2, 1948 | living | Interim leader | |
Justin Trudeau | April 14, 2013 | Incumbent | December 25, 1971 | living | 23rd Prime Minister |
Presidents
- Vincent Massey 1932–1935
- Norman Platt Lambert 1936–1941
- vacant 1941–1943
- Norman Alexander McLarty 1943 (acting)
- Wishart McLea Robertson 1943–1945
- James Gordon Fogo1946–1952
- Duncan Kenneth MacTavish 1952–1958
- Bruce Matthews 1958–1961
- John Joseph Connolly 1961–1964
- John Lang Nichol 1964–1968
- Richard Stanbury 1968–1973
- Gildas Molgat 1973–1976
- Alasdair Graham 1976–1980
- Norman MacLeod 1980–1982
- Iona Campagnolo 1982–1986
- J. J. Michel Robert 1986–1990
- Don Johnston 1990–1994
- Dan Hays 1994–1998
- Stephen LeDrew 1998–2003
- Michael Eizenga 2003–2006
- Marie Poulin 2006–2008
- Doug Ferguson2008–2009
- Alfred Apps 2009–2012
- Mike Crawley 2012–2014
- Anna Gainey 2014–2018
- Suzanne Cowan 2018–2023
- Sachit Mehra 2023–present[129]
See also
- Liberal Party of Canada leadership elections
- Liberalism in Canada
- List of political parties in Canada
- Senate Liberal Caucus
- Trudeauism
Notes
- ^ All Liberal senators were expelled from the party's parliamentary caucus in 2014. Those senators, who had been appointed by Liberal prime ministers up to and including Paul Martin, sat from 2014 to 2019 as the Senate Liberal Caucus, which was not affiliated to or recognized by the Liberal Party. The Senate Liberal Caucus was dissolved in 2019 and replaced by the Progressive Senate Group.[4] Senators appointed since 2015 by Justin Trudeau have affiliated with an independent parliamentary group or sat as non-affiliated members.[5]
- ^ Party was briefly out of power from 1930 to 1935.
References
- ^ "Liberal Party says membership numbers have skyrocketed under Trudeau". CTV News. The Canadian Press. December 10, 2014. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
- S2CID 154613468.
Two historically dominant political parties have avoided ideological appeals in favour of a flexible centrist style of politics that is often labelled brokerage politics.
... most Canadian governments, especially at the federal level, have taken a moderate, centrist approach to decision making, seeking to balance growth, stability, and governmental efficiency and economy ... .
Canada's party system has long been described as a "brokerage system" in which the leading parties (Liberal and Conservative) follow strategies that appeal across major social cleavages
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Further reading
- Bickerton, James, and Alain G. Gagnon. Canadian Politics (5th ed. 2009), 415pp; university textbook
- Bliss, Michael. Right Honourable Men: The Descent of Canadian Politics from Macdonald to Mulroney (1994), essays on Prime Ministers
- Carty, R. Kenneth. Big Tent Politics: The Liberal Party’s Long Mastery of Canada’s Public Life (2015)
- Clarkson, Stephen. The Big Red Machine: How the Liberal Party Dominates Canadian Politics (2005)
- Cohen, Andrew, and J. L. Granatstein, eds. Trudeau's Shadow: the life and legacy of Pierre Elliott Trudeau (1999).
- Gagnon, Alain G., and Brian Tanguay. Canadian Parties in Transition (3rd ed. 2007), 574pp; university textbook
- Granatstein, J.L. Mackenzie King: His Life and World (1977).
- Hillmer, Norman, and Steven Azzi. "Canada's Best Prime Ministers", Maclean's June 20, 2011 online
- Jeffrey, Brooke. Divided Loyalties: The Liberal Party of Canada, 1984–2008 (2010) excerpt and text search
- Jeffrey, Brooke. Road to Redemption: The Liberal Party of Canada, 2006-2019 (2020)
- Koop, Royce. "Professionalism, Sociability and the Liberal Party in the Constituencies." Canadian Journal of Political Science (2010) 43#04 pp: 893–913.
- McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson. "Liberal Party". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on March 26, 2005.
- McCall, Christina. Grits: an intimate portrait of the Liberal Party (Macmillan of Canada, 1982)
- Neatby, H. Blair. Laurier and a Liberal Quebec: A Study in Political Management (1973)
- Whitaker, Reginald. The Government Party: Organizing and Financing the Liberal Party of Canada, 1930–1958 (1977)
- Wallace, W.S. (1948). "History of the Liberal Party of Canada". The Encyclopedia of Canada. Vol. IV. Toronto: University Associates of Canada. pp. 75–76.
- Wearing, Joseph. The L-Shaped Party: The Liberal Party of Canada, 1958–1980 (McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1981)
External links
- Official website
- Liberal Party of Canada - Canadian Political Parties and Political Interest Groups - Web Archive created by the University of Toronto Libraries
- The Liberal Party of Canada Constitution Archived June 19, 2019, at the Wayback Machine
- Canadian Encyclopedia entry on the Liberal Party Archived October 25, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
- Liberal Party of Canada fonds at Library and Archives Canada
- Media related to Liberal Party of Canada at Wikimedia Commons
- Liberal Party of Canada at Wikinews
- Works related to Liberal Party of Canada at Wikisource
- Liberal Party of Canada on Twitter