The Liberal Party of Canada (french: Parti libéral du Canada, region=CA) is a federal
political party in Canada
This article lists political parties in Canada.
Federal parties
In contrast with the political party systems of many nations, Canadian parties at the federal level are often only loosely connected with parties at the provincial level, despite ha ...
. The party espouses the principles of
liberalism
Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...
,
[McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson]
"Liberal Party".
''The Canadian Encyclopedia''. and generally sits at the
centre
Center or centre may refer to:
Mathematics
* Center (geometry), the middle of an object
* Center (algebra), used in various contexts
** Center (group theory)
** Center (ring theory)
* Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentri ...
to
centre-left
Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The ...
of the Canadian
political spectrum
A political spectrum is a system to characterize and classify different political positions in relation to one another. These positions sit upon one or more geometric axes that represent independent political dimensions. The expressions politi ...
, with their rival, the
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
, positioned to their
right
Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical ...
and the
New Democratic Party, who at times aligned itself with the Liberals during
minority government
A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and Cabinet (government), cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or Coalition government, coalition of parties do ...
s, positioned to their
left.
The party is described as "
big tent
A big tent party, or catch-all party, is a term used in reference to a political party's policy of permitting or encouraging a broad spectrum of views among its members. This is in contrast to other kinds of parties, which defend a determined i ...
",
[PDF copy]
at UBC Press. practising "brokerage politics", attracting support from a broad spectrum of voters.
The Liberal Party is the longest-serving and oldest active federal political party in the country, and has dominated federal
politics of Canada
The politics of Canada function within a framework of parliamentary democracy and a federal system of parliamentary government with strong democratic traditions. Canada is a constitutional monarchy, in which the monarch is head of state. In pr ...
for much of its history, holding power for almost 70 years of the 20th century.
As a result, it has sometimes been referred to as Canada's "natural governing party".
The party first came into power in 1873 under
Alexander Mackenzie, but were voted out
five years later due to the economic conditions at the time. They would not come back to office until 1896;
Wilfrid Laurier
Sir Henri Charles Wilfrid Laurier, ( ; ; November 20, 1841 – February 17, 1919) was a Canadian lawyer, statesman, and politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Canada from 1896 to 1911. The first French Canadian prime minis ...
was
prime minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
from that year until the party's
defeat in 1911 and his tenure was marked by several compromises between
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
and
French Canada. From the early 1920s until the mid-1950s, the Liberal Party under Prime Ministers
William Lyon Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was a Canadian statesman and politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A L ...
and
Louis St. Laurent gradually built a Canadian
welfare state
A welfare state is a form of government in which the state (or a well-established network of social institutions) protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based upon the principles of equal opportunity, equita ...
.
The Liberals' signature policies and legislative decisions include
universal health care
Universal health care (also called universal health coverage, universal coverage, or universal care) is a health care system in which all residents of a particular country or region are assured access to health care. It is generally organized ar ...
, the
Canada Pension Plan,
Canada Student Loans
Government sponsored Student Loans in Canada was designed to help post-secondary students pay for their education in Canada. The federal government funds the Canada Student Loan Program (CSLP) and the provinces may fund their own programs or be int ...
, the establishment of the
Royal Canadian Navy
The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack submar ...
,
multilateralism
In international relations, multilateralism refers to an alliance of multiple countries pursuing a common goal.
Definitions
Multilateralism, in the form of membership in international institutions, serves to bind powerful nations, discourage ...
,
official bilingualism
An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their ...
, official
multiculturalism
The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for "Pluralism (political theory), ethnic pluralism", with the tw ...
,
gun control, the
patriation
Patriation is the political process that led to full Canadian sovereignty, culminating with the Constitution Act, 1982. The process was necessary because under the Statute of Westminster 1931, with Canada's agreement at the time, the British parl ...
of the
Constitution of Canada
The Constitution of Canada (french: Constitution du Canada) is the supreme law in Canada. It outlines Canada's system of government and the civil and human rights of those who are citizens of Canada and non-citizens in Canada. Its contents a ...
and the establishment of the ''
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
The ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' (french: Charte canadienne des droits et libertés), often simply referred to as the ''Charter'' in Canada, is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada, forming the first part o ...
'', the ''
Clarity Act
The ''Clarity Act'' (french: Loi sur la clarté référendaire) (known as Bill C-20 before it became law) (the act) is legislation passed by the Parliament of Canada that established the conditions under which the Government of Canada would ent ...
'', legalizing
same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...
,
euthanasia, and
cannabis
''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternative ...
, national
carbon pricing
Carbon pricing (or pricing), also known as cap and trade (CAT) or emissions trading scheme (ETS), is a method for nations to reduce global warming. The cost is applied to greenhouse gas emissions in order to encourage polluters to reduce the co ...
, and expanded access to
abortion
Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...
.
The Liberal Party, led by
Justin Trudeau
Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since 2 ...
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
Reformers who advocated for
responsible government throughout
British North America
British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English overseas possessions, English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland (island), Newfound ...
.
These included
George Brown George Brown may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* George Loring Brown (1814–1889), American landscape painter
* George Douglas Brown (1869–1902), Scottish novelist
* George Williams Brown (1894–1963), Canadian historian and editor
* G ...
,
Alexander Mackenzie,
Robert Baldwin
Robert Baldwin (May 12, 1804 – December 9, 1858) was an Upper Canadian lawyer and politician who with his political partner Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine of Lower Canada, led the first responsible government ministry in the Province of Canada. " ...
,
William Lyon Mackenzie
William Lyon Mackenzie (March12, 1795 August28, 1861) was a Scottish Canadian-American journalist and politician. He founded newspapers critical of the Family Compact, a term used to identify elite members of Upper Canada. He represented Yor ...
and the
Clear Grits
Clear Grits were reformers in the Canada West district of the Province of United Canada, a British colony that is now the Province of Ontario, Canada. Their name is said to have been given by David Christie, who said that only those were wante ...
in
Upper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of th ...
,
Joseph Howe
Joseph Howe (December 13, 1804 – June 1, 1873) was a Nova Scotian journalist, politician, public servant, and poet. Howe is often ranked as one of Nova Scotia's most admired politicians and his considerable skills as a journalist and writer ha ...
in Nova Scotia, and the
Patriotes
The patriotes movement was a political movement that existed in Lower Canada (present-day Quebec) from the turn of the 19th century to the Patriote Rebellion of 1837 and 1838 and the subsequent Act of Union of 1840. The partisan embodiment of ...
and
Rouges in
Lower Canada
The Province of Lower Canada (french: province du Bas-Canada) was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791–1841). It covered the southern portion of the current Province of Quebec an ...
led by figures such as
Louis-Joseph Papineau
Louis-Joseph Papineau (October 7, 1786 – September 23, 1871), born in Montreal, Quebec, was a politician, lawyer, and the landlord of the ''seigneurie de la Petite-Nation''. He was the leader of the reformist Patriote movement before the Lower ...
. The
Clear Grits
Clear Grits were reformers in the Canada West district of the Province of United Canada, a British colony that is now the Province of Ontario, Canada. Their name is said to have been given by David Christie, who said that only those were wante ...
and
Parti rouge
The Red Party (french: Parti rouge, or french: Parti démocratique) was a political group that contested elections in the Eastern section of the Province of Canada. It was formed around 1847 by radical French-Canadians inspired by the ideas of L ...
sometimes functioned as a united bloc in the legislature of the
Province of Canada
The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report on th ...
beginning in
1854, and a united Liberal Party combining both English and
French Canadian members was formed in
1861.
Confederation
At the time of
Confederation
A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...
of the former British colonies of Canada (now
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
and
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
),
New Brunswick
New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...
, and
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Eng ...
, the radical Liberals were marginalized by the more pragmatic
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
coalition assembled under Sir
John A. Macdonald
Sir John Alexander Macdonald (January 10 or 11, 1815 – June 6, 1891) was the first prime minister of Canada, serving from 1867 to 1873 and from 1878 to 1891. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, he had a political career that sp ...
. In the 29 years after Confederation, the Liberals were consigned to opposition, with the exception of one stint in government.
Alexander Mackenzie was the ''de facto'' leader of the Official Opposition after Confederation and finally agreed to become the first official leader of the Liberal Party in 1873. He was able to lead the party to power for the first time in 1873, after the Macdonald government resigned over the
Pacific Scandal The Pacific Scandal was a political scandal in Canada involving bribes being accepted by 150 members of the Conservative government in the attempts of private interests to influence the bidding for a national rail contract. As part of British Colu ...
. Mackenzie subsequently won the
1874 election and served as Prime Minister for an additional four years. During the five years the Liberal government brought in many reforms, including the replacement of open voting by
secret ballot, confining elections to one day and the creation of the
Supreme Court of Canada
The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...
, the
Royal Military College of Canada
'')
, established = 1876
, type = Military academy
, chancellor = Anita Anand ('' la, ex officio, label=none'' as Defence Minister)
, principal = Harry Kowal
, head_label ...
, and the
Office of the Auditor General; however, the party was only able to build a solid support base in Ontario and in
1878 lost the government to Macdonald.
The Liberals would spend the next 18 years in opposition.
Wilfrid Laurier
In their early history, the Liberals were the party of
continentalism and opposition to
imperialism
Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...
. 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
Louis Riel (; ; 22 October 1844 – 16 November 1885) was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and a political leader of the Métis people. He led two resistance movements against the Government of Canada and its first ...
and their role in the
Conscription Crisis of 1917, and especially their
opposition to French schools in provinces besides Quebec.
It was not until
Wilfrid Laurier
Sir Henri Charles Wilfrid Laurier, ( ; ; November 20, 1841 – February 17, 1919) was a Canadian lawyer, statesman, and politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Canada from 1896 to 1911. The first French Canadian prime minis ...
became leader that the Liberal Party emerged as a modern party. Laurier was able to capitalize on the
Tories
A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. The ...
' alienation of French Canada by offering the Liberals as a credible alternative. Laurier was able to overcome the party's reputation for
anti-clericalism that offended the still-powerful
Quebec Roman Catholic Church. In English-speaking Canada, the Liberal Party's support for
reciprocity made it popular among farmers, and helped cement the party's hold in the growing
prairie provinces
The Canadian Prairies (usually referred to as simply the Prairies in Canada) is a region in Western Canada. It includes the Canadian portion of the Great Plains and the Prairie Provinces, namely Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. These provin ...
.
Laurier led the Liberals to power in the
1896 election (in which he became the first Francophone Prime Minister) and oversaw a government that increased
immigration
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...
to settle
Western Canada
Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West or the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canada ...
. Laurier's government created the provinces of
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...
and
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
out of the
North-West Territories and promoted the development of Canadian industry.
20th century
Organization
![Wm Lyon Mackenzie King](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Wm_Lyon_Mackenzie_King.jpg)
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
William Lyon Mackenzie King (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was a Canadian statesman and politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A L ...
as Laurier's successor (Canada's first
leadership convention {{Politics of Canada
In Canadian politics, a leadership convention is held by a political party when the party needs to choose a leader due to a vacancy or a challenge to the incumbent leader.
Overview
In Canada, leaders of a party generally rem ...
), 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,
[Beauharnois Scandal](_blank)
at ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' a central coordinating organization, the National Liberal Federation, was created in 1932 with
Vincent Massey
Charles Vincent Massey (February 20, 1887December 30, 1967) was a Canadian lawyer and diplomat who served as Governor General of Canada, the 18th since Confederation. Massey was the first governor general of Canada who was born in Canada after ...
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. 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. 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.
Canadian sovereignty
![Louisstlaurent](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/Louisstlaurent.jpg)
Under Laurier, and his successor
William Lyon Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was a Canadian statesman and politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A L ...
, the Liberals promoted Canadian sovereignty and greater independence within the
British Commonwealth
The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...
. In
Imperial Conference
Imperial Conferences (Colonial Conferences before 1907) were periodic gatherings of government leaders from the self-governing colonies and dominions of the British Empire between 1887 and 1937, before the establishment of regular Meetings of ...
s held
throughout the 1920s, Canadian Liberal governments often took the lead in arguing that the United Kingdom and the
dominions
The term ''Dominion'' is used to refer to one of several self-governing nations of the British Empire.
"Dominion status" was first accorded to Canada, Australia, Dominion of New Zealand, New Zealand, Dominion of Newfoundland, Newfoundland, Un ...
should have equal status, and against proposals for an 'imperial parliament' that would have subsumed Canadian independence. After the
King–Byng Affair of 1926, the Liberals argued that the
Governor General of Canada
The governor general of Canada (french: gouverneure générale du Canada) is the federal viceregal representative of the . The is head of state of Canada and the 14 other Commonwealth realms, but resides in oldest and most populous realm, ...
should no longer be appointed on the recommendation of the British government. The decisions of the Imperial Conferences were formalized in the
Statute of Westminster, which was actually passed in 1931, the year after the Liberals lost power.
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
Department of External Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...
, and in 1909 he advised
Governor General
Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy ...
Earl Grey
Earl Grey is a title in the peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1806 for General Charles Grey, 1st Baron Grey. In 1801, he was given the title Baron Grey of Howick in the County of Northumberland, and in 1806 he was created Viscou ...
to appoint the first
Secretary of State for External Affairs
The Minister of Foreign Affairs (french: Ministre des Affaires étrangères) is the minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for overseeing the Government of Canada's international relations and is the lead minister respo ...
to
Cabinet
Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to:
Furniture
* Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers
* Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets
* Filing ...
. It was also Laurier who first proposed the creation of a
Canadian Navy
The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack submar ...
in 1910. Mackenzie King recommended the appointment by Governor General
Lord Byng of
Vincent Massey
Charles Vincent Massey (February 20, 1887December 30, 1967) was a Canadian lawyer and diplomat who served as Governor General of Canada, the 18th since Confederation. Massey was the first governor general of Canada who was born in Canada after ...
as the first Canadian
ambassador to Washington in 1926, marking the Liberal government's insistence on having direct relations with the United States, rather than having Britain act on Canada's behalf.
Social safety net
![Lester B](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Lester_B._Pearson_1957.jpg)
In the period just before and after the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the party became a champion of 'progressive social policy'. As Prime Minister for most of the time between 1921 and 1948, King introduced several measures that led to the creation of Canada's
social safety net
The social safety net (SSN) consists of non-contributory assistance existing to improve lives of vulnerable families and individuals experiencing poverty and destitution. Examples of SSNs are previously-contributory social pensions, in-kind and fo ...
. Bowing to popular pressure, he introduced the mother's allowance, a
monthly payment to all mothers with young children. He also reluctantly introduced
old age pension
A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...
s when
J. S. Woodsworth
James Shaver Woodsworth (July 29, 1874 – March 21, 1942) was a pre–First World War pioneer of the Canadian Social Gospel, a Christian religious movement with social democratic values and links to organized labour. He was a long-time leader ...
required it in exchange for his
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation party's support of King's
minority government
A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and Cabinet (government), cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or Coalition government, coalition of parties do ...
.
Louis St. Laurent succeeded King as Liberal leader and Prime Minister on November 15, 1948. In the
1949 and
1953 federal elections, St. Laurent led the Liberal Party to two large majority governments. As Prime Minister he oversaw the joining of
Newfoundland in Confederation as Canada's tenth province, he established
equalization payments Equalization payments are cash payments made in some federal systems of government from the federal government to subnational governments with the objective of offsetting differences in available revenue or in the cost of providing services. Many fe ...
to the provinces, and continued with social reform with improvements in pensions and health insurance. In 1956, Canada played an important role in resolving the
Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...
, and contributed to the United Nations force in the
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
. Canada enjoyed economic prosperity during St. Laurent's premiership and wartime debts were paid off. The
Pipeline Debate
The Pipeline Debate (May 8 – June 6, 1956) was a political event in the history of the Parliament of Canada. The debate was on the finances of the TransCanada pipeline, proper parliamentary procedure, and American economic influence on Canad ...
proved the Liberal Party's undoing. Their attempt to pass legislation to build a
natural gas pipeline
Pipeline transport is the long-distance transportation of a liquid or gas through a system of pipes—a pipeline—typically to a market area for consumption. The latest data from 2014 gives a total of slightly less than of pipeline in 120 countr ...
from
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
to central Canada was met with fierce disagreement in the House of Commons. In 1957,
John Diefenbaker
John George Diefenbaker ( ; September 18, 1895 – August 16, 1979) was the 13th prime minister of Canada, serving from 1957 to 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative party leader between 1930 and 1979 to lead the party to an electi ...
's
Progressive Conservatives won a minority government and St. Laurent resigned as Prime Minister and Liberal leader.
Lester B. Pearson
Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson (23 April 1897 – 27 December 1972) was a Canadian scholar, statesman, diplomat, and politician who served as the 14th prime minister of Canada from 1963 to 1968.
Born in Newtonbrook, Ontario (now part of ...
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. 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. Pearson's government introduced
Medicare, a new immigration act, the Canada Pension Plan, Canada Student Loans, the
Canada Assistance Plan
The Canada Assistance Plan (CAP) (french: Régime d'assistance publique du Canada) was a financing program created in 1966 by the Pearson government. The CAP consisted of a cost-sharing arrangement between the federal government and provinces, te ...
, and adopted the
Maple Leaf
The maple leaf is the characteristic leaf of the maple tree. It is the most widely recognized national symbol of Canada.
History of use in Canada
By the early 1700s, the maple leaf had been adopted as an emblem by the French Canadians along th ...
as Canada's national flag.
Pierre Trudeau
![Pierre Trudeau (1975)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Pierre_Trudeau_%281975%29.jpg)
Under
Pierre Trudeau, the mission of a progressive social policy evolved into the goal of creating a "
just society". In the late 1970s, Trudeau stated that his Liberal Party adhered to the "
radical centre".
[Graham, Ron, ed. (1998). ''The Essential Trudeau''. McClelland & Stewart, p. 71. .]
The Liberal Party under Trudeau promoted
official bilingualism
An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their ...
and passed the ''
Official Languages Act'', which gave French and English languages equal status in Canada.
Trudeau hoped that the promotion of bilingualism would cement Quebec's place in Confederation, and counter growing calls for an independent Quebec. The party hoped the policy would transform Canada into a country where English and French Canadians could live together, and allow Canadians to move to any part of the country without having to lose their language. Although this vision has yet to fully materialize, official bilingualism has helped to halt the decline of the French language outside of Quebec, and to ensure that all federal government services (including radio and television services provided by the government-owned
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...
/
Radio-Canada
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...
) are available in both languages throughout the country.
The Trudeau Liberals are also credited with support for
state multiculturalism as a means of integrating immigrants into Canadian society without forcing them to shed their culture, leading the party to build a base of support among recent immigrants and their children. This marked the culmination of a decades-long shift in Liberal immigration policy, a reversal of pre-war racial attitudes that spurred discriminatory policies such as the
Chinese Immigration Act of 1923 and the
MS St. Louis incident.
The most lasting effect of the Trudeau years has been the
patriation
Patriation is the political process that led to full Canadian sovereignty, culminating with the Constitution Act, 1982. The process was necessary because under the Statute of Westminster 1931, with Canada's agreement at the time, the British parl ...
of the
Constitution of Canada
The Constitution of Canada (french: Constitution du Canada) is the supreme law in Canada. It outlines Canada's system of government and the civil and human rights of those who are citizens of Canada and non-citizens in Canada. Its contents a ...
and the creation of the ''
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
The ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' (french: Charte canadienne des droits et libertés), often simply referred to as the ''Charter'' in Canada, is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada, forming the first part o ...
''. Trudeau's Liberals supported the concept of a strong, central government, and fought
Quebec separatism
The Quebec sovereignty movement (french: Mouvement souverainiste du Québec) is a political movement whose objective is to achieve the sovereignty of Quebec, a province of Canada since 1867, including in all matters related to any provision o ...
, other forms of
Quebec nationalism
Quebec nationalism or Québécois nationalism is a feeling and a political doctrine that prioritizes cultural belonging to, the defence of the interests of, and the recognition of the political legitimacy of the Québécois nation. It has been ...
, and the granting of "
distinct society
Distinct society (in french: la société distincte) is a political term especially used during constitutional debate in Canada, in the second half of the 1980s and in the early 1990s, and present in the two failed constitutional amendments, the M ...
" status to Quebec; however, such actions served as rallying cries for sovereigntists, and alienated many Francophone Quebeckers.
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
Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve co ...
, 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.
As the opposition
After Trudeau's retirement in 1984, many Liberals, such as
Jean Chrétien and
Clyde Wells, continued to adhere to Trudeau's concept of federalism. Others, such as
John Turner
John Napier Wyndham Turner (June 7, 1929September 19, 2020) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 17th prime minister of Canada from June to September 1984. He served as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and leader of t ...
, supported the failed
Meech Lake and
Charlottetown Constitutional Accords, which would have recognized Quebec as a "distinct society" and would have increased the powers of the provinces to the detriment of the federal government.
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. Immediately, upon taking office, Turner called a snap election, citing favourable internal polls. However, the party was hurt by
numerous patronage appointments, many of which Turner had made supposedly in return for Trudeau retiring early. Also, they were unpopular in their traditional stronghold of Quebec because of the constitution repatriation which excluded that province. The Liberals lost power in the
1984 election, and were reduced to only 40 seats in the House of Commons. The Progressive Conservatives won a majority of the seats in every province, including Quebec. The 95-seat loss was the worst defeat in the party's history, and the worst defeat at the time for a governing party at the federal level. What was more, the
New Democratic Party, successor to the
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, won only ten fewer seats than the Liberals, and some thought that the NDP under
Ed Broadbent
John Edward "Ed" Broadbent (born March 21, 1936) is a Canadian social-democratic politician, political scientist, and chair of the Broadbent Institute, a policy thinktank. He was leader of the New Democratic Party from 1975 to 1989. In the 200 ...
would push the Liberals to third-party status.
The party began a long process of reconstruction.
A small group of young Liberal MPs, known as the
Rat Pack, gained fame by criticizing the Tory 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
1988 election was notable for Turner's strong opposition to the
Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement negotiated by
Progressive Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Although most Canadians voted for parties opposed to
free trade
Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econ ...
, the Tories were returned with a majority government, and implemented the deal. The Liberals recovered from their near-meltdown of 1984, however, winning 83 seats and ending much of the talk of being eclipsed by the NDP, who won 43 seats.
Jean Chrétien
![Jean Chrétien 2010](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Jean_Chr%C3%A9tien_2010.jpg)
Turner announced that he would resign as leader of the Liberal Party on May 3, 1989. The Liberal Party set a
leadership convention {{Politics of Canada
In Canadian politics, a leadership convention is held by a political party when the party needs to choose a leader due to a vacancy or a challenge to the incumbent leader.
Overview
In Canada, leaders of a party generally rem ...
for June 23, 1990, in
Calgary. Five candidates contested the leadership of the party and former
Deputy Prime Minister
A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president ...
Jean Chrétien, who had served in every Liberal cabinet since 1965, won on the first ballot.
Chrétien's Liberals campaigned in the
1993 election on the promise of renegotiating the
North American Free Trade Agreement
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA ; es, Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte, TLCAN; french: Accord de libre-échange nord-américain, ALÉNA) was an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States that crea ...
(NAFTA), and eliminating the
Goods and Services Tax (GST). Just after the
writ was dropped for the election, they issued the
Red Book, an integrated and coherent approach to economic, social, environmental and foreign policy. This was unprecedented for a Canadian party.
Taking full advantage of the inability of Mulroney's successor,
Kim Campbell
Avril Phaedra Douglas "Kim" Campbell (born March 10, 1947) is a Canadian politician, diplomat, lawyer, and writer who served as the 19th prime minister of Canada from June 25 to November 4, 1993. Campbell is the first and so far only female ...
, to overcome a large amount of antipathy toward Mulroney, they won a strong majority government with 177 seats—the third-best performance in party history, and their best since 1949. The Progressive Conservatives were cut down to only two seats, suffering a defeat even more severe than the one they had handed the Liberals nine years earlier. The Liberals were re-elected with a considerably reduced majority in
1997, but nearly tied their 1993 total in
2000.
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 destruction of the "grand coalition" of Western socially conservative populists, Quebec nationalists, and fiscal conservatives from Ontario that had supported the Progressive Conservatives in 1984 and 1988. The Progressive Conservatives' Western support, for all practical purposes, transferred en masse to the Western-based
Reform Party, which replaced the PCs as the major right-wing party in Canada. However, the new party's agenda was seen as too conservative for most Canadians. It only won one seat east of Manitoba in an election (but gained another in a floor-crossing). Even when Reform restructured into the
Canadian Alliance
The Canadian Alliance (french: Alliance canadienne), formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance (french: Alliance réformiste-conservatrice canadienne), was a centre-right to right-wing federal political party in Canada that existed ...
, the party was virtually non-existent east of Manitoba, winning only 66 seats in 2000. Reform/Alliance was the
official opposition from 1997 to 2003, but was never able to overcome wide perceptions that it was merely a Western
protest party
A protest vote (also called a blank, null, spoiled, or " none of the above" vote) is a vote cast in an election to demonstrate dissatisfaction with the choice of candidates or the current political system. Protest voting takes a variety of forms ...
. The Quebec nationalists who had once supported the Tories largely switched their support to the sovereigntist
Bloc Québécois, while the Tories' Ontario support largely moved to the Liberals. The PCs would never be a major force in Canadian politics again; while they rebounded to 20 seats in the next election, they won only two seats west of Quebec in the next decade.
Ontario and Quebec combine for a majority of seats in the House of Commons by virtue of Ontario's current population and Quebec's historic population (59 percent of the seats ). As a result, it is very difficult to form even a minority government without substantial support in Ontario and/or Quebec. No party has ever formed a majority government without winning the most seats in either Ontario or Quebec. It is mathematically possible to form a minority government without a strong base in either province, but such an undertaking is politically difficult. The Liberals were the only party with a strong base in both provinces, thus making them the only party capable of forming a government.
There was some disappointment as Liberals were not able to recover their traditional dominant position in Quebec, despite being led by a Quebecer from a strongly nationalist region of Quebec. The Bloc capitalized on discontent with the failure of the 1990
Meech Lake Accord
The Meech Lake Accord (french: Accord du lac Meech) was a series of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada negotiated in 1987 by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and all 10 Canadian provincial premiers. It was intended to persuade the gov ...
and Chrétien's uncompromising stance on federalism (see below) to win the most seats in Quebec in every election from 1993, onward, even serving as the official opposition from 1993 to 1997. Chrétien's reputation in his home province never recovered after the 1990 leadership convention when rival
Paul Martin
Paul Edgar Philippe Martin (born August 28, 1938), also known as Paul Martin Jr., is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 21st prime minister of Canada and the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2003 to 2006.
The son o ...
forced him to declare his opposition to the Meech Lake Accord. However, the Liberals did increase their support in the next two elections because of infighting within the Bloc. In the 1997 election, although the Liberals finished with a thin majority, it was their gains in Quebec which were credited with offsetting their losses in the Maritime provinces. In particular, the 2000 election was a breakthrough for the Liberals after the PQ government's unpopular initiatives regarding consolidation of several Quebec urban areas into "megacities". Many federal Liberals also took credit for Charest's provincial election victory over the PQ in spring 2003. A series of by-elections allowed the Liberals to gain a majority of Quebec ridings for the first time since 1984.
The Chrétien Liberals more than made up for their shortfall in Quebec by building a strong base in Ontario. They reaped a substantial windfall from the votes of fiscally conservative and socially liberal voters who had previously voted Tory, as well as rapid growth in the
Greater Toronto Area. They were also able to take advantage of massive
vote splitting
Vote splitting is an electoral effect in which the distribution of votes among multiple similar candidates reduces the chance of winning for any of the similar candidates, and increases the chance of winning for a dissimilar candidate.
Vote spl ...
between the Tories and Reform/Alliance in rural areas of the province that had traditionally formed the backbone of provincial Tory governments. Combined with their historic dominance of
Metro Toronto
The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto was an upper-tier level of municipal government in Ontario, Canada, from 1953 to 1998. It was made up of the old city of Toronto and numerous townships, towns and villages that surrounded Toronto, whic ...
and
northern Ontario
Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on part of the Superior Geological Pro ...
, the Liberals dominated the province's federal politics even as the Tories won landslide majorities at the provincial level. In 1993, for example, the Liberals won all but one seat in Ontario, and came within 123 votes in
Simcoe Centre
Simcoe Centre was a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1988 to 1997. This riding was created in 1987 from parts of Grey—Simcoe, Simcoe South and Wellington—Dufferi ...
of pulling off the first clean sweep of Canada's most populated province. They were able to retain their position as the largest party in the House by winning all but two seats in Ontario in the 1997 election. The Liberals were assured of at least a minority government once the Ontario results came in, but it was not clear until later in the night that they would retain their majority. In 2000, the Liberals won all but three seats in Ontario.
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. Chrétien had supported the Charlottetown Accord while in opposition, but in power opposed major concessions to Quebec and other provincialist factions. In contrast to their promises during the 1993 campaign, they implemented only minor changes to NAFTA, embraced the free trade concept and—with the exception of the replacement of the GST with the
Harmonized Sales Tax in some Atlantic provinces—broke their promise to replace the GST.
After a proposal for Quebec independence was narrowly defeated in the
1995 Quebec referendum, the Liberals passed the "
Clarity Act
The ''Clarity Act'' (french: Loi sur la clarté référendaire) (known as Bill C-20 before it became law) (the act) is legislation passed by the Parliament of Canada that established the conditions under which the Government of Canada would ent ...
", which outlines the federal government's preconditions for negotiating provincial independence. In Chrétien's final days, he supported
same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...
and decriminalizing the possession of small quantities of marijuana. Chrétien displeased the United States government when he pledged on March 17, 2003, that Canada would not support the
2003 invasion of Iraq. A poll released shortly after showed widespread approval of Chrétien's decision by the Canadian public. The poll, which was conducted by
EKOS for the ''
Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...
'' and ''
La Presse'', found 71 percent of those questioned approved of the government's decision to not enter the United States-led invasion, with 27 percent expressing disapproval.
21st century
Several trends started in 2003 which suggested the end of the Liberal Party's political dominance. Notably, there would be a high turnover of permanent party leaders, in contrast to their predecessors who usually served over two or more elections, particularly Trudeau and Chrétien who each led for over a decade.
The Liberals were also hampered by their inability to raise campaign money competitively after Chrétien passed a bill in 2003 which banned
corporate donations The term corporate donation refers to any financial contribution made by a corporation to another organization that furthers the contributor's own objectives. Two major kinds of such donations deserve specific consideration, charitable as well as po ...
, even though the Liberals had enjoyed by far the lion's share of this funding because of the then-divided opposition parties. It has been suggested that Chrétien, who had done nothing about election financing for his 10 years in office, could be seen as the idealist as he retired, while his rival and successor Paul Martin would have the burden of having to fight an election under the strict new rules.
Simon Fraser University
Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located from ...
professor Doug McArthur has noted that Martin's leadership campaign used aggressive tactics for the 2003 leadership convention, in attempting to end the contest before it could start by giving the impression that his bid was too strong for any other candidate to beat. McArthur blamed Martin's tactics for the ongoing sag in Liberal fortunes, as it discouraged activists who were not on side.
Paul Martin
Paul Martin
Paul Edgar Philippe Martin (born August 28, 1938), also known as Paul Martin Jr., is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 21st prime minister of Canada and the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2003 to 2006.
The son o ...
succeeded Chrétien as party leader and prime minister in 2003. Despite the
personal rivalry between the two, Martin was the architect of the Liberals' economic policies as
Minister of Finance
A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation.
A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...
during the 1990s. 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. While his cabinet choices provoked some controversy over excluding many Chrétien supporters, it at first did little to hurt his popularity.
The political situation changed with the revelation of the
sponsorship scandal
The sponsorship scandal, AdScam or Sponsorgate, was a scandal in Canada that came as a result of a federal government " sponsorship program" in the province of Quebec involving the Liberal Party of Canada, which was in power from 1993 to 2006.
...
, 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
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
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. On June 28, 2004
federal election, the Martin Liberals retained enough support to continue as the government, though they were reduced to a minority.
In the ensuing months, testimony from the
Gomery Commission
The sponsorship scandal, AdScam or Sponsorgate, was a scandal in Canada that came as a result of a federal government " sponsorship program" in the province of Quebec involving the Liberal Party of Canada, which was in power from 1993 to 2006.
T ...
caused public opinion to turn sharply against the Liberals for the first time in over a decade. Despite the devastating revelations, only two Liberal MPs—
David Kilgour
David William Kilgour (February 18, 1941 – April 5, 2022) was a Canadian human rights activist, author, lawyer, and politician. He was also a Senior Fellow to the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights.
Kilgour graduated from the Universi ...
(who had
crossed the floor
Crossed may refer to:
* ''Crossed'' (comics), a 2008 comic book series by Garth Ennis
* ''Crossed'' (novel), a 2010 young adult novel by Ally Condie
* "Crossed" (''The Walking Dead''), an episode of the television series ''The Walking Dead''
S ...
from the
PC Party in 1990) and
Pat O'Brien Pat O'Brien may refer to:
Politicians
* Pat O'Brien (Canadian politician) (born 1948), member of the Canadian House of Commons
*Pat O'Brien (Irish politician) (c. 1847–1917), Irish Nationalist MP in the United Kingdom Parliament
Others
*Pat O'Br ...
—left the party for reasons other than the scandal.
Belinda Stronach
Belinda Caroline Stronach (Born May 2, 1966) is a Canadian businesswoman, philanthropist and a former Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons of Canada from 2004 to 2008. Originally elected as a Conservative, she later crossed the fl ...
, who crossed the floor from the Conservatives to the Liberals, gave Martin the number of votes needed, although barely, to hold onto power when an NDP-sponsored amendment to his budget was passed only by the Speaker's tiebreaking vote on May 19, 2005.
In November, the Liberals dropped in polls following the release of the first Gomery Report. Nonetheless, Martin turned down the NDP's conditions for continued support, as well as rejected an opposition proposal which would schedule a February 2006 election in return for passing several pieces of legislation. The Liberals thus lost the no-confidence vote on November 28; Martin thus became only the fifth prime minister to lose the confidence of the House, but the first to lose on a straight no-confidence motion. Because of the Christmas holiday, Martin advised Governor General
Michaëlle Jean
Michaëlle Jean (; born September 6, 1957) is a Canadian stateswoman and former journalist who served from 2005 to 2010 as governor general of Canada, the 27th since Canadian Confederation. She is the first Haitian Canadian and black person ...
to dissolve Parliament and call an election for
January 2006.
The Liberal campaign was dogged from start to finish by the sponsorship scandal, which was brought up by a
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...
(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, losing a similar number of seats in Ontario and Quebec to the Tories. However, the Liberals managed to capture the most seats in Ontario for the fifth straight election (54 to the Tories' 40), holding the Conservatives to a minority government. While the Conservatives captured many of Ontario's rural ridings, the Liberals retained most of the population-rich
Greater Toronto Area. Many of these ridings, particularly the
905 region, had historically been bellwethers (the Liberals were nearly shut out of this region in 1979 and 1984), but demographic changes have resulted in high Liberal returns in recent years.
Martin resigned as parliamentary leader after the election and stepped down as Liberal leader on March 18, having previously promised to step down if he did not win a plurality.
On May 11, 2006, ''
La Presse'' reported that the
Government of Canada
The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown ...
would file a lawsuit against the Liberal Party to recover all the money missing in the sponsorship program. Scott Brison told reporters that same day that the Liberals has already paid back the $1.14 million into the public purse; however, the Conservatives believed that there was as much as $40 million unaccounted for in the sponsorship program.
Stéphane Dion
![Liberal rally Brampton 2008 election 82](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/Liberal_rally_Brampton_2008_election_82.jpg)
After their election defeat Martin chose not to take on the office of
Leader of the Opposition. He stepped down as
parliamentary leader
A parliamentary leader is a political title or a descriptive term used in various countries to designate the person leading a parliamentary group or caucus in a legislative body, whether it be a national or sub-national legislature. They are the ...
of his party on February 1, and the Liberal caucus appointed
Bill Graham, MP for
Toronto Centre
Toronto Centre (french: Toronto-Centre) is a federal electoral district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1872 to 1925, and since 1935, under the names Centre Toronto (1872–1903) ...
and outgoing
Defence Minister, as his interim successor. Martin officially resigned as leader in March, with Graham taking over on an interim basis.
The leadership election was set for December 2, 2006, in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
; however, a number of prominent members such as
John Manley
John Paul Manley (born January 5, 1950) is a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the eighth deputy prime minister of Canada from 2002 to 2003. He served as Liberal Member of Parliament for Ottawa South from 1988 to ...
,
Frank McKenna
Francis Joseph McKenna (born January 19, 1948) is a Canadian businessman and former politician and diplomat. He is currently Deputy Chairman of the Toronto-Dominion Bank. He served as Canadian Ambassador to the United States from 2005 to 2006 ...
,
Brian Tobin, and
Allan Rock
Allan Michael Rock (born August 30, 1947) is a Canadian lawyer, former politician, diplomat and university administrator. He was Canada's ambassador to the United Nations (2004–2006) and had previously served in the Cabinet of Jean Chrétien ...
had already announced they would not enter the race to succeed Martin. Throughout the campaign 12 candidates came forward to lead the party, but by the time of the leadership convention only eight people remained in the race;
Martha Hall Findlay
Martha Hall Findlay (born August 17, 1959) is a Canadian businesswoman, entrepreneur, lawyer and politician who previously served as the president and CEO of the Canada West Foundation, a Calgary-based think tank, and is now senior vice-preside ...
,
Stéphane Dion
Stéphane Maurice Dion (born 28 September 1955) is a Canadian diplomat, academic and former politician who has been the Canadian ambassador to France and Monaco since 2022 and special envoy to the European Union since 2017. Dion was Leader of ...
,
Michael Ignatieff
Michael Grant Ignatieff (; born May 12, 1947) is a Canadian author, academic and former politician who served as the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Leader of the Official Opposition from 2008 until 2011. Known for his work as a histo ...
,
Gerard Kennedy
Gerard Michael Kennedy (born July 24, 1960) is a Canadian politician in Ontario, Canada. He served as Ontario's minister of Education from 2003 to 2006, when he resigned to make an unsuccessful bid for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Ca ...
,
Bob Rae,
Scott Brison
Scott A. Brison (born May 10, 1967) is a Canadian former politician from Nova Scotia. Brison served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the riding of Kings-Hants from the 1997 federal election until July 2000, then from November 2000 to Febru ...
,
Ken Dryden
Kenneth Wayne Dryden (born August 8, 1947) is a Canadian politician, lawyer, businessman, author, and former National Hockey League (NHL) goaltender. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada and a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. He was a Liber ...
,
Joe Volpe
Giuseppe "Joe" Volpe (born September 21, 1947) is a Canadian politician. He represented the Ontario riding of Eglinton-Lawrence as a member of the Liberal Party in the House of Commons of Canada from 1988 until 2011, when he lost his seat t ...
.
Throughout the campaign Ignatieff, Rae, Dion and Kennedy were considered to be the only candidates with enough support to be able to win the leadership, with Ignatieff and Rae being considered the two
front-runner
In politics, a front-runner (also spelled frontrunner or front runner) is a leader in an electoral race. While the front-runner in athletic events (the namesake of the political concept) is generally clear, a political front-runner, particularly i ...
s. However polling showed Ignatieff had little room to grow his support, while Dion was the second and third choice among a plurality of delegates. At the leadership convention Ignatieff came out on top on the first ballot with 29.3 percent, With Kennedy's support Dion was able to leapfrog both Rae and Ignatieff on the third ballot, eliminating Rae. On the fourth and final ballot Dion defeated Ignatieff to become leader of the Liberal Party.
Following the leadership race the Liberal Party saw a bounce in support and surpassed the Conservative Party as the most popular party in Canada. However, in the months and years to come the party's support gradually fell.
Dion's own popularity lagged considerably behind that of Prime Minister Harper's, and he often trailed NDP leader Jack Layton in opinion polls when Canadians were asked who would make the best Prime Minister.
Dion campaigned on environmental sustainability during the leadership race, and created the "Green Shift" plan following his election as leader. The Green Shift proposed creating a
carbon tax
A carbon tax is a tax levied on the carbon emissions required to produce goods and services. Carbon taxes are intended to make visible the "hidden" social costs of carbon emissions, which are otherwise felt only in indirect ways like more sev ...
that would be coupled with reductions to income tax rates. The proposal was to tax greenhouse gas emissions, starting at $10 per tonne of and reaching $40 per tonne within four years. 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. 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.
Leadership campaign and coalition attempt
New Brunswick
New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...
Member of Parliament
Dominic LeBlanc
Dominic A. LeBlanc (born December 14, 1967) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who has served as the minister of intergovernmental affairs since 2020 and also became the minister of infrastructure and communities in 2021. A member of the Lib ...
was the first candidate to announce he would seek the leadership of the Liberal Party on October 27, 2008. Days later Bob Rae, who had finished third in 2006, announced he would also be a candidate for the leadership. The party executive met in early November and chose May 2, 2009, as the date to elect the next leader. On November 13 Michael Ignatieff, who finished second in 2006, announced he would also be a candidate.
![Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff speaks during a news conference in Toronto](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Liberal_leader_Michael_Ignatieff_speaks_during_a_news_conference_in_Toronto.jpg)
On November 27, 2008,
Minister of Finance
A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation.
A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...
Jim Flaherty
James Michael Flaherty (December 30, 1949 – April 10, 2014) was a Canadian politician who served as the federal minister of finance from 2006 to 2014 under Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
First elected to the Legislative Assembly ...
provided the House of Commons with a fiscal update, within which were plans to cut government spending, suspend the ability of
civil servants to strike until 2011, sell off some
Crown assets to raise capital, and eliminate the existing $1.95 per vote subsidy parties garner in an election.
The opposition parties criticized the fiscal update, and announced they would not support it because it contained no stimulus money to spur Canada's economy and protect workers during the economic crisis.
With the Conservative Party only holding a minority of the seats in the House of Commons the government would be defeated if the opposition parties voted against the fiscal update.
With the Conservatives unwilling to budge on the proposals outlined in the fiscal update the Liberals and NDP signed an agreement to form a
coalition government, with a written pledge of support from the Bloc Québécois.
Under the terms of the agreement Dion would be sworn in as Prime Minister, however he would only serve in the position until the next Liberal leader was chosen. Dion contacted Governor General
Michaëlle Jean
Michaëlle Jean (; born September 6, 1957) is a Canadian stateswoman and former journalist who served from 2005 to 2010 as governor general of Canada, the 27th since Canadian Confederation. She is the first Haitian Canadian and black person ...
and advised her that he had the confidence of the House of Commons if Prime Minister Harper's government was to fall.
However, before the fiscal update could be voted on in the House of Commons Prime Minister Harper requested the Governor General to
prorogue
Prorogation in the Westminster system of government is the action of proroguing, or interrupting, a parliament, or the discontinuance of meetings for a given period of time, without a dissolution of parliament. The term is also used for the period ...
parliament until January 26, 2009, which she accepted.
While polls showed Canadians were split on the idea of having either a coalition government or having the Conservatives continue to govern, it was clear that because of Dion's personal popularity they were not comfortable with him becoming Prime Minister. Members of the Liberal Party therefore called on Dion to resign as leader immediately and for an interim leader to be chosen, this person would become the Prime Minister in case the Conservatives were defeated when parliament resumed in January.
With an estimated 70 percent of the Liberal caucus wanting Ignatieff to be named interim leader, Dion resigned the post on December 8, 2008 (effective December 10, upon Ignatieff's becoming interim leader).
LeBlanc announced on the same day that he was abandoning the Liberal leadership race and endorsing Ignatieff as the next leader. The following day Rae announced he was also dropping out of the race and was placing his "full and unqualified" support to Ignatieff.
Michael Ignatieff
With Ignatieff named interim leader of the party (on December 10), the Liberal's poll numbers saw significant gains, after they plummeted with the signing of the coalition agreement. 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.
![41stElectionPollingResults](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/41stElectionPollingResults.png)
Throughout the Winter of 2008–09,
opinion polls
An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll (although strictly a poll is an actual election) is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions ...
showed that while the Ignatieff led Liberals still trailed the Conservatives, their support had stabilized in the low 30 percent range. However, by the time Ignatieff was confirmed as party leader on May 2, 2009, the Liberal Party had a comfortable lead over the governing Conservatives. After a summer where he was accused of being missing in action, Ignatieff announced on August 31, 2009, that the Liberals would not support the minority Conservative government. After this announcement the Liberal Party's poll numbers, which had already declined over the summer, started to fall further behind the Conservatives. On October 1, 2009, the Liberals put forth a non-confidence motion with the hope of defeating the government. However, the NDP abstained from voting and the Conservatives survived the confidence motion.
![Liberale Partei Kanadas Logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Liberale_Partei_Kanadas_Logo.svg)
The Liberal Party's attempt to force an election, just a year after the previous one, was reported as a miscalculation, as polls showed that most Canadians did not want another election. Even after the government survived the confidence motion popularity for Ignatieff and his party continued to fall. 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. While his predecessor Dion was criticized by the Conservatives as a "weak leader", Ignatieff was attacked as a "political opportunist".
On March 25, 2011, Ignatieff introduced a motion of
non-confidence against the Harper government to attempt to force a
federal election after the government was found to be in
Contempt of Parliament, the first such occurrence in
Commonwealth history. The House of Commons passed the motion by 156–145.
The Liberals had considerable momentum when the writ was dropped, and Ignatieff successfully squeezed NDP leader
Jack Layton
John Gilbert Layton (July 18, 1950 – August 22, 2011) was a Canadian academic and politician who served as the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) from 2003 to 2011 and leader of the Official Opposition in 2011. He previously sat on To ...
out of media attention, by issuing challenges to Harper for one-on-one debates. In the first couple weeks of the campaign, Ignatieff kept his party in second place in the polls, and his personal ratings exceeded that of Layton for the first time. However, opponents frequently criticized Ignatieff's perceived political opportunism, particularly during the
leaders debates when Layton criticized Ignatieff for having a poor attendance record for Commons votes saying "You know, most Canadians, if they don't show up for work, they don't get a promotion". Ignatieff failed to defend himself against these charges, and the debates were said to be a turning point for his party's campaign. Near the end of the campaign, a late surge in support for Layton and the NDP relegated Ignatieff and the Liberals to third in opinion polls.
The Liberals took their biggest loss ever on the May 2, 2011, federal election. 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. All told, the Liberals won only 11 seats in Ontario (seven of which were in Toronto) and seven in Quebec (all in Montreal)—their fewest totals in either province.
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
was the only province with majority Liberal seats at 4 out of 7. They also won only four seats west of Ontario. The Conservatives won 40 percent of the vote and formed a majority government, while the NDP formed the Official Opposition winning 31 percent of the vote.
This election 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.
Justin Trudeau
![Trudeau visit White House for USMCA (cropped) (rotated)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Trudeau_visit_White_House_for_USMCA_%28cropped%29_%28rotated%29.jpg)
On April 14, 2013,
Justin Trudeau
Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since 2 ...
, son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, was
elected leader of the Liberal Party on the first ballot, winning 80% of the vote. Following his win, support for the Liberal Party increased considerably, and the party moved into first place in public opinion polls.
An initial surge in support in the polls following Trudeau's election wore off in the following year, in the face of Conservative
ad campaign
An advertising campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication (IMC). An IMC is a platform in which a group of people can group their ideas, beliefs, and conc ...
after Trudeau's win attempting to "
aint
The word "ain't" is a contraction for ''am not'', ''is not'', ''are not'', ''has not'', ''have not'' in the common English language vernacular. In some dialects ''ain't'' is also used as a contraction of ''do not'', ''does not'' and ''did not''. ...
him as a silly dilettante unfit for public office."
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.
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
The Senate Liberal Caucus (french: Caucus libéral du Sénat), also known as the Senate Liberals (french: libéraux au Sénat), was, from 2014 to 2019, a parliamentary grouping in the Senate of Canada made up of independent senators who were ind ...
until 2019.
By the time the
2015 federal election was called, the Liberals had been knocked back into third place. Trudeau and his advisors planned to mount 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.
Justin Trudeau's Liberals would win the 2015 election with 39.5 percent of the popular vote and 184 seats in dramatic fashion: becoming the first party to win a parliamentary majority after being reduced to third party status in a previous general election, besting Brian Mulroney's record for the largest seat increase by a party in a single election (111 in 1984), and winning the most seats in Quebec for the first time since 1980.
Chantal Hébert
Chantal St-Cyr Hébert (born 1954) is a Canadian journalist and political commentator.
Life and career
Hébert was born on April 24, 1954, in Ottawa, Ontario. She is the oldest of five children. In 1966 her family moved to Toronto where the 12 ...
deemed the result "a Liberal comeback that is headed straight for the history books", while
Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to:
People
* Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer
* Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian
* Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician and m ...
's Josh Wingrove and Theophilos Argitis similarly described it as "capping the biggest political comeback in the country’s history."
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. 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
Andrew James Scheer (born May 20, 1979) is a Canadian politician who has served as the member of Parliament (MP) for Regina—Qu'Appelle since 2004. Scheer served as the 35th speaker of the House of Commons from 2011 to 2015, and was the lead ...
had 34.4 per cent.
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
Sir John Alexander Macdonald (January 10 or 11, 1815 – June 6, 1891) was the first prime minister of Canada, serving from 1867 to 1873 and from 1878 to 1891. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, he had a political career that sp ...
, in 1867, who had 34.8 per cent of the votes.
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. They received 32.6 percent of the popular vote, the lowest percentage of the national popular vote for a governing party in Canadian history.
In March 2022, Trudeau's Liberal Party agreed to a
confidence and supply
In a parliamentary democracy based on the Westminster system, confidence and supply are required for a ruling cabinet to retain power in the lower house.
A confidence-and-supply agreement is one whereby a party or independent members of par ...
deal with the
New Democratic Party.
Systems and realignment model
Scholars and political experts have recently used a
political realignment
A political realignment, often called a critical election, critical realignment, or realigning election, in the academic fields of political science and political history, is a set of sharp changes in party ideology, issues, party leaders, regional ...
model to explain what was considered a collapse of a dominant party, and put its condition in long-term perspective. According to recent scholarship, there have been four
party systems in Canada at the federal level since Confederation, each with its own distinctive pattern of social support, patronage relationships, leadership styles, and electoral strategies. Steve Patten identifies four party systems in Canada's political history:
* 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
regionalism and saw the emergence of several protest parties, such as the
Progressives
Progressivism holds that it is possible to improve human societies through political action. As a political movement, progressivism seeks to advance the human condition through social reform based on purported advancements in science, techno ...
, the
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
New Democratic Party (successor to the CCF). Campaigns during this era became more national in scope because of
electronic media
Electronic media are media that use electronics or electromechanical means for the audience to access the content. This is in contrast to static media (mainly print media), which today are most often created digitally, but do not require el ...
, and involved a greater focus on leadership. The dominant policy of the era was
Keynesian
Keynesian economics ( ; sometimes Keynesianism, named after British economist John Maynard Keynes) are the various macroeconomic theories and models of how aggregate demand (total spending in the economy) strongly influences economic output an ...
economics.
* The fourth party system has involved the rise of the
Reform Party, the
Bloc Québécois, and the merger of the
Canadian Alliance
The Canadian Alliance (french: Alliance canadienne), formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance (french: Alliance réformiste-conservatrice canadienne), was a centre-right to right-wing federal political party in Canada that existed ...
with the
Progressive Conservatives. Most parties moved to
one-member-one-vote leadership contests, and
campaign finance laws
Campaign finance, also known as election finance or political donations, refers to the funds raised to promote candidates, political parties, or policy initiatives and referendums. Political parties, charitable organizations, and political ac ...
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
A welfare state is a form of government in which the state (or a well-established network of social institutions) protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based upon the principles of equal opportunity, equita ...
.
Stephen Clarkson (2005) shows how the Liberal Party has dominated all the party systems, using different approaches. It began with a "clientelistic approach" under
Laurier, which evolved into a "brokerage" system of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s under
Mackenzie King. The 1950s saw the emergence of a "pan-Canadian system", which lasted until the 1990s. The 1993 election – categorized by Clarkson as an electoral "earthquake" which "fragmented" the party system, saw the emergence of regional politics within a four party-system, whereby various groups championed regional issues and concerns. Clarkson concludes that the inherent bias built into the first-past-the-post system, has chiefly benefited the Liberals.
Principles and policies
The principles of the party are based on
liberalism
Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...
as defined by various
liberal theorists and include individual freedom for
present and future generations, responsibility, human dignity, a just society, political freedom, religious freedom, national unity, equality of opportunity, cultural diversity, bilingualism, and multilateralism. From the early twentieth century, the Liberal party has favoured a variety of "
big tent
A big tent party, or catch-all party, is a term used in reference to a political party's policy of permitting or encouraging a broad spectrum of views among its members. This is in contrast to other kinds of parties, which defend a determined i ...
" policies from both
right
Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical ...
and
left of the
political spectrum
A political spectrum is a system to characterize and classify different political positions in relation to one another. These positions sit upon one or more geometric axes that represent independent political dimensions. The expressions politi ...
.
When it formed the government from 1993 to 2006, it championed
balanced budgets, and eliminated the budget deficit completely from the federal budget in 1995 by reducing spending on
social programs
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...
or delegating them to the provinces, and promised to replace the
Goods and Services Tax in the party's famous
Red Book. 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,
as well as six key categories. These included: the pandemic, housing, health care, the economy, climate change, and reconciliation.
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.
*Making an investment of $6 billion—on top of $4 billion already committed—to support the elimination of health system waitlists.
*Providing various investments in order to build, preserve, or revitalize 1.4 million new homes by 2025–26.
*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.
*Re-introducing legislation within the first 100 days in office to eliminate the practice of gay conversion therapy for everyone.
*Achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.
*Presenting a National Action Plan on Combating Hate by 2022 as part of a renewed Anti-Racism Strategy, including the Black Canadians Justice Strategy.
*Updating the committed number to receive 40,000 Afghan refugees.
*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.
*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.
*Reform economic immigration programs to expand pathways to permanent residence for temporary foreign workers and former international students through the Express Entry points system.
*Setting aside a minimum of $1 billion to support provinces or territories who implement a ban on handguns across their jurisdiction.
Provincial parties
Each province and one territory in Canada has its own Liberal Party; however, only those in
New Brunswick
New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...
,
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
,
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Eng ...
, and
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has seve ...
are politically and organizationally affiliated with the federal Liberal Party. While other provincial Liberal parties may align ideologically with the federal party, they operate as completely separate entities. Those provincial parties have separate policies, finances, memberships, constituency associations, executives, conventions and offices.
Electoral performance
Party leadership
To date, only seven Liberal leaders never served as Prime Minister, three of whom were interim leaders.
Leaders
Presidents
*
Vincent Massey
Charles Vincent Massey (February 20, 1887December 30, 1967) was a Canadian lawyer and diplomat who served as Governor General of Canada, the 18th since Confederation. Massey was the first governor general of Canada who was born in Canada after ...
1932–1935
*
Norman Platt Lambert 1936–1941
* ''vacant'' 1941–1943
*
Norman Alexander McLarty 1943 (acting)
*
Wishart McLea Robertson
Wishart McLea Robertson, (February 15, 1891 – August 16, 1967) was a politician in Nova Scotia, Canada.
Robertson's paternal grandfather, Robert Robertson, was a member of Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1854 until 1878. His father, T ...
1943–1945
*
James Gordon Fogo 1946–1952
*
Duncan Kenneth MacTavish 1952–1958
*
Bruce Matthews 1958–1961
*
John Joseph Connolly
John Joseph Connolly (October 31, 1906 – July 25, 1982) was a Canadian parliamentarian.
Born in Ottawa, Ontario, he graduated from the University of Ottawa in 1927. He received a Doctorate of Philosophy from the University of Notre Dame ...
1961–1964
*
John Lang Nichol 1964–1968
*
Richard Stanbury 1968–1973
*
Gildas Molgat
Gildas Laurent Molgat, CD (January 25, 1927 – February 28, 2001) was a Canadian politician. He served as leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party from 1961 to 1969, and was subsequently appointed to the Senate of Canada, where he served as Speak ...
1973–1976
*
Alasdair Graham
Alasdair Bernard Graham (May 21, 1929 – April 22, 2015) was a Canadian politician, journalist and businessman.
Political career
Graham attempted to win a seat in the House of Commons of Canada in the 1958 election from Nova Scotia, but was ...
1976–1980
*
Norman MacLeod 1980–1982
*
Iona Campagnolo
Iona Victoria Campagnolo, (née Hardy, born October 18, 1932) is a Canadian politician who served as the 27th Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia from 2001 to 2007; Campagnolo was the first woman to hold that office. Prior to becoming Lieut ...
1982–1986
*
J. J. Michel Robert 1986–1990
*
Don Johnston
Donald James Johnston, (June 26, 1936 – February 4, 2022) was a Canadian lawyer, writer and politician who was Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) from 1996 to 2006. He was the first non-Euro ...
1990–1994
*
Dan Hays
Daniel Phillip Hays (April 24, 1939) is a Canadian politician born in Calgary, Alberta. He was Speaker of the Senate of Canada from 2001 to 2006, when he became Leader of the Government (Liberal) in the Senate. Hays was the Leader of the ...
1994–1998
*
Stephen LeDrew
Stephen Ralph LeDrew (born 1953) is a Toronto-based lawyer and broadcaster. He served as President of the Liberal Party of Canada from 1998 to 2003, and was a Mayor of Toronto candidate in the 2006 municipal election. He hosted ''LeDrew Live'' ...
1998–2003
*
Michael Eizenga 2003–2006
*
Marie Poulin 2006–2008
*
Doug Ferguson 2008–2009
*
Alfred Apps
William Alfred Apps (born 1957) is a Canadian lawyer, businessman and prominent activist in both the Liberal Party of Canada and the Ontario Liberal Party. Apps is associated with a number of philanthropic and charitable causes and is currently ba ...
2009–2012
*
Mike Crawley
Mike Crawley is a Canadian businessman and has been president and CEO of Northland Power since 2018 having joined the company's Executive team in 2015.
He is originally from the Ottawa region. On January 14, 2012, he was elected president of the ...
2012–2014
*
Anna Gainey
Robert Michael Gainey (born December 13, 1953) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played for the Montreal Canadiens from 1973 until 1989. After retiring from active play, he became a hockey coach and later an executive with ...
2014–2018
*
Suzanne Cowan 2018–present
See also
*
Liberal Party of Canada leadership elections
The first three leaders of the Liberal Party of Canada were not chosen at a leadership convention. Alexander Mackenzie (March 1873 – April 1880) and Edward Blake (May 1880 – June 1887) were chosen by the party caucus. Wilfrid Laurier ( ...
*
Liberalism in Canada
Liberalism has been a major trend in Canadian politics since the late 18th century. Canada has the same features of other liberal democracies in the Western democratic political tradition. This article gives an overview of liberalism in Canada. ...
*
List of political parties in Canada
This article lists political parties in Canada.
Federal parties
In contrast with the political party systems of many nations, Canadian parties at the federal level are often only loosely connected with parties at the provincial level, despite ha ...
*
Senate Liberal Caucus
The Senate Liberal Caucus (french: Caucus libéral du Sénat), also known as the Senate Liberals (french: libéraux au Sénat), was, from 2014 to 2019, a parliamentary grouping in the Senate of Canada made up of independent senators who were ind ...
*
Trudeauism
Trudeauism refers to the liberalism, liberal political ideology associated with former Liberal Party of Canada leader and Prime Minister of Canada Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Trudeauism involves Social liberalism, social liberal, Economic nationalism, ...
Notes
References
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. ''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)
*
* Wearing, Joseph. ''The L-Shaped Party: The Liberal Party of Canada, 1958–1980'' (McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1981)
External links
*
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
Canadian Encyclopedia entry on the Liberal Party
Liberal Party of Canada fondsat
Library and Archives Canada
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Liberal Party Of Canada
1867 establishments in Canada
Federal political parties in Canada
Liberal International
Liberal parties in Canada
Political parties established in 1867
Centrist parties in Canada
Centre-left parties
Social liberal parties
Abortion-rights organizations in Canada