Liberal Party of Canada

Template:Infobox Canada Political Party The Liberal Party of Canada (Template:Lang-fr), colloquially known as the Grits (originally "Clear Grits"), is a Canadian federal political party positioned at the centre-left of the political spectrum, combining a progressive social policy with moderate economics. The party has been frequently dubbed "Canada's natural governing party", since it was in power for most of the twentieth century, and starting with Wilfrid Laurier in 1896 every leader of the party has served as Prime Minister of Canada. The party has formed the Official Opposition in the Parliament of Canada since February 2006.

After the dissolution of the Progressive Conservative Party on the formation of the new Conservative Party of Canada, the Liberal Party is the only party remaining from Confederation, and is Canada's oldest functioning party at the federal level.

Following the party executive's official acceptance of former Prime Minister Paul Martin's resignation on March 18 2006, Bill Graham was chosen interim leader - he had been interim parliamentary leader since February 1st. A permanent leader will be chosen on the weekend of December 2-3 2006 at this year's Liberal leadership convention in Montreal.

History

Origins

See also: Rebellions of 1837

The Liberals are descended from the mid-19th century Reformers who agitated for responsible government throughout British North America. These included George Brown, Robert Baldwin, William Lyon Mackenzie and the Clear Grits in Upper Canada, Joseph Howe in Nova Scotia, and the Patriotes and Rouges in Lower Canada led by figures such as Louis-Joseph Papineau. The Clear Grits and Parti rouge functioned as a united bloc in the legislature of the Province of Canada beginning in 1854, and a united Liberal Party combining both English and French Canadian members was formed in 1861.

Confederation

At the time of the confederation of the former British colonies of Canada (now Ontario and Quebec), New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, the radical Liberals were marginalized by the more pragmatic Conservative coalition assembled under Sir John A. Macdonald. In the 30 years after Canadian confederation, the Liberals were consigned to opposition, with the exception of one stint in government. Alexander Mackenzie was able to lead the party to power in 1873 after the Macdonald government lost a vote of no confidence in the House of Commons because of the Pacific Scandal. Mackenzie subsequently won the 1874 election, but lost the government to Macdonald in 1878. They spent the next 18 years in opposition.

Laurier era

Sir Wilfrid Laurier

In their early history, the Liberals were the party of continentalism (free trade with the United States), and opposition to imperialism. The Liberals also became identified with the aspirations of Quebecers as a result of the growing hostility of French-Canadians to the Conservatives. The Conservatives lost the support of Quebecers because of the role of Conservative governments in the execution of Louis Riel, the suppression of the rights of French-Canadians outside of Quebec, and their role in the Conscription crisis of 1917.

It was not until Wilfrid Laurier became leader that the Liberal Party emerged as a modern party. Laurier was able to capitalize on the Tories' 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 free trade made it popular among farmers, and helped cement the party's hold in the growing prairie provinces.

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 in order to settle Western Canada. Laurier's government created the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta out of the North-West Territories, and promoted the development of Canadian industry. The Liberals lost power in the 1911 election due to opposition to the party's policies on reciprocity (or free trade), and the creation of a Canadian navy.

The Conscription crisis divided the party as many Liberals in English Canada supported conscription. Many of them joined Sir Robert Borden's Conservatives to form a Unionist government. With numerous Liberal candidates running as Unionists or Liberal-Unionists with the support of provincial Liberal parties in a number of provinces, the Laurier Liberals were reduced to a largely Quebec-based rump. The long term impact of the Conscription crisis benefited the party as the issue only added to the animosity of French-Canadians towards the Conservatives, making that party virtually unelectable in Quebec for decades.

Canadian sovereignty

William Lyon Mackenzie King

Under Laurier, and his successor William Lyon Mackenzie King, the Liberals promoted Canadian sovereignty and greater independence from the British Empire. In Imperial Conferences held throughout the 1920s, Canadian Liberal governments often took the lead in arguing that Britain and the dominions 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 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, and in 1909 he advised Governor General Earl Grey to appoint the first Secretary of State for External Affairs to Cabinet. It was also Laurier who first proposed the creation of a Canadian Navy in 1910. Mackenzie King recommended the appointment by Governor General Lord Byng of Vincent Massey 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.

Liberals and the Social Safety Net

File:PearsonPDphotoportrait.jpg

Lester B. Pearson

In the period just before and after the Second World War, 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. 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 pensions when J. S. Woodsworth required it in exchange for his Co-operative Commonwealth Federation party's support of King's minority government. Later, Lester B. Pearson introduced universal health care, the Canada Pension Plan, Canada Student Loans, and the Canada Assistance Plan (which provided funding for provincial welfare programs).

Trudeau era

File:Trudeau80s.jpg

Pierre Trudeau

Under Pierre Trudeau, this mission evolved into the goal of creating a "just society".

The Trudeau Liberals became the champions of official bilingualism, passing the Official Languages Act, which gave the 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. This policy aimed to transform Canada into a country where English and French-Canadians could live together in comfort, and could move to any part of the country without having to lose their language. While this has not occurred, official bilingualism has helped to halt the decline of the French language outside of Quebec, and has also ensured that all federal government services (as well as radio and television services provided by the government-owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/Radio-Canada) are available in both languages throughout the country.

The Trudeau Liberals are also credited with support for official multiculturalism as a means of integrating immigrants into Canadian society without forcing them to shed their culture. As a result of this and a more sympathetic attitude by Liberals towards immigration policy, the party has built a base of support among recent immigrants and their children.

The most lasting effect of the Trudeau years has been the patriation of the Canadian constitution and the creation of Canada's Charter of Rights. Trudeau Liberals support the concept of a strong, central government, and fought Quebec separatism, other forms of Quebec nationalism, and the granting of "distinct society" status to Quebec.

The post-Trudeau party in 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, 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.

Under the party's new leader, John Turner, 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. It was the worst defeat in the party's history. What was more, the New Democratic Party, successor to the CCF, won almost as many seats as the Liberals, and some thought that the NDP 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.

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, 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.

The party under Chrétien

Turner resigned in 1990 due to growing discontent within the party with his leadership, and was replaced by bitter rival Jean Chrétien, who had served as a Cabinet minister under Pearson, Trudeau and Turner. Chrétien's Liberals campaigned in the 1993 election on the promise of renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and of replacing the Goods and Services Tax (GST). Just after the writ was dropped for the election, they issued the Red Book, a detailed statement of exactly what the Liberals would do in office if they won power. This was unprecedented for a Canadian party. Taking full advantage of the inability of Mulroney's successor, Kim Campbell 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 reduced from a majority government to only two seats. This was the worst electoral defeat ever suffered by a governing party at the federal level in Canada. 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 PCs' 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 extreme for most Canadians. Even when Reform restructured into the Canadian Alliance, the party was still unable to gain much traction in the east of the country, winning only three seats east of Manitoba in the next decade. 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. 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 never recovered from the 1993 blowout; 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 are guaranteed a majority of seats in the House of Commons under both Constitution Acts (59 percent of the seats as of 2006). 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.

However, the 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 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. However, the Liberals did increase their support in the next two elections due to infighting within the Bloc. In particular, the 2000 election was a breakthrough for the Liberals after the PQ government's unpopular initiatives consolidation of several Quebec urban areas into "megacities." Many federal Liberals also took credit for Charest's provincial election victory over the PQ. 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 fiscal conservatives 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 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 and northern Ontario, 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 of pulling off the first clean sweep of Canada's largest province. They were able to hold onto power in 1997 by winning all but two seats in Ontario. In 2000, the Liberals won all but three seats in Ontario.

Jean Chrétien

While the Chrétien Liberals campaigned from the left, their time in power is most marked by the cuts made to many programs in order to balance the federal budget. Chrétien continued the Trudeau Liberal approach to federalism, and opposed making 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" which outlines the federal government's preconditions for negotiating provincial independence. In Chrétien's final days, he supported same-sex marriage in Canada as well as 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. Polling released a month later[1] showed the decision was largely popular, with 62% in favour of the Prime Minister's decision, and 35% opposed. Later polls would increase that margin of support. [2][3]

Recent history

Paul Martin, author of the 1993 Red Book, 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 during the 1990s.

In the June 28, 2004 federal election, the Martin Liberals were returned to government, despite stronger competition from the newly-united Conservative Party led by Stephen Harper. The Liberals were reduced from a majority to a minority government due, in part, to the sponsorship scandal, in which advertising agencies supporting the Liberal Party received grossly inflated commissions for their services.

In the ensuing months, testimony from the Gomery Commission 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 (who had, ironically, crossed the floor from the Tories in 1990) and Pat O'Brien--left the party due to the scandal. Martin barely managed to hold onto power when an NDP-sponsored amendment to his budget was passed only by the Speaker's tiebreaking vote on May 19. His luck finally ran out on November 28, when he lost a no-confidence vote. 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. Due to the Christmas holiday, Martin advised Governor General Michaëlle Jean to dissolve Parliament and call an election for January 2006.

The Liberal campaign was dogged from start to finish by issues related to the sponsorship scandal, most notably by an RCMP criminal investigation into the leak of the income trust announcement. At one point, the Liberals were 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. However, the Liberals won the most seats in Ontario for the fifth straight election (54 to the Tories' 40), holding the Conservatives to a minority government. The Conservatives had hoped for a significant breakthrough in Ontario. However, several seats in the politically important 905 region (the Toronto suburbs) stayed in Liberal hands. Many of these ridings had historically been bellwethers (the Liberals were nearly shut out of this region in 1979 and 1984), but demographic changes have resulted in very high Liberal returns in recent years.

Martin stepped down as Liberal leader on election night, having previously promised to step down if he didn't win a plurality. Even without this promise, the only way he could have held onto power was with the support of the Bloc--a politically unrealistic possibility.

Since then Bill Graham has been appointed interim leader and the process has begun for selecting a new party leader. An unusually large number of prominent members such as Frank McKenna, Brian Tobin, Allan Rock and Belinda Stronach have declined to run, yet at the same time many new faces have stepped forward. There are currently eight people running for the leadership of the Liberal Party[4]:

• Martha Hall Findlay
• Stéphane Dion
• Michael Ignatieff
• Gerard Kennedy
• Bob Rae
• Scott Brison
• Ken Dryden
• Joe Volpe

The Liberal Party reportedly feels they could quickly regain power resulting in calls to accelerate the leadership selection process. [5]. While there were some predictions the party's National Executive would call the convention for as late as March 2007, it instead decided to announce the convention for the first weekend of December 2006.

On May 11, 2006, Montreal's La Presse reported that the Government of Canada will 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 believe that there is as much as $40 million unaccounted for in the sponsorship program. [6]

Principles and policies

In the present times, as a centrist party, the Liberal party has favoured a variety of policies from both right and left of the political spectrum. Thus, it has been a strong champion of balanced budgets, and has removed the deficit completely from the federal budget a few years after coming to power in 1993 and turned it into a $13 billion surplus, reducing spending on some social programs and gradually introducing tax cuts. On the other hand, it has legalized same-sex marriage and use of cannabis for medical purposes, and has been proposing complete decriminalization of possession of small amounts of it. The party also holds progressive views on various other social issues like abortion.

During the 2006 election the Liberal party's platform has included an

• Introduction of a national childcare program
• Immediately cut tax for low income earners by 1 point from 16% to 15%
• Cut corporate tax by two points from 21% to 19% by year 2010
• Tougher firearm laws, including a ban on handguns,
• Reducing wait times for medical treatments
• Increased support and opportunities for seniors, immigrants and the aboriginal populations
• Increased spending on military
• Additional investment in research and higher education.

Liberal Party infighting

Paul Martin

Since Louis St. Laurent, every Liberal leader/prime minister has served in the previous leader/prime minister's Cabinet. There have long been two distinct wings in the party--a socially-populist and federalist wing (represented by Trudeau and Chrétien), and a constitutionally flexible, fiscally conservative wing (represented by Turner and Martin). However, the Liberals have traditionally been the most united of Canada's major parties, and intra-party disputes usually been forgotten rather quickly. In contrast, the time between Martin's assumption of power and the calling of the 2004 election saw an unprecedented amount of infighting in the party.

When the Liberals won power in 1993, party unity was assured by placing Martin, whom Chrétien had defeated for the party leadership in 1990, in the crucial role of Minister of Finance. However, Martin had probably assured himself of a Cabinet post in any case as the author of the Red Book.

Martin's supporters dominated the party machinery, putting Martin in the driver's seat to become the party's next leader. However, the two men appeared to work very well together for a decade. The split opened wider, however, in the summer of 2002 when Chrétien moved to curtail Martin's apparent campaigning for the leadership, after promising that he would remain prime minister until 2004, in defiance of the Martin camp's organizing. There are varying stories as to what actually occurred at this point. Chretien claims that Martin resigned from cabinet; Martin claims that Chretien fired him. Martin was replaced as Finance Minister by Deputy Prime Minister John Manley, whom many saw as Chretien's preferred heir.

Martin's influence in the party, and the fact that polls at the time indicated that Martin was a more popular leader among the Canadian public than Chretien, forced Chrétien to announce his retirement later in the year, earlier than he had originally hoped. Martin easily beat the Minister of Canadian Heritage Sheila Copps at the Liberal leadership convention in November 2003, and in December of that year Martin was sworn in as Prime Minister. Chretien and Martin have reportedly spoken little to each other since the summer of 2002.

While the issue of the party leadership was settled, at the lower levels of the party considerable in-fighting began. Most of the Chrétien-era cabinet ministers were relegated to the backbenches and ministers such as Copps, John Manley, Allan Rock, Don Boudria, David Anderson, Herb Dhaliwal and Stéphane Dion were moved into minor roles as Martin built his cabinet. Many of them decided to leave politics for the private sector.

Some Chrétien loyalists refused to retire, hoping to remain as backbenchers. Unlike in previous elections, however, incumbent Liberals were not backed by the party in their ridings. In many cases, Chrétien allies faced challengers who received unofficial support from the Martinites. For example, the periodic redrawing of riding boundaries resulted in a high-profile battle between Copps and future Martin House Leader Tony Valeri for a riding nomination.

In late 2004, Martin expelled former supporter and Mississauga MP Carolyn Parrish from the party after she told Martin he could "go to hell." Other reasons for her dismissal include several comments which were perceived as anti-American. Parrish sat as an independent in the House of Commons until the dissolution of Parliament in December 2005, but voted with the Liberals on almost all issues. Issues have also recently arisen between the largely Chrétien-appointed Liberal Senate Caucus and the Prime Minister's Office. Martin has also faced criticism for being closer with and more rewarding to recent political additions to the Liberal Party including MPs Jean Lapierre, Scott Brison, Ujjal Dosanjh, Keith Martin and most recently Belinda Stronach, as opposed to regular Liberal MPs. In April 2005, David Kilgour, one of the party's two MPs from Alberta announced that he was leaving the party to sit as an independent member of the House of Commons due to the damaging allegations of corruption in the Liberal Party's Quebec wing based on testimony in the Gomery Commission inquiry. This was followed shortly thereafter by the announcement of Liberal MP Pat O'Brien that he too was departing from the Liberal Caucus because of the Prime Minister's decision to rush same-sex marriage legislation through the House of Commons.

File:Str Mar.jpg

Belinda Stronach with Paul Martin on May 17, 2005, announcing her decision to leave the Conservative Party in order to join the Liberals and Martin's cabinet.

In May 2005, MP Belinda Stronach surprised many when she crossed the floor from the Conservative Party to join the Liberal Party. Stronach represented a riding in the politically important Toronto suburbs, known as the 905ers after their area code, and some believed her defection could damage the Conservative Party's chances to attract socially liberal voters, particularly in Ontario. Others have raised suspicions about the timing and opportunism of Stronach's decision, noting that she became a cabinet minister immediately after crossing the floor, and that the departure came mere days before a crucial non-confidence vote in the house.

Chrétien's supporters have suggested that Martin has used the scandal as a pretense to remove many Chrétien supporters, such as André Ouellet, Alfonso Gagliano, and Jean Pelletier, from their positions in government, crown corporations, and the party. The Chrétien camp contends that the Gomery commission was set up to make them look bad, and that it was not a fair investigation. Subsequent to the release of the first report, Chrétien has decided to take an action in Federal Court to review the commission report on the grounds that Gomery showed a "reasonable apprehension of bias", and that some conclusions didn't have an "evidentiary" basis. [7]

Further information: 2004 Liberal Party of Canada infighting

Leaders of the Liberal Party

interim. George Brown (July 1 1867 - September 20 1867)¹ (unofficial)
interim. No one (September 20 1867 - 1869)
interim. Edward Blake (1869 - 1871)
interim. No one (1871 - March 6 1873)
1. Alexander Mackenzie (March 6 1873 - April 27, 1880)
2. Edward Blake (May 4, 1880 - June 2, 1887)
3. Wilfrid Laurier (June 23, 1887 - February 17, 1919)
interim. Daniel Duncan McKenzie (February 17, 1919 - August 7, 1919 interim leader)
4. William Lyon Mackenzie King (August 7, 1919 - August 6, 1948)
5. Louis St. Laurent (August 7, 1948 - January 15, 1958)
6. Lester B. Pearson (January 16, 1958 - April 5, 1968)
7. Pierre Trudeau (April 6, 1968 - June 15, 1984)
8. John Turner (June 16, 1984 - June 22, 1990)
interim. Herb Gray (February 6,1990- December 21, 1990² interim Parliamentary leader)
9. Jean Chrétien (June 23, 1990 - November 13, 2003)
10. Paul Martin (November 14, 2003 - March 18, 2006)³
interim. Bill Graham (February 1,2006- March 18, 2006 interim Parliamentary leader) ³, (March 18, 2006 - present interim leader)

NOTES:

¹ Brown was regarded by most Liberal candidates as their leader in the 1867 election but did not officially hold the title. Had he won a seat he would have almost certainly become Leader of the Opposition and had the Liberals won enough seats to form a government Brown would almost certainly have become Prime Minister. However, he failed in his bid for a seat in the House of Commons and the Liberals had no official leader until 1873.

² Herb Gray served as Leader of the Opposition from February 6 until Chrétien was re-elected to Parliament in December 1990. He led the Liberal Party in parliament though he was never the leader or interim leader, of the Liberal Party as a whole.

³ After the defeat of the Liberals by the Conservatives of Stephen Harper in the 2006 Canadian federal election, Paul Martin announced in the early hours of January 24, 2006 his intention to resign the leadership of the Liberal Party. Bill Graham was later selected as parliamentary leader by caucus, while Martin indicated he would remain nominal party leader. On March 18, 2006, Graham was appointed interim leader after Martin officially stepped down from the post.

The Liberal Party held its first leadership convention in 1919, electing William Lyon Mackenzie King as leader. Prior to that party leaders were chosen by caucus.

See also: Liberal leadership conventions

Election results 1867-2006

Election	# of candidates nominated	# of seats won	# of total votes	% of popular vote	result
1867	65	62	60,818	22.67%	Cons. majority
1872	111	95	110,556	34.72%	Cons. majority
1874	140	129	128,059	39.49%	majority government
1878	121	57	180,074	33.05%	Cons. majority
1882	112	72	160,547	31.10%	Cons. majority
1887	184	79	312,736	43.13%	Cons. majority
1891	194	90	350,512	45.22%	Cons. majority
1896	190	117	401,425	41.37%	majority government
1900	209	128	477,758	50.25%	majority government
1904	208	137	521,041	50.88%	majority government
1908	213	133	570,311	48.87%	majority government
1911	214	85	596,871	45.82%	Cons. majority
1917*	213	82	729,756	38.80%	coalition government
1921	204	118	1,285,998	41.15%	majority government
1925	216	100	1,252,684	39.74%	minority government
1926	189	114	1,294,072	42.74%	majority government
1930	226	90	1,716,798	44.03%	Cons. majority
1935	245	173	1,967,839	44.68%	majority government
1940	242	179	2,365,979	51.32%	majority government
1945	236	117	2,086,545	39.78%	majority government
1949	259	190	2,878,097	49.15%	majority government
1953	263	169	2,743,013	48.62%	majority government
1957	265	105	2,703,687	40.91%	PC minority
1958	265	49	2,444,909	33.50%	PC majority
1962	264	100	2,862,001	37.17%	PC minority
1963	265	128	3,276,995	41.52%	minority government
1965	265	131	3,099,521	40.18%	minority government
1968	263	155	3,686,801	47.53%	majority government
1972	263	109	3,717,804	38.42%	minority government
1974	264	141	4,102,853	43.15%	majority government
1979	282	114	4,595,319	40.11%	PC minority
1980	282	147	4,855,425	44.40%	majority government
1984	282	40	3,516,486	28.02%	PC majority
1988	294	83	4,205,072	31.92%	PC majority
1993	295	177	5,598,775	41.24%	majority government
1997	301	155	4,994,377	38.46%	majority government
2000	301	172	5,251,961	40.85%	majority government
2004	308	135	4,951,107	36.7%	minority government
2006	308	103	4,477,217	30.09%	Cons. minority

• 1953-1968 includes one Liberal-Labour Member of Parliament.

* In 1917, some Liberals ran under the Unionist banner, figures only count those who ran as "Laurier Liberals"

Provincial and territorial Liberal parties

Each province and one territory in Canada has its own Liberal Party.

Current governments and Premiers:

• British Columbia Liberal Party, Gordon Campbell, MLA
• Ontario Liberal Party, Dalton McGuinty, MPP
• Parti libéral du Québec, Jean Charest, MNA
• New Brunswick Liberal Association, Shawn Graham, MLA

Current official oppositions and Leaders:

• Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador, Gerry Reid, MHA
• Prince Edward Island Liberal Party, Robert Ghiz, MLA
• Yukon Liberal Party, Arthur Mitchell, MLA
• Alberta Liberal Party, Kevin Taft, MLA

Third Party status and Leaders:

• Nova Scotia Liberal Party, Michel Samson, MLA
• Manitoba Liberal Party, Jon Gerrard, MLA

Not Represented Provincially and Leader:

• Saskatchewan Liberal Party, David Karwacki

The relationship between the federal and provincial Liberal parties in Canada varies across Canada. In the four largest provinces (BC, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec) the parties are informally linked to varying degrees. In the case of BC and Quebec, because there is no provincial party to the right of the Liberals, the provincial party formally declares neutrality federally.

In the 6 other provinces and one territory, the provincial parties are direct organizational affiliates with the federal Liberal party, much like the provincial sections of the New Democratic Party.

The Saskatchewan Party was an unofficial merger of the members of the Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan and members of the Saskatchewan Liberal Party, and now contains supporters of the federal Conservatives and federal Liberals in its ranks. Because the politics of the province are so clearly divided between the NDP and the Saskatchewan party, there is little room for the rump of the Liberal party. The Saskatchewan Party is also completely independent and officially neutral when it comes to federal politics, although its only leaders have had roots in the Reform and Progressive Conservative parties of the past.

The Northwest Territories and Nunavut have non-partisan legislatures.

Historically the Northwest Territories had political parties between 1898 and 1905. In 1905 the bulk of the populated parts were formed into the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. the Northwest Territories Liberal Party formed the opposition for two elections before 1905.

See also

• Liberalism
• Contributions to liberal theory
• Liberalism worldwide
• List of liberal parties
• Liberal democracy
• Liberalism in Canada
• List of political parties in Canada
• Prime Minister of Canada
• Official Opposition (Canada)
• Liberal leadership conventions
  • Liberal Party of Canada leadership convention, 1968
  • Liberal Party of Canada leadership convention, 2003
  • Liberal Party of Canada leadership convention, 2006
• Liberal Party candidates, 2006 Canadian federal election
• Liberal Party candidates, 2004 Canadian federal election
• Liberal Party candidates, 2000 Canadian federal election
• Liberal Party candidates, 1997 Canadian federal election
• Liberal Party candidates, 1993 Canadian federal election

External links

• Liberal Party of Canada (official website)

This user is a Liberal.