Liberal Party of Canada

For other liberal political parties in Canada, see Liberalism in Canada § Current parties.

Liberal Party of Canada
Parti libéral du Canada
AbbreviationLPC
PLC[a]
LeaderJustin Trudeau
PresidentSachit Mehra
House leaderKarina Gould
FounderGeorge Brown
FoundedJuly 1, 1867; 157 years ago (1867-07-01)
Preceded byParti rouge (Canada East)
Clear Grits (Canada West)
Headquarters
Youth wingYoung Liberals of Canada
Membership (2014)Increase 300,000[1][needs update]
IdeologyLiberalism (Canadian)
Social liberalism[2]
Political positionCentre to centre-left
International affiliationLiberal International[3]
Colours  Red
Senate[b]
0 / 105
House of Commons
153 / 338
Website
liberal.ca Edit this at Wikidata

The Liberal Party of Canada (LPC; Quebec French: Parti libéral du Canada, PLC) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,[6][7][8] and generally sits at the centre[6][9][10] to centre-left[10][11] of the Canadian political spectrum, with their main rival, the Conservative Party, positioned to their right and the New Democratic Party positioned to their left.[6][12][13] The party is described as "big tent",[14] practising "brokerage politics",[c] attracting support from a broad spectrum of voters.[20] The Liberal Party is the longest-serving and oldest active federal political party in the country, and has dominated federal politics of Canada for much of its history, holding power for almost 70 years of the 20th century.[21][12] As a result, it has sometimes been referred to as Canada's "natural governing party".[22][14][23]

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 was prime minister from that year until the party's defeat in 1911 and his tenure was marked by several compromises between English and French Canada. From the early 1920s until the mid-1950s,[d] the Liberal Party under Prime Ministers William Lyon Mackenzie King and Louis St. Laurent gradually built a Canadian welfare state.

The Liberals' signature policies and legislative decisions include universal health care, the Canada Pension Plan, Canada Student Loans, the establishment of the Royal Canadian Navy, multilateralism, official bilingualism, official multiculturalism, gun control, the patriation of the Constitution of Canada and the establishment of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Clarity Act, legalizing same-sex marriage, euthanasia, and cannabis, national carbon pricing, and expanded access to abortion.[7][24][25][26]

The Liberal Party, led by Justin Trudeau since 2013, won a majority government in the 2015 federal election. In both the federal elections of 2019 and 2021, the party was re-elected with a minority government.


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

  1. ^ "Liberal Party says membership numbers have skyrocketed under Trudeau". CTV News. The Canadian Press. December 10, 2014. Archived from the original on August 1, 2023. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  2. ^
  3. ^ "Liberal Party of Canada Welcomes Liberal International to 2009 Convention". Liberal Party of Canada. March 6, 2009. Archived from the original on August 5, 2012. Retrieved August 28, 2012.
  4. ^ "One-time Liberal senators rename themselves as Progressive Senate Group". CTV News. The Canadian Press. November 14, 2019. Archived from the original on December 17, 2019. Retrieved November 25, 2020.
  5. ^ Spencer, Christina (January 29, 2014). "Justin Trudeau kicks all 32 Liberal senators out of caucus in bid for reform". National Post. Archived from the original on October 30, 2015. Retrieved October 18, 2015.
  6. ^ a b c Amanda Bittner; Royce Koop (March 1, 2013). Parties, Elections, and the Future of Canadian Politics. UBC Press. pp. 300–. ISBN 978-0-7748-2411-8. Archived from the original on March 31, 2023. Retrieved August 3, 2018.
  7. ^ a b McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson. "Liberal Party". Archived October 5, 2013, at the Wayback Machine The Canadian Encyclopedia.
  8. ^ Dyck, Rand (2012). Canadian Politics: Concise Fifth Edition. Nelson Education. pp. 217, 229. ISBN 978-0176503437.
  9. ^ Andrea Olive (2015). The Canadian Environment in Political Context. University of Toronto Press. p. 55. ISBN 978-1-4426-0871-9.
  10. ^ a b David Rayside (2011). Faith, Politics, and Sexual Diversity in Canada and the United States. UBC Press. p. 22. ISBN 978-0-7748-2011-0.
  11. ^ Richard Collin; Pamela L. Martin (2012). An Introduction to World Politics: Conflict and Consensus on a Small Planet. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 138. ISBN 978-1-4422-1803-1.
  12. ^ a b Donald C. Baumer; Howard J. Gold (2015). Parties, Polarization and Democracy in the United States. Taylor & Francis. pp. 152–. ISBN 978-1-317-25478-2. Archived from the original on March 31, 2023. Retrieved October 28, 2018.
  13. ^ "Liberal Party". The Canadian Encyclopedia. 2015. Archived from the original on August 13, 2019. Retrieved October 28, 2018.
  14. ^ a b R. Kenneth Carty (2015). Big Tent Politics: The Liberal Party's Long Mastery of Canada's Public Life. UBC Press. pp. 16–17. ISBN 978-0-7748-3002-7. Archived from the original on March 31, 2023. Retrieved November 7, 2018. PDF copy Archived March 6, 2021, at the Wayback Machine at UBC Press.
  15. ^ Alex Marland; Thierry Giasson; Jennifer Lees-Marshment (2012). Political Marketing in Canada. UBC Press. p. 257. ISBN 978-0-7748-2231-2. Archived from the original on March 31, 2023. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  16. ^ John Courtney; David Smith (2010). The Oxford Handbook of Canadian Politics. OUP USA. p. 195. ISBN 978-0-19-533535-4. Archived from the original on March 31, 2023. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  17. ^ Stephen Brooks (2004). Canadian Democracy: An Introduction. Oxford University Press. p. 265. ISBN 978-0-19-541806-4. Archived from the original on March 31, 2023. Retrieved December 13, 2020. Two historically dominant political parties have avoided ideological appeals in favour of a flexible centrist style of politics that is often labelled brokerage politics.
  18. ^ David Johnson (2016). Thinking Government: Public Administration and Politics in Canada, Fourth Edition. University of Toronto Press. pp. 13–23. ISBN 978-1-4426-3521-0. Archived from the original on March 31, 2023. Retrieved December 13, 2020. ... most Canadian governments, especially at the federal level, have taken a moderate, centrist approach to decision making, seeking to balance growth, stability, and governmental efficiency and economy ... .
  19. ^ Miriam Smith (2014). Group Politics and Social Movements in Canada: Second Edition. University of Toronto Press. p. 17. ISBN 978-1-4426-0695-1. Archived from the original on March 31, 2023. Retrieved December 13, 2020. Canada's party system has long been described as a "brokerage system" in which the leading parties (Liberal and Conservative) follow strategies that appeal across major social cleavages in an effort to defuse potential tensions.
  20. ^ Andrea Olive (2015). The Canadian Environment in Political Context. University of Toronto Press. p. 55. ISBN 978-1-4426-0871-9.
  21. ^ Rodney P. Carlisle (2005). Encyclopedia of Politics: The Left and the Right. SAGE Publications. p. 274. ISBN 978-1-4522-6531-5. Archived from the original on November 10, 2023. Retrieved November 11, 2018.
  22. ^ Patrick James; Mark J. Kasoff (2007). Canadian Studies in the New Millennium. University of Toronto Press. p. 70. ISBN 978-1-4426-9211-4.
  23. ^ Carty, R. Kenneth (March 30, 2022). "A Century of Dominance: The Liberal Party of Canada". The Government Party. Oxford University Press. pp. 16–31. doi:10.1093/oso/9780192858481.003.0002. ISBN 978-0-19-285848-1.
  24. ^ "Liberal Party of Canada". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on December 19, 2013. Retrieved April 19, 2013.
  25. ^ Lévesque, Catherine (September 13, 2019). "Justin Trudeau revient sur l'avortement à Montréal". La Presse (in French). Archived from the original on September 15, 2019. Retrieved September 14, 2019.
  26. ^ "Gun Control — Our Platform". 2.liberal.ca. Archived from the original on July 22, 2020. Retrieved August 3, 2020.