Liberal Party of Canada

The Liberal Party of Canada (French: Parti libéral du Canada) is a political party in Canada. The party is considered to be centre to centre-left. The party was the Official Opposition after it lost the 2006 election, until the NDP became the Official Opposition in 2011. They won the election in 2015. The current party leader is the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Liberal Party of Canada Parti libéral du Canada
Leader	Justin Trudeau
Deputy Leader	Vacant
President	Suzanne Cowan
Founder	George Brown
Founded	1867; 157 years ago (1867)
Preceded by	Clear Grits, Parti rouge
Headquarters	Constitution Square, Ottawa, Ontario
Youth wing	Young Liberals of Canada
Ideology	Liberalism Social liberalism[1][2][3][4]
Political position	Centre[5][6] to centre-left[7][8]
International affiliation	Liberal International[9]
Colours	Red
Party members in the Senate[note 1]	9 / 105
Seats in the House of Commons	157 / 338
Website
liberal.ca
Political parties

Provincial and territorial parties

Every provinces and one territory in Canada have its own Liberal Party. However, only the parties in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island are part of the federal Liberal Party. Some of the other provincial parties might have very similar political ideologies but they are different political parties. These parties might have different members and different funding.^[11]

Affiliated provincial parties, current seats, and leaders

Party	Seats/Total	Leader	Status
New Brunswick Liberal Association	21 / 49	Kevin Vickers	Official Opposition
Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador	20 / 40	Dwight Ball	Minority government
Nova Scotia Liberal Party	27 / 51	Stephen McNeil	Majority government
Prince Edward Island Liberal Party	6 / 27	Robert Mitchell	Third Party

List of Leaders (1867–present)

To date, only seven Liberal leaders never served as Prime Minister, three of whom were interim leaders.

Portrait	No.	Name	Term start	Term end	Date of birth	Date of death	Notes
1		George Brown	1867	1867	29 November 1818	9 May 1880	Unofficial (The leader of the Clear Grits, a forerunner of the federal Liberal Party)
Vacant 1867 – 1869
2		Edward Blake	1869	1870	13 October 1833	1 March 1912	Unofficial
3		Alexander Mackenzie	6 March 1873	27 April 1880	28 January 1822	17 April 1892	2nd Prime Minister (1st Liberal Prime Minister)
(2)		Edward Blake	4 May 1880	2 June 887	13 October 1833	1 March 1912
4		Wilfrid Laurier	23 June 1887	17 February 1919	20 November 1841	17 February 1919	7th Prime Minister
–		Daniel Duncan McKenzie	17 February 1919	7 August 1919	8 January 1859	8 June 1927	Interim leader
5		William Lyon Mackenzie King	7 August 1919	7 August 1948	17 December 1874	22 July 1950	10th Prime Minister
6		Louis St. Laurent	7 August 1948	16 January 1958	1 February 1882	25 July 1973	12th Prime Minister
7		Lester B. Pearson	16 January 1958	6 April 1968	23 April 1897	27 December 1972	14th Prime Minister
8		Pierre Trudeau	6 April 1968	16 June 1984	18 October 1919	28 September 2000	15th Prime Minister
9		John Turner	16 June 1984	23 June 1990	7 June 1929	18 September 2020	17th Prime Minister
10		Jean Chrétien	23 June 1990	14 November 2003	11 January 1934	living	20th Prime Minister
11		Paul Martin	14 November 2003	19 March 2006	28 August 1938	living	21st Prime Minister
–		Bill Graham	19 March 2006	2 December 2006	17 March 1939	7 August 2022	Interim leader
12		Stéphane Dion	2 December 2006	10 December 2008	28 September 1955	living
13		Michael Ignatieff	10 December 2008	25 May 2011	12 May 1947	living	Interim leader until 2 May 2009 (when ratified as permanent leader)
–		Bob Rae	25 May 2011	14 April 2013	2 August 1948	living	Interim leader
14		Justin Trudeau	14 April 2013	Incumbent	25 December 1971	living	23rd Prime Minister

Notes

1. All Liberal senators were expelled from the party's parliamentary caucus in 2014. Remaining senators appointed by Liberal prime ministers sit as the Senate Liberal Caucus, which is not affiliated to or recognised by the Liberal Party.^[10]

References

1. The party became infused with social liberalism in the 1940s and 1950s. Law Commission of Canada (2011). Law and Citizenship. UBC Press. p. 6. ISBN 9780774840798.
2. Susan Prentice, "Manitoba's childcare regime: Social liberalism in flux". Canadian Journal of Sociology 29.2 (2004): 193-207.
3. Michael J. Prince, "Canadian disability activism and political ideas: In and between neo-liberalism and social liberalism". Canadian Journal of Disability Studies 1.1 (2012): 1-34.
4. Smith, Miriam (2005). "Social Movements and Judicial Empowerment: Courts, Public Policy, and Lesbian and Gay Organizing in Canada". Politics & Society. 33 (2): 327–353. doi:10.1177/0032329205275193. S2CID 154613468.
5. Amanda Bittner; Royce Koop (1 March 2013). Parties, Elections, and the Future of Canadian Politics. UBC Press. pp. 300–. ISBN 978-0-7748-2411-8.
6. Andrea Olive (2015). The Canadian Environment in Political Context. University of Toronto Press. p. 55. ISBN 978-1-4426-0871-9.
7. David Rayside (2011). Faith, Politics, and Sexual Diversity in Canada and the United States. UBC Press. p. 22. ISBN 978-0-7748-2011-0.
8. 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.
9. "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 2012-08-28.
10. Spencer, Christina (29 January 2014). "Justin Trudeau kicks all 32 Liberal senators out of caucus in bid for reform". National Post. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
11. Dyck, Rand (2012). Canadian Politics: Concise Fifth Edition. Nelson Education. pp. 217, 229. ISBN 978-0176503437.

Other websites

• Official website
• Liberal action for a greater Canada: speaker's handbook, federal general election, 1957
• Laws Relating to Labor: Record of the Liberal Government on Labor Regulation; A Progressive Policy in Which Ontario Leads
• Tory vs. Liberal legislation! in favor of the workers of Canada: a comparison / (Workingman)
• Includes various Liberal party publications from the 19th and 20th centuries