In this blog we are going to tell you about The Liberal Party of Canada, so read this blog carefully to get the complete information.
About Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada is popularly known for being the longest-serving and oldest active federal Canadian Political Party. In French, the party’s name is Parti libéral du Canada so the party is also known as PLC or LPC (Liberal Party of Canada). In the 20th century, the party ruled the federal politics of Canada for almost 70 years, thus, it has a famous history. Due to holiday power for a long time, the party is also referred to as Canada’s “natural governing party”. Almost 161 years ago, the party was founded by George Brown in 1861. The present leader of the party is Justin Trudeau and the present President is Suzanne Cowan. The political position of the party is Centre to Center-left. The symbol of the party is red color.
A brief description of Liberal Party of Canada
The Party supports the principles of liberalism and usually sits at the center to center-left of the Canadian political system while their rival the Conservative Party are positioned to their right and the New Democratic Party who sometimes aligned itself with the Liberal during minority government are also positioned to their left. The party is considered as a “big tent” that practiced brokerage politics and attracted support from a wide spectrum of voters. In the late 1970s, Pierre Trudeau who was then Prime Minister said that his Liberal party adhered to the radical center.
The Liberal Party governed under Wilfrid Laurier from 1896 to 1911 who was then Prime Minister. He offered a compromise between English and French Canada. In the early 1920s until the mid-1950s, the party was under Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King and Louis St. Laurent who eventually built a Canadian welfare state. The signature policies and legislative decisions of the Liberal party include universal healthcare, the Canada pension plan, Canada student loan, moreover, 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 and the clarity act. They also legalized same-sex marriage, euthanasia, and cannabis, National carbon pricing, and also expanded access to abortion.
In the federal election of 2015, the Liberal party was under Justin Trudeau and had its best results since the 2000 election. The party won 39.5% of the popular vote and 184 seats and gained the majority of seats in the house of commons. Then in the federal election of 2019 and 2020, the party won a minority government and lost the popular vote both times.
Principal and Policies based on Liberalism
The principles of the liberal party are on liberalism as referred to by several liberal theorists. In addition to this, the principles and policies include individual freedom for present and future generations, responsibility, human dignity, a just society, political freedom, religious freedom, equality of opportunity, cultural diversity, national unity, bilingualism, and multilateralism. Presently the liberal party has supported a range of big tent policies from both the right and left of the political system. From 1993 to 2006 the party formed the government, it safeguard balanced budgets, and further in 1995 from the federal budget, it removed the budget deficit completely by reducing expenditure on social programs for Delhi getting them to the provinces, the party promised to replace the goods and services tax in the party’s Red Book. The liberal party of Canada also legalized same-sex marriage.
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Leaders of the Liberal Party of Canada
Many leaders served as the Prime Minister for different terms which are as mentioned below:
- George Brown in 1867
- Edward Blake from 1869 to 1870
- Alexander Mackenzie from 6 March 1873 to 27 April 1880
- Edward Blake from 4 May 1882 to 2 June 1887
- Wilfrid Laurier from 23 June 1887 to 17 February 1919
- Daniel Duncan McKenzie from 17 February 1919 to 7 August 1919
- William Lyon Mackenzie King from 7 August 1919 to 7 August 1948
- Louis St. Laurent from 7 August 1948 to 16 January 1958.
- Lester B. Pearson from 16 January 1958 to 6 April 1968
- Pierre Trudeau from 6 April 1968 to 16 June 1984
- John Turner from 16 June 1984 to 23 June 1990
- Jean Chretien from 23 June 1990 to 14 November 2003
- Paul Martin from 14 November 2003 to 19 March 2006
- Bill Graham from 19 March 2006 to 2 December 2006
- Stephen Dion 2 December 2006 to 10 December 2008
- Michael Ignatieff 10 December 2008 to 25 May 2011
- Bob Rae from 25 May 2011 to 14 April 2013
- Justin Trudeau from 14 April 2013 till now
Presidents of Liberal Party of Canada
There were several Presidents of the Liberal Party of Canada who served for different terms which are as follows:
- Vincent Massey from 1932 to 1935
- Norman Platt Lambert from 1936 to 1941
- Norman Alexander McLarty in 1943
- Wishart McLea Robertson 1943 to 1945
- James Gordon Fogo from 1946 to 1952
- Duncan Kenneth MacTavish from 1952 to 1958
- Bruce Matthews from 1958 to 1961
- John Joseph Connolly from 1961 to 1964
- John Lang Nichol from 1964 to 1968
- Richard Stanbury from 1968 to 1973
- Gildas Molgat from 1973 to 1976
- Alasdair Graham from 1976 to 1980
- Norman MacLeod from 1980 to 1982
- Iona Campagnolo from 1982 to 1986
- J.J. Michel Robert from 1986 to 1990
- Don Johnston from 1990 to 1994
- Dan Hays from 1994 to 1998
- Stephen LeDrew from 1998 to 2003
- Michael Eizenga from 2003 to 2006
- Marie Poulin from 2006 to 2008
- Doug Ferguson from 2008 to 2009
- Alfred Apps from 2009 to 2012
- Mike Crawley from 2012 to 2014
- Anna Gainey from 2014 to 2018
- Suzanne Cowan from 2018 till now
So Overall this article was about the Liberal Party of Canada and its brief description and leaders who are working at the center left of the Canadian political spectrum.
