Bill Graham was appointed interim party and parliamentary leader and the process to select a new party leader began. An unusually large number of prominent members such as Frank McKenna, Brian Tobin, Allan Rock and Belinda Stronach declined to run, yet at the same time many new faces stepped forward. There were eight people running for the leadership of the Liberal Party [4] at the time of the convention:

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

The Liberal Party reportedly felt they could quickly regain power, so they accelerated 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 December 2 in Montreal, the Liberals voted for their new party leader. The ballots came down to Michael Ignatieff and Stéphane Dion, who surpassed Bob Rae on the third ballot. On the second ballot, Dion catapulted from third place to first place thanks in large part to an alliance with Gerard Kennedy. Rae, who was eliminated, released his delegates, most of whom supported Dion over Ignatieff. Dion finally won with 54.7% of the votes.

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]

On September 28, 2007, party national director Jamie Carroll, was criticized for comments he allegedly made in response to a suggestion that the Liberals should hire more francophone Quebecers to appeal to francophone voters. According to some persons present at a private meeting, Carroll said "Do we also have to hire people from the Chinese community to represent the Chinese community?". He later indicated that a statement he made was taken out of context. Several Quebec MPs and the president of the party's Quebec wing said that Carroll was quoted correctly, with Pablo Rodriguez and Liza Frulla demanding that he be fired. Dion affirmed Carroll's version of events, and rejected calls for his dismissal. [7] [8] [9] [10] Carroll initially threatened to sue for defamation and demand 12 to 18 months of severance, though Dion later had him quietly reassigned to another position. [11]

British Columbia MP Blair Wilson was resigned from caucus and the shadow cabinet, after the Vancouver Province charged that he was involved in unlawful off-the-books cash spending, and that his private businesses had numerous discrepancies and unpaid debts. Wilson, who is being investigated, has denied the allegations. ^[2]

Principles and policies

In the present times, the Liberal party has favoured a variety of policies from both right and left of the political spectrum. Since the 1990s it has been a strong champion of balanced budgets, and it eliminated the deficit completely from the federal budget in 1995 by reducing spending on social programs or downloading them to provinces. It had 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. In spite of this, a socially conservative wing does exists within the party. For example, when the Civil Marriage Act was passed in 2004 (which legalized same-sex marriage), over a quarter^{[citation needed]} of the Liberal caucus voted against the act.

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

• Introduction of a national childcare program
• Immediately cut tax for low income earners by 1 point from 16% to 15%
• Tougher firearm laws, including a ban on handguns and semi-automatic rifles
• 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.

Leaders of the Liberal Party since 1867

Beginning of Leadership	Name	Date of Birth	Date of Death	Length of Leadership
1 July 1867	George Brown	29 November 1818	10 May 1880	2 months, 19 days (interim)1
20 September 1867	Vacant	n/a	n/a	2 years (approx)
1869	Edward Blake	13 October 1833	1 March 1912	2 years (approx) (interim)
1871	Vacant	n/a	n/a	2 years (approx)
6 March 1873	Alexander Mackenzie	28 January 1822	17 April 1892	7 years, 1 month
27 April 1880	Edward Blake	13 October 1833	1 March 1912	7 years, 1 month
23 June 1887	Sir Wilfrid Laurier	20 November 1841	17 February 1919	31 years, 8 months
17 February 1919	Daniel Duncan McKenzie	8 January 1859	8 June 1927	5 months, 3 weeks (interim)
7 August 1919	William Lyon Mackenzie King	17 December 1874	22 July 1950	29 years
7 August 1948	Louis St. Laurent	1 February 1882	25 July 1973	9 years, 5 months
16 January 1958	Lester B. Pearson	23 April 1897	28 December 1972	10 years, 3 months
6 April 1968	Pierre Elliott Trudeau	18 October 1919	28 September 2000	16 years, 2 months
16 June 1984	John Turner	7 June 1929	Living	6 years
6 February 1990	Herb Gray	25 May 1931	Living	4 months, 17 days² (interim Parliamentary leader)
23 June 1990	Jean Chrétien	11 January 1934	Living	13 years, 5 months
14 November 2003	Paul Martin	28 August 1938	Living	2 years, 3 months
18 March 2006	Bill Graham	17 March 1939	Living	8 months, 2 weeks³ (interim)
2 December 2006	Stéphane Dion	28 September 1955	Living	Current 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, and took his seat on December 21, 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, held on January 26, 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"

Regional 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 (has no official connection to the federal party)
• Ontario Liberal Party, Dalton McGuinty, MPP
• Parti Libéral du Québec, Jean Charest, MNA (has no connection to the federal party)
• New Brunswick Liberal Association, Shawn Graham, MLA
• Prince Edward Island Liberal Party, Robert Ghiz, MLA

Current official oppositions and leaders:

• Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador, Yvonne Jones, MHA
• Yukon Liberal Party, Arthur Mitchell, MLA
• Alberta Liberal Party, Kevin Taft, MLA (has no official connection to the federal party)

Third party status and leaders:

• Nova Scotia Liberal Party, Stephen McNeil, 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, the provincial party tends to maintain neutrality in federal politics. In the 6 other provinces and one territory, the provincial parties are direct organizational affiliates with their federal counterpart.

The Quebec Liberal Party was long affiliated with the federal Liberals since Confederation. In the 1940s, the party's fortunes were aided and hindered by close association with the federal Grits over the issue of conscription, winning the 1939 election but losing in 1944. The provincial party, serving a long spell in opposition, partially due to the conscription fallout, formally severed ties in 1955. Since then, relations have been tense between the federal and provincial parties, as examplified by Pierre Trudeau and Robert Bourassa's bickering over nationalism.

Some in the Alberta Liberal Party feel it has suffered as a result of federal Liberal policies unpopular in Western Canada, such as the National Energy Program and official bilingualism. The British Columbia Liberal Party Liberal Party ended its own ties with the federal party in 1987.

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
• Liberalism worldwide
• Liberal democracy
• Liberalism in Canada
• List of political parties in 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

References

External links

• Liberal Party of Canada (official website)
• Liberal Party of Canada YouTube channel

v • d • e Major national, provincial, and territorial Liberal parties in Canada Forming the government New Brunswick · Prince Edward Island · Ontario · Québec · British Columbia Forming the official opposition Canada · Newfoundland and Labrador · Alberta · Yukon Third parties represented in legislatures Manitoba · Nova Scotia No representation in legislature Saskatchewan

v • d • e Leaders of the Liberal Party of Canada Brown · Mackenzie · Blake · Laurier · King · St. Laurent · Pearson · Trudeau · Turner · Chrétien · Martin · Dion

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