Liberal Party (Canada)

Article Outline

Introduction; Formation of the Party; History

Introduction

Liberal Party (Canada), major political party in Canada. The Liberals dominated Canadian national politics for much of the 20th century, thus earning their nickname of “the government party.” The party grew out of several reform groups that arose in the early 19th century in the legislatures of the then British colonies of largely French-speaking Lower Canada (now Québec province) and English-speaking Upper Canada (now Ontario province).

Prior to the 1840s, the chief reform that these groups sought was responsible government. This meant government by elected bodies, as opposed to government by a governor and council who were appointed in Britain and who could not be turned out of office by Canadian voters. More broadly, the reformers opposed traditional antidemocratic sources of authority.

Formation of the Party

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In the 1840s the battle for responsible government was largely won through grants of self-government powers to the legislature of the province of Canada, which was formed by joining Upper Canada and Lower Canada in 1841. The reform movement turned its energies to opposing the special privileges of the church and the remaining powers of British-appointed officials. The reformers also worked for free trade with the United States, which the government of Britain did not favor.

In the 1850s the reformers split. The moderate reformers joined forces with the Conservative Party. The more radical reformers eventually united and by the mid-1870s called themselves the Liberal Party. The Liberal Party’s name reflected a belief in the principles of 19th-century British liberalism. British liberalism was a set of attitudes favoring progress, individualism, international cooperation, and free trade. See Liberal Party (UK). Although the early reform movement included some elements of British liberalism, the Liberal Party’s positions have changed significantly over the course of Canadian history. Like their primary rivals, the Conservatives, the Liberals have demonstrated few consistent positions in national affairs. Despite this changeability, they have dominated much of Canadian political life over the past century.

History

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Mackenzie

After Canadian Confederation in 1867, the first Liberal government came to power in 1873 under the leadership of Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie. The Mackenzie Liberals advocated relatively free trade with the United States, but this position lost favor in 1878. That year the Liberals were swept out of power by Sir John A. Macdonald and the Conservative Party, who wanted restrictions on trade to protect Canadian industries. The reform of the Canadian legal system and establishment of the Supreme Court of Canada by Mackenzie’s minister of justice Edward Blake were the major achievements of Mackenzie’s administration.

Laurier

The most influential Liberal of the period before World War I (1914-1918) was Sir Wilfred Laurier, Canada’s first French Canadian prime minister. He became prime minister in 1896 and stayed in power until 1911. Laurier worked vigorously for national unity and, at least early in his career, British-style liberalism. Once he was in power, his promotion of common national interests expanded support for the Liberals in both Québec and the English-speaking part of Canada. He adopted many strategies the Conservatives had used before him, including patronage (the distribution of political offices to party loyalists) and the expansion of federal government involvement in Canadian economic development.

Laurier frequently compromised between the interests of English-speaking and French-speaking Canadians. When the province of Manitoba abolished public funding for separate French-speaking Roman Catholic schools, he arranged for very limited separate instruction. When Britain pressed Canada to join its Boer War (1899-1902) in South Africa, which French Canadians opposed, he refused, but helped pay the costs of Canadian volunteers. Such policies alienated both English-speaking and French-speaking supporters. In 1911 he attempted to secure limited free trade with the United States, which angered industrial interests and led to a Liberal Party loss in that year’s election.