Liberal Party of Canada

[[File:Liberal party of Canada logo 2014 reupload.png|thumb|Liberal party of Canada logo]]
{{politics}}
{{cquote|The Conservatives have the right-wing, The NDP have the left-wing. The Liberals have two wings and that's why we can fly.|||Eugene Whelan, ''perestroika'' catalyst<ref>{{wpa|Eugene Whelan}}</ref>}}

The '''[[Liberal Party]] of [[Canada]]''' is one of the oldest [[political parties]] in Canada. Their supporters are nicknamed '''Grits''', and they are known as Canada's "natural governing party," with their time in government often lasting at least a decade on average.

The federal party is currently led by the new current prime minister [[Mark Carney]] who replaced [[Justin Trudeau]] in 2025. The Liberal Party also has counterparts in most Canadian provinces and territories for provincial [[government]].<ref>Provincial Liberal parties aren't necessarily related to the Federal party. since the 1960s, there has been no formal association between the Liberal Party of Quebec and the federal party beyond a similar name. The [[British Columbia]] Liberal Party have a much closer relationship to the federal Conservatives than to the Liberals.</ref>

==History==
The Liberals are descended from the mid-19th century Reformers who agitated [[British]] [[North America]]. These included George Brown, Robert Baldwin and William Lyon Mackenzie, Joseph Howe in [[Nova Scotia]] and the Patriotes in Lower Canada led by the charismatic Louis-Joseph Papineau. The party promoted Canadian independence from the rule of [[England]] for many decades.

==Policy==
The Liberals' only policy is to adopt whatever is popular in the country at the time:
*Fully implemented the [[welfare state]] and many other safety net social policies that were introduced to Canada by the [[New Democratic Party]] (NDP), the country's [[social democratic]] party. 
*Strongly opposed [[Quebec]] separatism and supports a strong federalist [[Canada]]. 
*Legalized [[same sex marriage]] and currently supports [[medical marijuana]] and the legalization of recreational marijuana.
*Wish to to place [[Gun control|tighter restrictions]] or outright ban semi-automatic rifles and hand guns. 
*Wish to increase social spending to shorten hospital wait times, improve [[health care]], as well as render more assistance to [[Native American|aboriginals]], the elderly, and [[immigration|immigrants]].

==Current status==
The Liberals currently hold 157 of the 338 seats in the House of Commons, which they won in the 2019 election. Previously, they were relegated to third place for the first time ever after the [[Conservative Party of Canada|Conservative Party]] and the New Democrats, but we needn't talk about [[Stephen Harper|those dark days no more]]. The Liberal Party also holds 47 of the 105 seats in the Canadian Senate. Or, they did until Justin Trudeau abolished the Liberal caucus in the Senate. They now sit as independents.

==Criticism==
Being a party of the political [[Centrism|centre]] (or, of the extreme left by the standards of American politics), the Liberals are subjected to harsh and frequent criticism from both the Conservatives and the New Democrats. Both parties charge that the Liberals are arrogant (which, seeing as journalists and academic still sometimes refer to them as "Canada's Natural Governing Party" may have some basis in fact) and willing to abandon principle for political expediency. As evidence, critics cite the party's habit of "borrowing" popular policy planks from various ideological rivals, such as NDP in the 60s and 70s and the borderline-[[wingnut]] Reform Party in the 90s. This habit also has the side effect of making the Liberal Party drift across the ideological spectrum over time, leading to charges that Liberals don't really "believe in anything." Liberals generally answer this by claiming that they pursue the "best policy," regardless of ideology. Moreover, New Democrats and Conservatives each maintain that the Liberal Party is "Conservative-lite" or "NDP-lite," respectively, with both claiming that the Liberals under Ignatieff were little more than lapdogs for the opposing party.

==See also==
*[[Political parties of Canada]]

==References==
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Canadian political parties]]
[[Category:Canadian politics]]
[[Category:Centrism]]
[[Category:Liberalism]]
[[Category:Social liberal political parties]]

Categories: Canadian political parties, Canadian politics, Centrism, Liberalism, Social liberal political parties