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The leader of the Liberal Party of Canada (French: chef du parti libéral) is the highest political office of the Liberal Party of Canada. The holder of the office is the formal political head of the party as a political organization and its parliamentary caucus in Canada's House of Commons, with specific authority to "speak for the party concerning any political issue".
| Leader of the Liberal Party | |
|---|---|
| Chef du Parti libéral | |
Incumbent since March 9, 2025Mark Carney | |
| Status | Party leader |
| Member of | Liberal Party of Canada |
| Appointer | Elected by members of the party |
| Inaugural holder | Alexander Mackenzie |
| Formation | March 6, 1873 |
| Deputy | Deputy Leader |
The current leader is Mark Carney, the current Prime Minister of Canada. He is the 14th permanent leader. He succeeded former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as party leader on March 9, 2025, following his victory in the party's leadership election, and succeeded Trudeau as Prime Minister five days later. Given that the Liberal Party has been one of the two principal contenders for power for most of Canada's history, most of the past holders of this office had served as prime minister.
The leader primarily functions in parliament and, when the party is in power, in government. Past leaders had from time to time designated deputy leaders in parliamentary caucus, or deputy prime ministers in their ministries, and assigned varying additional authorities and responsibilities to such deputies. There is currently no such deputy designated. The leader is also advised and assisted by two individuals holding offices through separate elections: the national caucus chair elected by the party's parliamentary caucus (currently Etobicoke—Lakeshore MP James Maloney); and party president, a volunteer elected by the party's convention to serve as the board chair and executive head of the party's administrative organization (currently Sachit Mehra).
Likelihood for Premiership
With the Liberal Party having been one of the two principal contenders for power for most of Canada's history, majority of the office holders has served as Prime Minister of Canada, including all seven permanent leaders in the 20th century.
11 of the party's 14 permanent leaders were among Canada's 24 prime ministers. Among them, five became prime ministers elect upon their selection as party leader, and six became prime ministers upon the party winning a subsequent general election.
While they number fewer than their conservative rivals, the 11 Liberal prime ministers collectively governed the nation for longer. Excluding the current leader, the ten former prime ministers led the nation's government for 92.5 of Canada's 157 years history (of 59%). Among them were William Lyon Mackenzie King, Canada's longest serving prime minister (three stints totalling 21.5 years) and Wilfrid Laurier, the Canadian Prime Minister with the longest consecutive tenure at 15.2 years.
Compared to their principal rivals, the former permanent leaders of the Conservative Party of Canada (including the leaders of its predecessor Progressive Conservative Party and the pre-1942 Conservative Party) fewer Liberal leaders left office without having led the party to victory at least once. Of the 14 permanent leaders, only four left office without having won an electoral mandate. In comparison, 10 the 21 former permanent Conservative leaders left office without having won an electoral mandate, and four of the 21 without ever leading their party through a general election.
The high proportion of past leaders having served as Prime Minister can be partially explained by their relative longevity. The average tenure of the 13 past permanent leaders was 11.5 years, comparing to 7.1 years for their 21 Conservative peers. Laurier's 31.7 years and King's 29 years tenure were the longest and 2nd longest leadership among all parliamentary parties in Canada, and the only federal leaderships that lasted more than a quarter century.
The Liberal Party historically has been more prepared to stand by its leader following an electoral defeat, allowing opportunities for comeback. Among the 13 former Liberal leader, 11 experienced electoral defeats at least once. Six remained in office to fight another election, with three of the six having won or regained the premiership in a later election. Of the five who resigned their leadership after one election defeat, three did so having previously led the party to previous victory. Only two former leaders, Stephane Dion and Michael Ignatieff left office after only one unsuccessful attempt at the premiership, compared to six former Conservative leaders having left office after only one unsuccessful attempt.
History and Election
Selection by caucus
In Canada's first two parliamentary elections (or Dominion elections as they were known then), the Liberals were a loose grouping of reformers opposing the Liberal-conservative government of John A Macdonald but without a formal leader. George Brown, a veteran reformer and then leader of Clear Grits in Ontario, was recognized as the informal leader during in the first parliamentary election. Having led the Ontario Liberals to victory in early 1871 and served as the province Premier for about 10 months, Blake's informal leadership during the second parliamentary election was more firmly established than Brown's. However, after failing to dislodge Macdonald in the polls in the 1872 election, Blake hesitated from taking on the role of leader .
In March 1873, the reformers in parliament settled on Alexander Mackenzie, who served in the brief Blake minister in Ontario as provincial secretary and provincial treasurer, as the group's, making him the first formal leader of the party, and the first Liberal prime minister upon the fall of Macdonald later that year. The Liberal caucus also selected Blake as the next leader Blake in 1880, immediately after having push Mackenzie out of the way.
In 1887 upon Blake's resignation due to ill health, the Liberal caucus selected Wilfrid Laurier, a protegee of both Mackenzie and Blake, as its third leader, mostly out of deference to Blake's wishes, to the surprise of many including Laurier himself. Laurier accepted the leadership assuming it was a temporary assignment while Blake recover his health. It was not until June 1893, six years into his leadership, that Laurier would convene a national convention of the Liberal Party of the Dominion of Canada and have the 1,800 assembled delegates formally ratify his leadership.
Leadership Convention
The Liberal Party held nine conventions between 1919 and 2009. The evolution of applicable rules reflects the evolving expectation of the members and the public for internal democracy, representation, and also the party's growing emphasis of empowering certain groups.
Equal weighting by electoral district – One notable constant feature for all nine convention was the equal representational weighting of all electoral districts. While the presence of ex-officio delegates and other delegate categories distorted the exact representation for each district slightly, equal weighting of all electoral districts remained the paramount requirement for delegate composition through all nine conventions.
Balloting at conventions – The Liberal Party held its first leadership convention on August 7, 1919. Balloting continued until one candidate won a majority of votes, with no requirement for candidates to be eliminated. With only four candidate, the convention took five ballots to elect King over former finance minister William Stevens Fielding. Rules were added at the next convention in 1948 to eliminate the candidate with the fewest votes on a given ballot starting on the fifth ballot. It was unnecessary for that convention as Louis St. Laurent won the leadership on first ballot with close to 70% of the votes. In more recent convention, the elimination starts from first ballot, and candidates with less than 5% of the vote on the first ballot would also be eliminated. Since 1919, time has also been given between ballots for candidates to announce if they wish to withdraw and throw their support to another candidate.
Guarantee representation for women, disproportionate clout for youth – Youth and A set portion of delegate allocation were reserved for youth and women starting at the 1948 convention. At the 1948, 82 delegate accretions out of about 1300 at that convention were designated for the Young Liberal Federation, accounting for or 6.3%. While only 28 were designated for the Women Liberal Federation, women made up a substantial proportion of the regulate delegates. Starting at the 1990 convention, half of the electoral districts delegate accreditations were to be reserved for women, pushing the share of women delegates up to 46% at that convention. The proportion of delegate accreditation guaranteed to youth would reach its peak at the 2003 convention, with 1200 constituency youth delegates and over 500 campus club delegates making up close 40% of the convention. The party further added approximately 600 delegate accreditations for indigenous delegates at the 2006 convention, though a substantial portion of that went unfilled.
Unbeknownst to delegates in attendance at the time, the 2006 leadership convention held in Montreal was the last competitive leadership convention held by the Liberal Party. It was also the only time the elected leader was not the first place candidate in the first ballot, with the surprise election of fourth place contender Stephane Dion over frontrunners Michael Ignatieff and Bob Rae. Following Dion's resignation, the Liberal Party held its last leadership convention in May 2009 in Vancouver. The actual contest however ended months earlier when Dominic Leblanc and Bob Rae having with drew from the race in December 2008 and remaining candidate Michael Ignatieff started acting as parliamentary leader.
Direct Vote by Membership
At the 2009 convention, the Liberal Party amended its constitution to specify that future leadership elections were to be conducted with a weighted one member, one vote system in which all party members would cast ballots but in which they would be counted so that each riding had equal weight. This system, however, has been modified in the 2012 Biennial Convention in Ottawa. In addition to the card-carrying membership, registered supporters, a newly created category of Liberal sympathisers, given the right to vote in their constituency.
List of leaders
| Leader (Born-Died) Parliamentary seat (while leader) | Term of office | Tenure | Led party in elections | Ministries in office while Leader | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | Hon. George Brown (1818–1880) (ran and defeated in Ontario South, Ont.) Unofficial leader | c.1867 | (n/a) | 1st (1867) | Macdonald 1st (1867–73) | ||
| — | Hon. Edward Blake (1834–1912) MP for Bruce South, Ont. Unofficial leader | c.1872 | (n/a) | 2nd (1872) | |||
| 1 | Hon. Alexander Mackenzie (1822–1892) MP for Lambton, Ont. 2nd Prime Minister | March 6, 1873 – April 27, 1880 | 7 years, 1 month and 21 days | 3rd (1874) 4th (1878) | |||
| MacKenzie 2nd (1873–78) | |||||||
| Macdonald 3rd (1878–91) | |||||||
| 2 | Hon. Edward Blake (1833–1912) MP for Durham West, Ont. | May 4, 1880 – June 2, 1887 | 7 years and 29 days | 5th (1882) 6th (1887) | |||
| Abbott 4th (1891–92) | |||||||
| Thompson 5th (1892–94) | |||||||
| Bowell 6th (1894–96) | |||||||
| Tupper 7th (1896) | |||||||
| 3 | Sir Wilfrid Laurier (1841–1919) MP for Quebec East, Que. (1877–1919); Ottawa, Ont. (1908–10)Soulanges, Que. (1911–17) 7th Prime Minister | June 23, 1887 – February 17, 1919 | 31 years, 7 months and 25 days | 7th (1891) 8th (1896) 9th (1900) 10th (1904) 11th (1908) 12th (1911) 13th (1917) | |||
| Laurier 8th (1896–1911) | |||||||
| Borden 9th (1911–17) | |||||||
| Borden 10th (1917–20) | |||||||
| — | Hon. Daniel Duncan McKenzie (1859–1927) MP for Cape Breton North and Victoria, N.S. Interim Leader | February 17, 1919 – August 7, 1919 | 5 months and 21 days (interim) | ||||
| 4 | Rt. Hon. William Lyon Mackenzie King (1874–1950) MP for Prince, P.E.I. (1919–21); York North, Ont. (1921–25); Prince Albert, Sask.(1926–45); Glengarry, Ont. (1945–49) 10th Prime Minister | August 7, 1919 – August 7, 1948 | 29 years | 14th (1921) 15th (1925) 16th (1926) 17th (1930) 18th (1935) 19th (1940) 20th (1945) | |||
| Meighen 11th (1920–21) | |||||||
| Mackenzie King 12th (1921–26) | |||||||
| Meighen 13th (1926–26) | |||||||
| Mackenzie King 14th (1926–30) | |||||||
| Bennett 15th (1930–35) | |||||||
| Mackenzie King 16th (1935–48) | |||||||
| 5 | Rt. Hon. Louis St. Laurent (1882–1973) MP for Quebec East, Que. 12th Prime Minister | August 7, 1948 – January 16, 1958 | 9 years, 5 months and 9 days | 21th (1949) 22th (1953) 23th (1957) | St. Laurent 17th (1948–57) | ||
| Diefenbaker 18th (1957–63) | |||||||
| 6 | Rt. Hon. Lester B. Pearson (1897–1972) MP for Algoma East, Ont. 14th Prime Minister | January 16, 1958 – April 6, 1968 | 10 years, 2 months and 21 days | 24th (1958) 25th (1962) 26th (1963) 27th (1965) | |||
| Pearson 19th (1963–68) | |||||||
| 7 | Rt. Hon. Pierre Trudeau (1919–2000) MP for Mount Royal, Que. 15th Prime Minister | April 6, 1968 – June 16, 1984 | 16 years, 2 months and 10 days | 28th (1968) 29th (1972) 30th (1974) 31th (1979) 32th (1980) | P. Trudeau 20th (1968–79) | ||
| Clark 21th (1979–80) | |||||||
| P. Trudeau 22th (1980–84) | |||||||
| 8 | Rt. Hon. John Turner (1929–2020) MP for Vancouver Quadra, B.C. 17th Prime Minister | June 16, 1984 – June 23, 1990 | 6 years and 7 days | 33th (1984) 34th (1988) | Turner 23th (1984–84) | ||
| Mulroney 24th (1984–93) | |||||||
| 9 | Rt. Hon. Jean Chrétien (b. 1934) MP for Beauséjour, N.B. (1990–93); Saint-Maurice, Que. (1993–2003) 20th Prime Minister | June 23, 1990 – November 14, 2003 | 13 years, 4 months and 22 days | 35th (1993) 36th (1997) 37th (2000) | |||
| Campbell 25th (1993–93) | |||||||
| Chrétien 26th (1993–2003) | |||||||
| 10 | Rt. Hon. Paul Martin (b. 1938) MP for LaSalle—Émard, Que. 21st Prime Minister | November 14, 2003 – March 19, 2006 | 2 years, 4 months and 5 days | 38th (2004) 39th (2006) | Martin 27th (2003–06) | ||
| Harper 28th (2006–15) | |||||||
| — | Hon. Bill Graham (1939–2022) MP for Toronto Centre, Ont. Interim Leader | March 19, 2006 – December 2, 2006 | 8 months and 13 days (interim) | ||||
| 11 | Hon. Stéphane Dion (b. 1955) MP for Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, Que. | December 2, 2006 – December 10, 2008 | 2 years and 8 days | 40th (2008) | |||
| 12 | Hon. Michael Ignatieff (b. 1947) MP for Etobicoke—Lakeshore, Ont. | December 10, 2008 – May 25, 2011 (Interim leader until May 2, 2009) | 2 years, 5 months and 15 days (interim: 4 months and 22 days permanent: 2 years and 23 days) | 41th (2011) | |||
| — | Hon. Bob Rae (b. 1948) MP for Toronto Centre, Ont. Interim Leader | May 25, 2011 – April 14, 2013 | 1 year, 10 months and 20 days (interim) | ||||
| 13 | Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau (b. 1971) MP for Papineau, Que. 23rd Prime Minister | April 14, 2013 – March 9, 2025 | 11 years, 10 months and 23 days | 42th (2015) 43th (2019) 44th (2021) | |||
| J. Trudeau 29th (2015–25) | |||||||
| 14 | Rt. Hon. Mark Carney (b. 1965) MP for Nepean, Ont. 24th Prime Minister | March 9, 2025 – present | 9 months and 4 days | 45th (2025) | Carney 30th (2025–) | ||
Other key leadership roles
Deputy leaders and deputy prime ministers
Liberal Party leaders had from time to time formally designated a deputy. Deputy leaders were appointed only while the party was in opposition. While the party was in the government, the title Deputy Prime Minister was from time to time conferred upon a member of the cabinet. The deputies' formal responsibilities and authorities varied depending on a variety of factors, such as the party's electoral circumstances, their and the leaders' respective political statures, and their relationships with their leaders.
Until recent decades, most party leaders has named one of their former leadership rivals as their deputy at some point during their leadership, including: Pierre Trudeau (Paul Hellyer, Allan MacEachen), John Turner (Jean Chrétien), Jean Chrétien (Sheila Copps) and Stéphane Dion (Michael Ignatieff). That practice was less frequently followed by leaders since the turn of the millennium. Paul Martin excluded all rivals, including those who withdrew and endorsed him before the convention, from his cabinet. The three most recent leaders each placed at least one rival on their front bench without naming them deputy, the three being: Michael Ignatieff (Bob Rae as foreign affairs critic, Scott Brison as finance critic), Justin Trudeau (Marc Garneau as transport and then foreign minister, Joyce Murray as President of the Treasury Board) and Mark Carney (Chrystia Freeland as transport minister).
It is worth noting that both the earliest and the latest such designated deputies resigned amid public disagreements with party leaders named Trudeau, over policy matters which the prime ministers previously assigned them carriage with great fanfare. To date, they remain the only two to have relinquished the role of deputy in overtly acrimonious circumstances.
- Following his election as party leader in 1968, Pierre Trudeau designated Paul Hellyer, a leadership rival who placed second to Trudeau on first ballot, as "Senior Minister" in his cabinet. The ceremonial title put Hellyer ahead of other cabinet colleagues in the order of precedence. Upon the absence of the prime minister, the senior minister would act on behalf of the prime minister. In addition to retaining the transport portfolio held in the Pearson ministry, Hellyer was assigned special responsibility by Trudeau for a new federal task force on housing and urban development. The task force tabled its report within a year calling for greater role by the federal government in housing, which conflicted with Trudeau's view of federalism. The disagreements over the implementation of the report led to Hellyer's resignation from Trudeau's cabinet after just shy of a year, and the title Senior Minister has not been revived since.
- After having led the party back to government in 2015, Justin Trudeau did not name long time deputy leader Ralph Goodale as deputy prime minister, and the title was left dormant while Goodale was in parliament. Following the 2019 federal election, during which Goodale lost his parliamentary seat, Trudeau named Chrystia Freeland Deputy Prime Minister, and in 2020 made her the first female finance minister in Canadian history. She held the position until her dramatic resignation from cabinet in December 2024 hours before she was to deliver the fall economic statement, citing policy disagreements with Trudeau on tax breaks, disbursements, and tariffs proposed by US President-elect Donald Trump. Her resignation sent shockwave across Canada and precipitated the end of Justin Trudeau's premiership. No deputy has been designated since Freeland's resignation.
List of deputies
| Deputy Leader (Born-Died) Parliamentary seat (while deputy) | Term of office | Tenure | Deputy role (Ministry if Deputy PM) Concurrent roles | Leader (term) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hon. Paul Hellyer (1923–2021) MP for Trinity | April 30, 1968 – April 23, 1969 | 11 months and 24 days | Senior Minister (20th)
| Pierre Trudeau (1968–84) | |
| No deputy designated | April 23, 1969– September 16, 1977 | ||||
| Hon. Allan MacEachen (1921–2017) MP for Cape Breton Highlands—Canso | September 16, 1977 – June 4, 1979 | 6 years, 9 months and 14 days | Deputy Prime Minister (20th)
| ||
| June 4, 1979 – March 3, 1980 | Deputy Leader (unofficial)
| ||||
| March 3, 1980 – June 30, 1984 | Deputy Prime Minister (22nd)
| ||||
| Rt. Hon. Jean Chrétien (b. 1934) MP for Saint-Maurice | June 30, 1984 – September 17, 1984 | 2 months and 18 days | Deputy Prime Minister (23rd)
| John Turner (1984–90) | |
| No deputy designated | September 17, 1984– January 10, 1989 | ||||
| Rt. Hon. Herb Gray (1931–2014) MP for Windsor West | January 10, 1989 – January 30, 1991 | 2 years and 20 days | Deputy Leader
| ||
| Hon. Sheila Copps (b. 1952) MP for Hamilton East | January 30, 1991 – November 4, 1993 | 6 years, 4 months and 12 days | Deputy Leader | Jean Chrétien (1990–2003) | |
| November 4, 1993 – June 11, 1997 | Deputy Prime Minister (26th)
| ||||
| Rt. Hon. Herb Gray (1931–2014) MP for Windsor West | June 11, 1997 – January 15, 2002 | 4 years, 7 months and 4 days (Total: 6 years, 7 months and 24 days) | Deputy Prime Minister (26th)
| ||
| Hon. John Manley (b. 1950) MP for Ottawa South | January 15, 2002 – December 12, 2003 | 1 year, 10 months and 27 days | Deputy Prime Minister (26th)
| ||
| Hon. Anne McLellan (b. 1950) MP for Edmonton West/Centre | December 12, 2003 – February 6, 2006 | 2 years, 1 month and 25 days | Deputy Prime Minister (27th)
| Paul Martin (2003–06) | |
| Hon. Lucienne Robillard (b. 1952) | February 26, 2006 – December 17, 2006 | 9 months and 21 days | Deputy Leader | Bill Graham (Interim, 2006) | |
| Hon. Michael Ignatieff (b. 1947) MP for Etobicoke–Lakeshore | December 18, 2006 – November 13, 2008 | 1 year, 10 months and 26 days | Deputy Leader | Stéphane Dion (2006–08) | |
| No deputy designated | November 13, 2008 – September 7, 2010 | ||||
| Michael Ignatieff (2008–11) | |||||
| Hon. Ralph Goodale (b. 1949) | September 7, 2010 – November 3, 2015 | 5 years, 1 month and 27 days | Deputy Leader | ||
| Bob Rae (Interim, 2011–13) | |||||
| Justin Trudeau (2013–25) | |||||
| No deputy designated | November 3, 2015 – November 19, 2019 | ||||
| Hon. Chrystia Freeland (b. 1968) MP for University—Rosedale | November 20, 2019 – December 16, 2024 | 5 years and 26 days | Deputy Prime Minister (29th)
| ||
Party Presidents
- Vincent Massey 1932–1935
- Norman Platt Lambert 1936–1941
- Vacant 1941–1943
- Norman Alexander McLarty 1943 (acting)
- Wishart McLea Robertson 1943–1945
- James Gordon Fogo 1946–1952
- Duncan Kenneth MacTavish 1952–1958
- Bruce Matthews 1958–1961
- John Joseph Connolly 1961–1964
- John Lang Nichol 1964–1968
- Richard Stanbury 1968–1973
- Gildas Molgat 1973–1976
- Alasdair Graham 1976–1980
- Norman MacLeod 1980–1982
- Iona Campagnolo 1982–1986
- J. J. Michel Robert 1986–1990
- Don Johnston 1990–1994
- Dan Hays 1994–1998
- Stephen LeDrew 1998–2003
- Michael Eizenga 2003–2006
- Marie Poulin 2006–2008
- Doug Ferguson 2008–2009
- Alfred Apps 2009–2012
- Mike Crawley 2012–2014
- Anna Gainey 2014–2018
- Suzanne Cowan 2018–2023
- Sachit Mehra 2023–present
See also
- History of the Liberal Party of Canada
- Liberal Party of Canada leadership elections
- Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada
- Leader of the New Democratic Party
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