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".[1]
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,[2] 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.[3] 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.[3] 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.[4] 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.
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.
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.[6] Upon the absence of the prime minister, the senior minister would act on behalf of the prime minister.[7] 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.[8] Her resignation sent shockwave across Canada and precipitated the end of Justin Trudeau's premiership. No deputy has been designated since Freeland's resignation.
↑ During the 1867 dominion election, Brown, who served briefly as the joint premier from Canada West prior to confederation, was recognized as the senior stateman among leaders of multiple reformers groups opposing the Liberal-Conservatives
↑ Blake was also elected in Durham West; he chose to sit for Bruce South instead, and resigned as the Member of Parliament for Durham West.
↑ Unofficial leader at the 1872 election, as leader of the Ontario Liberals
↑ Also elected As MP for Wright, Quebec in 1904 but opted only to hold Quebec East
↑ Assumed parliamentary leadership and the role of Leader of the Opposition on February 6, 2006
↑ Not formally named deputy leader while the party was in opposition but generally recognized as such and referred by the press as such. MacEachen himself stated that he served as deputy leader of the opposition. [10]
↑ Gray initially stated that the deputy title applied only to parliamentary duties, but party president Michel Robert later clarified that Gray was authorized to represent Turner in party matters.[11][12]
↑ Gray assumed the parliamentary leadership on February 7, 1990 while Turner retained party leadership until leadership convention.[13] Gray remain parliamentary leader until new leader Jean Chretien regained a parliamentary seat in a byelection held on December 10, 1990.
↑ Named deputy leader on January 30, 1991[14] and appointed Deputy Prime Minister when the Chretien ministry was formed.
↑ Strictly speaking, the office of deputy prime minister was vacant from April to June 1996 when Copps, after being challenged on her 1993 campaign promise to resign if the government did not repeal the Goods and Services Tax. Copps resigned from Parliament on May 1 and regained her seat in a byelection on June 17 and returned to same cabinet roles two days later. PM Chrétien did not name a replacement in cabinet during Copps's absence from Parliament.
↑ Prime Minister Justice Trudeau did not name a deputy prime minister at the initial formation of his ministry. However, he formally placed Goodale as first in line to assume the prime minister's powers and duties as acting prime minister should he become incapacitated.[19] Trudeau did not appoint a deputy prime minister while Goodale was in parliament.
1 2 National Liberal Federation of Canada (1948). Report of the proceedings of the National Liberal Convention 1948. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: National Liberal Federation of Canada. Call for a national convention, section 2 & 3 at p.14; Qualifications for Representation, at p.24.
↑ Morrison, Nancy (June 27, 1990). "Good women come to aid of the party". The Vancouver Sun. pp.A13.
↑ MacEachen, Allen (1997). "All Those Years: Practice and Purpose in Politics". In Kent, Tom (ed.). In Pursuit of the Public Good Essays in Honour of Allan J. MacEachen. McGill-Queen's University Press. p.12. ISBN0-7735-1684-0.
↑ McKeague, Paul (January 12, 1989). "Loyalty gains Gray his reward". The Windsor Star. p.A8.
↑ Dowling, Deborah (January 11, 1989). "Gray's appointment fuels speculation on Turner's exit". The Ottawa Citizen. p.A3.
↑ McKeague, Paul (February 7, 1990). "Turner hands off to Gray". The Windsor Star. p.A1.
↑ Bryden, Joan (January 31, 1991). "Copps named deputy leader as Grits show younger face". The Windsor Star. Southam News. p.A10.
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