Libertarian Party of Canada

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Libertarian Party of Canada
Parti libertarien du Canada
Active federal party
Leader Jacques Boudreau [1]
PresidentCoreen Corcoran
FounderMarshall Bruce Evoy
Founded7 July 1973;52 years ago (1973-07-07) [2]
Headquarters409–207 Bank St. Ottawa, Ontario [3]
Ideology
Political position Right-wing [4] [5]
International affiliationInterlibertarians
International Alliance of Libertarian Parties
Colors  Yellow
Senate
0 / 105
House of Commons
0 / 343
Website
www.libertarian.ca

The Libertarian Party of Canada (French : Parti libertarien du Canada) is a federal political party in Canada founded in 1973.

Contents

History

The party was founded in July 1973 by Marshall Bruce Evoy. The party's founding convention, attended by 64 delegates and modeled on the 1972 Founding Convention of the United States Libertarian Party and the Libertarian Alternative of Alberta's September 1973 rally in Edmonton, took place in Toronto in October 1973; Sieg Pedde was elected leader. [6] [7] Evoy ran unsuccessfully for election to Parliament in the 1974 federal election in a Toronto riding. [8] [9]

The party achieved registered status in the 1979 federal election by running more than fifty candidates. [10] The party spent $45,818 on the 1984 Canadian federal election running 72 candidates and received 0.2% of the vote. [11]

Libertarian Party president Stanisław Tymiński ran for President of Poland in the 1990 election (and again, having left his LPoC position, in 1995). [12]

In the 2015 Canadian federal election, Lauren Southern was the Libertarian candidate in the district of Langley–Aldergrove. [13] She was briefly removed by the party as a candidate but was reinstated with support from Breitbart News and Rebel Media. [14] She received 535 votes, or 0.9% of the total. [15]

In September 2018, Moen, who had previously offered the leadership of the Libertarian Party to Maxime Bernier, stated that he was open to the idea of a merger with Bernier's People's Party of Canada. [16] When asked by Global News , Bernier indicated he had no interest in a merger. [17]

Ideology

The party subscribes to libertarian and classical liberal tenets; its stated mission is to reduce the size, scope, and cost of government. [18] Having stated that the party "wouldn't criminalize much except murder and theft", [19] policies include ending drug prohibition, ending government censorship, open borders, [20] lowering taxes, protecting gun rights, ending laws criminalizing the voluntary transfer of money for sex acts between consenting adults, [21] free trade and non-interventionism. [22]

The statement of principles adopted by the founding convention in 1973 called for a new Canadian Constitution to supersede the British North America Act and for privatization of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the Royal Mail Canada through their sale. No consensus could be reached at the time on age of majority, capital punishment and abortion. [7]

Election results

ElectionLeaderCandidatesVotesShare of popular voteShare in ridings contested
1979 Alex Eaglesham
60 / 282
16,0420.1%0.6%
1980 Vacant
58 / 282
14,6560.1%0.6%
1984 Victor Levis
72 / 282
23,5140.2%0.7%
1988 Dennis Corrigan
88 / 295
33,1850.3%0.8%
1993 Hilliard Cox
52 / 295
14,6300.1%0.5%
1997 did not contest
2000
2004 Jean-Serge Brisson
8 / 308
1,949nil%0.5%
2006
10 / 308
3,002nil%0.6%
2008 Dennis Young
26 / 308
7,3000.1%0.6%
2011
23 / 308
6,002nil%0.5%
2015 Tim Moen
72 / 338
37,4070.2%0.9%
2019
24 / 338
8,2810.1%0.6%
2021 Jacques Boudreau
13 / 338
4,765nil%0.7%
2025
16 / 338
5,561nil%0.6

Leaders

George Dance in 1988 George Dance 1988.jpg
George Dance in 1988
Stanislaw Tyminski in 1990 StanislawTyminski.jpg
Stanisław Tymiński in 1990
Jean-Serge Brisson in 2018 Jean-Serge Brisson.jpg
Jean-Serge Brisson in 2018
No.LeaderYears in office
1Sieg Pedde1973–1974
2Charles "Chuck" Lyall1974–1976
3Ron Bailey1976–1978
4 Alex Eaglesham 1978–1979
5Linda Cain1980–1982
6 Neil Reynolds May 1982 – 1983
7Victor Levis1983–1987
8Dennis Corrigan1987–1990
9 Stanisław Tymiński 1990–1991
10George Dance1991–1993
11Hilliard CoxMay 1993 – 1995
(10)George Dance1995–1996
12Vincent Pouliot12 May 1996 – 5 April 1997
13Robert Morse1997–1999
14 Jean-Serge Brisson 1999 – 18 May 2008
15Dennis Young18 May 2008 – May 2011
16Katrina ChowneMay 2011 – May 2014
17 Tim Moen May 2014 – 2021
18Jacques Boudreau15 August 2021 – present
Source [23]

See also

References

  1. @moen_tim (15 August 2021). "Meet the new Leader of the @LibertarianCDN party! He beat out 4 other quality candidates. Congrats Jacques Boudreau!" (Tweet) via Twitter.
  2. "Libertarian Party of Canada – Leadership Roles". Library of Parliament. Archived from the original on 3 April 2017.
  3. "Elections Canada". Elections.ca. Retrieved 12 November 2012.
  4. Shenton, Robert (1991), "The Poverty of 'Anti-Politics'" (PDF), Labour/Le Travail , 28: 303–309, doi:10.2307/25143518, JSTOR   25143518
  5. Battiata, Mary (30 November 1990), "Polish Government Links Tyminski to Libya, Secret Police", The Washington Post , archived from the original on 29 June 2025
  6. "Profile". Parlinfo. Library of Parliament. Archived from the original on 2017-04-03. Retrieved 2022-10-05.
  7. 1 2 Kinsky, Lynn (January 1974), "Frontlines", Reason , archived from the original on 2021-09-22
  8. Grigsby, Wayne (February 3, 1980). "For Libertarians, less is more". CBC Digital Archives. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 2021-04-16. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
  9. "Libertarian Party of Canada". Student Vote Canada. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
  10. Sikora, Adam (1988-11-16). "Libertarians support free trade, oppose 'big government'" (PDF). Whitby Free Press. p. 19. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-10-05. Retrieved 2022-10-05 via OurOntario.ca.
  11. "Calgary Herald, March 6, 1985". www.oldnews.com. Retrieved 2025-08-12.
  12. "The Jewish Post & News". January 9, 1991.
  13. Kabas, Marisa (15 June 2015). "Meet the Canadian college student who's about to be the next enemy of the feminist movement". The Daily Dot . Archived from the original on 28 July 2015.
  14. "Official Voting Results | British Columbia, Langley–Aldergrove | Forty-second General Election, 2015". www.elections.ca. Archived from the original on 15 August 2016. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  15. "Libertarian Party considering a merger with Bernier's People's Party". CBC. Libertarian leader Tim Moen had offered to step aside for Bernier following the results of the 2017 Conservative leadership race and adopted Bernier's platform.
  16. "'I am not a communist': Maxime Bernier doubles down on People's Party name amid criticism". Global News. Retrieved September 19, 2018.
  17. "Mission". Libertarian Party of Canada. Archived from the original on 5 February 2017.
  18. "Muse, St John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, Jan 19, 2006". www.oldnews.com. Retrieved 2025-08-12.
  19. "LPoC Platform". Libertarian Party of Canada. Retrieved 2025-08-12.
  20. "Statement of Policy". libertarian.ca. Libertarian Party of Canada. July 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  21. Gunn, Andrea (6 June 2015). "Canada's own Rand Paul? Libertarian Party amps up for election". iPolitics. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  22. "Libertarian Party of Canada (2004-06-02 - )". lop.parl.ca. Retrieved 2025-08-13.