Liberal Party of Canada

The Liberal Party of Canada (French: Parti libéral du Canada) is the longest-serving and oldest active federal political party in Canada. The party has dominated federal politics of Canada for much of its history, holding power for almost 70 years of the 20th century. As a result, it has sometimes been referred to as Canada's "natural governing party".

The party espouses the principles of liberalism, and generally sits at the centre to centre-left of the Canadian political spectrum, with their rival, the Conservative Party, positioned to their right and the New Democratic Party, who at times aligned itself with the Liberals during minority governments, positioned to their left. The party is described as "big tent", practising "brokerage politics", attracting support from a broad spectrum of voters. In the late 1970s, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau stated that his Liberal Party adhered to the "radical centre".

From 1896 to 1911, the Liberal Party governed under Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier, who offered a compromise between English and French Canada. From the early 1920s until the mid-1950s, the party under Prime Ministers William Lyon Mackenzie King and Louis St. Laurent gradually built a Canadian welfare state. The Liberals' signature policies and legislative decisions include universal health care, the Canada Pension Plan, Canada Student Loans, peacekeeping, the establishment of the Royal Canadian Navy, multilateralism, official bilingualism, official multiculturalism, gun control, patriating the Constitution of Canada and the entrenchment of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Clarity Act, legalizing same-sex marriage, euthanasia, and cannabis, national carbon pricing, and expanded access to abortion.

In the 2015 federal election, the Liberal Party under Justin Trudeau had its best result since the 2000 federal election, winning 39.5 percent of the popular vote and 184 seats, gaining a majority of seats in the House of Commons. In the federal elections of 2019 and 2021, the party won a minority government and narrowly lost the popular vote both times.