Manitoba Liberal Party facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Manitoba Liberal Party
Leader	Cindy Lamoureux (interim)
President	Terry Hayward
Founded	1870; 155 years ago (1870)
Headquarters	635 Broadway Winnipeg, Manitoba R3C 0X1
Youth wing	Manitoba Young Liberals
Ideology	Liberalism
Political position	Centre
Colours	Red
Seats in Legislature	1 / 57
Political parties Elections

The Manitoba Liberal Party (French: Parti libéral du Manitoba) is a political party in Manitoba, Canada. Political parties are groups of people who share similar ideas about how to run a government. They work to get their members elected to make decisions for the province. The Manitoba Liberal Party started in the late 1800s, soon after Manitoba became a province in 1870.

How the Party Began: Early Years (to 1883)

In the very beginning, Manitoba did not have official political parties. However, many politicians had connections to national parties. For example, Edward Hay was a Liberal. He spoke for new English-speaking settlers from Ontario.

In the 1870s, a Liberal group started in Winnipeg. William Luxton, who owned the Manitoba Free Press newspaper, was a key person in this group. He supported Premier Robert A. Davis when John Norquay joined his government. This made the government more trusted by English speakers.

Later, Premier Norquay became closer to the federal Conservative Party. Manitoba was a small province. It needed to get along with the party in power in the federal government. So, when John A. Macdonald's Conservatives won federally in 1878, the local power balance changed. Luxton's Liberal group supported Norquay for a while. But they were later pushed aside by Norquay's government.

A Strong Leader: Thomas Greenway (1883–1904)

In 1882, Thomas Greenway started a new group. It was called the Provincial Rights Party. This group wanted Manitoba to have more control over its own resources and railways.

This group grew strong in rural areas. It soon became the main opposition to Norquay. After the 1883 election, Greenway brought together the opposition politicians. They formed the Manitoba Liberals. For the next 21 years, Greenway was the clear leader of the party.

In the 1888 election, Greenway's Liberals won. They formed Manitoba's first official party government. As premier, Greenway made important changes. He stopped the federal government from blocking Manitoba's railway laws. He also ended the Canadian Pacific Railway's special control. This brought in the Northern Pacific to create competition.

Greenway's government also changed the rights of French-speaking people in Manitoba. Manitoba was founded as a bilingual province. But Greenway's government caused the Manitoba Schools Question. This ended the educational rights of Catholic (mostly French) schools. The public school system became only English and Protestant. English also became the province's only official language.

Greenway won big elections in 1892 and 1896. This was mostly because of the schools issue. After this issue was settled in 1897, his government became less focused.

In 1899, the Liberals lost to the Hugh John Macdonald-led Manitoba Conservative Party.

The Liberals struggled to regain support after this. Greenway led the party in the 1903 election. They won only 9 seats. He then left provincial politics in 1904.

Changes in the Early 1900s

Charles Mickle became the party's leader in the legislature in 1904. He led until 1906. Then, Edward Brown became the new party leader. Brown did not win a seat in the 1907 election and resigned. Mickle again became the legislative leader until 1909.

Tobias Norris became the Liberal leader in 1910. In 1915, the Tories resigned due to a scandal. Norris then became the premier of Manitoba. He stayed in this job until 1922. The Norris Liberals brought in many new laws. These included:

• Laws about alcohol (temperance)
• Voting rights for women
• Workers' compensation
• Mandatory schooling
• Minimum wage
• Public nursing
• Help for widowed mothers

The Norris government did not always get along with the federal Liberal Party. Norris stopped funding French-language education in 1916. This was at a time when federal Liberals wanted to gain support from Quebec. The Manitoba Liberals also supported the Union government in 1917. They did not fully reunite with the federal Liberals until 1922. Even then, they did not officially join the federal party.

In 1922, the Liberals lost power to the United Farmers of Manitoba. This group was also known as the Progressive Party. Norris continued to lead the Liberals for most of the 1920s. He was replaced by Hugh Robson before the 1927 election. Robson resigned in 1930. James Breakey took over as legislative leader. In 1931, Murdoch Mackay became the official party leader.

Joining Forces: The Liberal-Progressive Party

In 1932, William Lyon Mackenzie King encouraged Mackay to join forces with Premier John Bracken's Progressives. King believed it was important for the parties to unite in Manitoba. He worried that the Conservatives could win if the Liberals and Progressives were divided.

For the 1932 election, the government called itself "Liberal-Progressive". This was a mix of the two parties. A small group of Liberals, led by David Campbell, did not agree with the merger. They ran as "Continuing Liberals" but lost badly. After the election, the Liberals in Manitoba joined the Progressive Party.

Even though Progressives were a big part of the new party, it soon became known as the "Liberal Party of Manitoba." The "Progressive" name had less meaning in Manitoba politics over time.

The 1940s and 1950s

In 1940, Bracken's Liberal-Progressives formed an even bigger group. They brought in the Conservatives, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), and Social Credit. This was a "non-partisan" government. This group governed Manitoba until 1950, though the CCF left in 1943.

The Liberal-Progressive governments were careful and moderate. Bracken's government did not start many big projects. It was not very friendly to workers' issues. After World War II, the government of Stuart Garson (who became premier in 1943) worked to bring electricity to rural areas. But it was still very cautious. Garson left provincial politics in 1948.

The government of Garson's successor, Douglas Lloyd Campbell, was very traditional. It generally did not want the government to get involved in many things. Education remained basic. No big steps were taken on language or worker issues. However, the province did update its alcohol laws. Even with its Liberal-Progressive name, Campbell's government was one of the most right-leaning in Canada.

The Liberal-Progressives lost their majority in the 1958 election. The Progressive Conservatives led by Dufferin Roblin won. Campbell hoped to stay in power with a minority government. But the CCF supported the PC minority government instead. Roblin's government was actually more left-leaning than Campbell's.

A Drop in Support: 1960s–1970s

Gildas Molgat, who had worked with Campbell, became party leader in 1961. Earlier that year, the party officially changed its name to the "Manitoba Liberal Party." Molgat helped the Liberals avoid falling to third place in the 1960s. But they were not a serious threat to Roblin's government.

Robert Bend, a former minister, came out of retirement to lead the party in 1969. However, his rural ideas did not appeal to city voters. The party used a "cowboy" theme for the campaign. This made them seem old-fashioned. The election that followed was a disaster. The party won only five seats, their lowest ever. Bend himself lost his own election. Several leaders followed, including Israel Asper (1970–1975), Charles Huband (1975–1978), and Doug Lauchlan (1980–1982). They could not stop the party's decline.

In the 1970s, the party was seen as very right-wing. This was especially true under Asper. He supported free-market economics and wanted to end the welfare state. This put the party to the right of the Tories. The party moved away from its right-wing past in the mid-1970s. But by then, the province was divided between the Tories and the New Democratic Party of Manitoba (NDP). The Liberals could not present themselves as a strong choice. The party hit its lowest point in the 1981 election. They won no seats in the legislature for the first time ever.

Ups and Downs: 1980s–1990s

In 1984, the party chose Sharon Carstairs as its new leader. She was elected to the assembly in the 1986 election. In the 1988 election, she led the party to 20 seats. This was their best result since 1953. They became the official opposition. This happened because the Howard Pawley-led New Democratic government was unpopular. This allowed the Liberals to gain support from many centre-left voters.

The Liberals' comeback made people hope they could win the next election. But this recovery was only temporary. The NDP became strong again under Gary Doer. The Liberals fell back to third place in the 1990 election. They won only seven seats. Many in the party felt Carstairs had missed their best chance to win government in 30 years.

More Challenges: 1993–2013

Paul Edwards replaced Carstairs as leader in 1993. By the 1995 election, the party had risen to a strong second place in polls. However, they ran a poor campaign. The NDP again moved ahead of them before election day. Even with almost 24% of the votes, the Liberals won only three seats. They lost their official party status. Edwards lost his own election and stepped down as leader in 1996.

The leadership election of 1996 showed deep divisions in the party. Ginny Hasselfield won against Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) Kevin Lamoureux by only 21 votes. Two of the party's three MLAs (Lamoureux and Gary Kowalski) then sat as "Independent Liberals." There were even threats of legal action. The party only reunited when Hasselfield resigned in 1998. She was replaced by former federal Member of Parliament (MP) Jon Gerrard.

Liberal Party support dropped by 10% in the 1999 election. This allowed Gary Doer's New Democrats to win government. Gerrard became the party's only MLA. He won in the riding of River Heights. The party did not gain much support in the 2003 election. However, Lamoureux won his seat back in north Winnipeg. He became the party's second MLA.

Despite Lamoureux's win, the Liberal popular vote fell in 2003. The Liberals had more second-place finishes than in the previous election. This seemed like a sign of a comeback. But any momentum was lost due to a weak campaign in the 2007 provincial election. Gerrard and Lamoureux were both re-elected. But the party's popular support dropped to just over 12%.

Recent Years: 2010s–Present

In the 2011 provincial election, Jon Gerrard was the only Liberal MLA elected. He then announced he would step down as party leader. He had served for 15 years.

On October 26, 2013, the Manitoba Liberal Party held a leadership convention in Winnipeg. Three people ran for leader: Bob Axworthy, Rana Bokhari, and Dougald Lamont. Bokhari was elected leader.

For the 2016 Manitoba general election, the Liberals nominated candidates in all 57 ridings. The party had high hopes after the federal Liberals did well in the 2015 federal election. However, Elections Manitoba disqualified four candidates. A fifth was disqualified for other reasons. The Liberals' poll numbers dropped from about 25% to 14% on Election Day. They gained two seats. Bokhari finished third in her own seat. On May 7, 2016, Bokhari said she would not lead the party in the next election. She resigned in September to work in the private sector. Judy Klassen, one of the two new Liberal MLAs elected in 2016 (along with Cindy Lamoureux), became the interim leader. She stepped down in June 2017 to run for leader. Dougald Lamont was elected Manitoba Liberal leader on October 21, 2017. He defeated Cindy Lamoureux by eight votes.

On July 17, 2018, Lamont won a by-election in St. Boniface. He became the party's fourth MLA. This gave the Liberals official party status for the first time in 23 years. The by-election happened after former NDP Premier Greg Selinger resigned.

Lamont led the Manitoba Liberals into the 2019 provincial election with four MLAs. Judy Klassen did not run again. The three other Liberal MLAs were re-elected. Lamont won in St. Boniface. Gerrard won in River Heights. Cindy Lamoureux won in Tyndall Park.

Lamont remained the Liberal leader for the 2023 provincial election. However, the party's vote percentage dropped by almost four points. They returned only one MLA, as the New Democrats won power. Gerrard and Lamont lost their seats. Lamoureux improved her vote percentage slightly. Lamont resigned as leader that evening. Gerrard's defeat in River Heights was notable. It was the first time a New Democrat held the seat. It was also the first time since 1999 that a Liberal did not hold it.

On October 17, 2023, Cindy Lamoureux was appointed as the interim party leader. She leads the party today.

Who Has Led the Party?

Liberal Party Leaders

• Thomas Greenway, 1882–1904
• Charles Mickle, December 5, 1904 – March 28, 1906 (leader in the legislature)
• Edward Brown, March 28, 1906 – 1908
• Charles Mickle, January 1908 – 1910 (leader in the legislature)
• Tobias Norris, 1910 – March 20, 1927
• Hugh Robson, March 20, 1927 – January 3, 1930
• James Breakey, January 3, 1930 – June 26, 1931 (leader in the legislature)
• Murdoch Mackay, June 26, 1931 – 1932

"Continuing Liberal" Leader

• David Campbell, 1932

Liberal-Progressive Party Leaders

• John Bracken, 1932 – January 1943
• Stuart Garson, January 1943 – November 1948
• Douglas Campbell, November 1948 – April 19, 1961

Liberal Party Leaders (After Renaming)

• Gildas Molgat, April 20, 1961 – May 10, 1969
• Robert Bend, May 10, 1969 – June 25, 1969
• Stan Roberts (interim), June 25, 1969 – October 31, 1970
• Israel Asper, October 31, 1970 – February 22, 1975
• Charles Huband, February 22, 1975 – 1978
• Vacant 1978 - November 30, 1980 (Senator Gildas Molgat was party president)
  • Lloyd Axworthy 1977 – 1979 (leader in the legislature)
  • June Westbury 1979 – 1980 (leader in the legislature)
• Doug Lauchlan, November 30, 1980 – 1982
• Vacant 1982 - March 4, 1984 (Senator Gildas Molgat was party president)
• Sharon Carstairs, March 4, 1984 – June 4, 1993
• Paul Edwards, June 4, 1993 – October 19, 1996
• Ginny Hasselfield, October 19, 1996 – October 17, 1998
• Jon Gerrard, October 17, 1998 – October 26, 2013
• Rana Bokhari, October 26, 2013 – September 24, 2016
• Paul Hesse (acting), September 24, 2016 – October 21, 2016
  • Jon Gerrard, September 24, 2016 – October 21, 2016 (leader in the legislature)
• Judy Klassen (interim), October 21, 2016 – June 13, 2017 (resigned to run for leader)
• Paul Brault (acting), June 13, 2017 – October 21, 2017
  • Jon Gerrard, June 13, 2017 – October 21, 2017
• Dougald Lamont October 21, 2017 – October 3, 2023
• Cindy Lamoureux (interim), October 17, 2023 – present

Election Results: How Many Seats They Won

Election	Leader	Seats won	Seat change	Seats place	Popular vote	% of popular vote	Legislative role	Notes
1879	–	2 / 24		2nd			Opposition	Conservative majority
1883	Thomas Greenway	10 / 30	8	2nd			Opposition
1886		15 / 35	5	2nd			Opposition
1888		33 / 38	18	1st			Majority
1892		28 / 40	5	1st			Majority
1896		32 / 40	4	1st			Majority
1899		17 / 40	15	2nd			Opposition	Conservative majority
1903		8 / 40	9	2nd	23,740	44.60%	Opposition
1907	Edward Brown	13 / 41	5	2nd	29,476	47.90%	Opposition
1910	Tobias Norris	13 / 41		2nd	35,353	47.1%	Opposition
1914		20 / 49	7	2nd	61,797	42.36%	Opposition
1915		40 / 47	20	1st		55.1%	Majority
1920		21 / 55	19	1st		35.1%	Minority
1922		8 / 55	13	2nd		33.2%	Opposition	Progressive majority
1927	Hugh Robson	7 / 55	1	3rd		20.7%	Opposition
1932	John Bracken	38 / 55		1st		39.6%	Majority1
1936		23 / 55	15	1st		35.3%	Majority
1941		27 / 55	4	1st		35.1%	Coalition majority	Coalition with Progressive Conservative Party
1945		25 / 55	2	1st		32.2%	Coalition majority
1949	Douglas Lloyd Campbell	31 / 57	6	1st		38.7%	Coalition majority
1953		35 / 57	4	1st	117,887	44.05%	Majority
1958		19 / 57	16	2nd	–	34.7%	Opposition	PC minority
1959		11 / 57	8	2nd	94,799	30.0%%	Opposition	PC majority
1962	Gildas Molgat	13 / 57	2	2nd	103,283	36.1%	Opposition2
1966		14 / 57	1	2nd	107,841	33.13%	Opposition
1969	Robert Bend	5 / 57	9	3rd	80,288	23.99%	Third party	NDP minority
1973	Izzy Asper	5 / 57		3rd	88,907	19.04%	Third party	NDP majority
1977	Charles Huband	1 / 57	4	3rd	59,865	12.29%	Third party	PC majority
1981	Doug Lauchlan	0 / 57	1	no seats	32,373	6.70%	No seats	NDP majority
1986	Sharon Carstairs	1 / 57	1	3rd	66,469	13.92%	Third party
1988		20 / 57	19	2nd	190,913	35.52%	Opposition	PC minority
1990		7 / 57	13	3rd	138,146	28.15%	Third party	PC majority
1995	Paul Edwards	3 / 57	4	3rd	119,677	23.72%	Third party
1999	Jon Gerrard	1 / 57	2	3rd	66,111	13.40%	Third party	NDP majority
2003		2 / 57	1	3rd	52,123	13.19%	Third party
2007		2 / 57		3rd	51,857	12.39%	Third party
2011		1 / 57	1	3rd	32,420	7.52%	Third party
2016	Rana Bokhari	3 / 57	2	3rd	62,985	14.46%	Third party	PC majority
2019	Dougald Lamont	3 / 57		3rd	67,978	14.48%	Third party
2023		1 / 57	2	3rd	51,634	10.63%	Third party	NDP majority

¹Liberals for alliance with the governing Progressive Party to run joint Liberal-Progressive candidates. The parties merge and become the Liberal-Progressive Party.

²Liberal-Progressive Party renames itself the Liberal Party of Manitoba.

More to Explore

• List of Manitoba general elections
• Manitoba Liberal Party leadership elections