Libertarian Party of Canada
Parti libertarien du Canada
Active federal party
LeaderJacques Boudreau[1]
PresidentBrandon Kirby[2]
FounderBruce Evoy
Founded7 July 1973 (1973-07-07)[3]
Headquarters409–207 Bank St. Ottawa, Ontario[4]
Ideology
International affiliationInterlibertarians
International Alliance of Libertarian Parties
Colors  Yellow
Senate
0 / 105
House of Commons
0 / 338
Website
libertarian.ca

The Libertarian Party of Canada (French: Parti libertarien du Canada) is a federal political party in Canada founded in 1973.[3] The party subscribes to libertarian and classical liberal tenets; its stated mission is to reduce the size, scope, and cost of government.[5] Party policies include ending drug prohibition, ending government censorship, lowering taxes, protecting gun rights, ending laws criminalising the voluntary transfer of money for sex acts between consenting adults,[6] and non-interventionism.[7]

History

The party was founded on 7 July 1973 by Bruce Evoy (who became its first chairman) and seven others.[8] Evoy ran unsuccessfully for election to Parliament in the 1974 federal election in the Toronto riding of Rosedale.[9][10] The party achieved registered status in the 1979 federal election by running more than fifty candidates.[11]

The party described itself as Canada's "fourth party" in the 1980s, but it has since been displaced by new parties such as the Bloc Québécois and the Green Party of Canada. The party declined to join the Reform Party of Canada when it was formed in 1987. Many Libertarians were also attracted to provincial Progressive Conservative parties that moved to the right during the 1990s in Ontario under Mike Harris and in Alberta under Ralph Klein. The decline in the party's membership and resources resulted in Elections Canada removing their status as a registered party immediately before the 1997 federal election when the party failed to run the minimum fifty candidates needed to maintain its registration.

Jean-Serge Brisson led the party from 22 May 2000 until 18 May 2008, when he was succeeded by Dennis Young. Young defeated outgoing party president Alan Mercer for the leadership. Savannah Linklater was elected deputy leader.[12] In May 2011, Katrina Chowne was elected leader of the Libertarian Party. In May 2014, Tim Moen was elected leader of the Libertarian Party.

In the 2015 federal election, the party fielded 72 candidates and solidified their position as the sixth federal party in Canada, with growth over 500% from the 2011 federal election.

The next Federal Libertarian Party of Canada Convention took place in Ottawa from 5 July through 7 July 2018, concluding on the 45th anniversary of the party.[13]

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.[14] When asked by Global News, Bernier indicated he had no interest in a merger.[15]

Election results

Election Leader Candidates Votes Share of popular vote Share in ridings contested
1979 Alex Eaglesham
60 / 282
 16,042 0.1% 0.6%
1980 Vacant
58 / 282
 14,656 0.1% 0.6%
1984 Victor Levis
72 / 282
 23,514 0.2% 0.7%
1988 Dennis Corrigan
88 / 295
 33,185 0.3% 0.8%
1993 Hilliard Cox
52 / 295
 14,630 0.1% 0.6%
1997 did not contest
2000
2004 Jean-Serge Brisson
8 / 308
 1,949 nil% 0.5%
2006
10 / 308
 3,002 nil% 0.6%
2008 Dennis Young
28 / 308
 7,300 0.1% 0.6%
2011
23 / 308
 6,017 nil% 0.5%
2015 Tim Moen
72 / 338
 37,407 0.2% 0.9%
2019
24 / 338
 8,281 0.1% 0.6%
2021 Jacques Boudreau
13 / 338
 4,765 nil% 0.7%

The party also nominated a number of candidates to run in by-elections:

  • 1980 by-election: 1
  • 1981 by-election: 1
  • 1982 by-election: 1
  • 1990 by-election: 2
  • 1995 by-election: 1
  • 2008 by-election: 1
  • 2010 by-election: 1
  • 2012 by-election: 3
  • 2013 by-election: 3
  • 2014 by-election: 2
  • 2016 by-election: 1
  • 2017 by-election: 4
Sources

Leaders

George Dance
No. Leader Years in office
1 M. Bruce Evoy 1973–1974
2 Charles "Chuck" Lyall 1974–1976
3 Ron Bailey 1976–1978
4 Alex Eaglesham 1978–1979
5 Linda Cain 1980–1982
6 Neil Reynolds May 1982 – 1983
7 Victor Levis 1983–1987
8 Dennis Corrigan 1987–1990
9 Stanisław Tymiński 1990–1991
10 George Dance 1991–1993
11 Hilliard Cox May 1993 – 1995
(10) George Dance 1995–1996
12 Vincent Pouliot 12 May 1996 – 5 April 1997
13 Robert Morse 1997–1999
14 Jean-Serge Brisson 1999 – 18 May 2008
15 Dennis Young 18 May 2008 – May 2011
16 Katrina Chowne May 2011 – May 2014
17 Tim Moen May 2014 – 2021
18 Jacques Boudreau 15 August 2021 – present

See also

References

  1. ↑ @moen_tim (August 15, 2021). "Meet the new Leader of the @LibertarianCDN party! He beat out 4 other quality candidates. Congrats Jacques Boudreau!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  2. ↑ "Leadership". Libertarian Party of Canada. Archived from the original on 28 March 2004. Retrieved 19 February 2004.
  3. 1 2 "Libertarian Party of Canada – Leadership Roles". Library of Parliament. Archived from the original on 3 April 2017.
  4. ↑ "Elections Canada". Elections.ca. Retrieved 12 November 2012.
  5. ↑ "Mission". Libertarian Party of Canada. Archived from the original on 5 February 2017.
  6. ↑ "Statement of Policy". libertarian.ca. Libertarian Party of Canada. July 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  7. ↑ Gunn, Andrea (6 June 2015). "Canada's own Rand Paul? Libertarian Party amps up for election". iPolitics. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  8. ↑ "Profile". Parlinfo. Library of Parliament. Retrieved 2022-10-05.
  9. ↑ 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.
  10. ↑ "Libertarian Party of Canada". Student Vote Canada. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
  11. ↑ 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.
  12. ↑ "Western Standard". Westernstandard.blogs.com. 20 May 2008. Retrieved 13 August 2010.
  13. ↑ "Libertarian Party of Canada Convention". Libertarian.ca. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  14. ↑ "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.
  15. ↑ "'I am not a communist': Maxime Bernier doubles down on People's Party name amid criticism". Global News. Retrieved September 19, 2018.
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