Origins and early development (to 1883)

Originally, there were no official political parties in Manitoba, although many leading politicians were affiliated with parties that existed at the national level. In Manitoba's first Legislative Assembly (1871–1874), the leader of the opposition was Edward Hay, a Liberal who represented the interests of recent anglophone immigrants from Ontario. Not a party leader as such, he was still a leading voice for the newly transplanted "Ontario Grit" tradition. In 1874, Hay served as Minister of Public Works in the government of Marc-Amable Girard, which included both Conservatives and Liberals.

During the 1870s, a Liberal network began to emerge in the city of Winnipeg. One of the key figures in this network was William Luxton, owner of the Manitoba Free Press newspaper and himself a member of the Manitoba legislature on two occasions. Luxton was not initially supportive of Premier Robert A. Davis (1874–1878), but endorsed the Davis ministry after he brought John Norquay into cabinet (Davis' early supporters were primarily from the francophone community, and Norquay's presence gave the ministry greater credibility among the anglophone population). Luxton subsequently supported Davis and Norquay against Conservative Orangeman Thomas Scott, a leader of the local opposition (not to be confused with the figure executed by Louis Riel in 1870).

Although the Davis administration was on favourable terms with federal Liberal Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie (1873–1878), his successor Norquay was more closely aligned with the federal Conservatives. This was partly a matter of necessity. As a small province, Manitoba needed to be on favourable terms with whatever party was in power at the federal level. As such, when John A. Macdonald's Conservatives were returned to power in 1878, the local balance of power began to shift. Luxton's Liberal network supported Norquay against Scott in 1878 and 1879, but was subsequently marginalized by the Norquay government. In 1882, Norquay forged a new alliance with the province's Conservatives.

Leadership of Thomas Greenway (1883–1904)

In 1882, Thomas Greenway formed a new organization known as the Provincial Rights Party, which called for greater provincial control over resources and the railway.^[3]

Based in the province's rural areas, this group soon surpassed the Winnipeg Liberals as the dominant opposition to Norquay. After the election of 1883, Greenway united the opposition MLAs into the Manitoba Liberals (which were soon recognized as a de facto political party). For the next 21 years, Greenway's control over the party would be unchallenged.

Following the 1888 general election, Greenway's Liberals took power and formed Manitoba's first declared partisan government.^[4] As premier, Greenway ended federal disallowance of Manitoba railway legislation and the Canadian Pacific Railway's monopoly, bringing the Northern Pacific into the province to induce competition in freight rates.^[3]

The Greenway government's most notable feat in office was curtailing the rights of Manitoba's French Canadian population. Manitoba had been founded as a bilingual province, but Greenway's government provoked the Manitoba Schools Question, ending the educational rights of (predominantly French) Catholics, and making the public school system entirely English and Protestant. English became the province's sole official language.

Greenway was able to win large majorities in 1892 and 1896, based largely on single-issue populism relating to the schools question. After this was resolved in 1897, his government became increasingly directionless.

In 1899, the Liberals were defeated by the Hugh John Macdonald-led Manitoba Conservative Party.^[4]

The Liberals were unable to regain their previous support base in the decade that followed. Greenway continued to lead the party through a disastrous 1903 campaign, winning only 9 seats. He resigned in 1904 to run for federal office as MP for Lisgar.^[3]

Early 20th century

Charles Mickle was chosen parliamentary leader on December 5, 1904, and led the party until a provincial convention was held in late March 1906. That convention acclaimed Edward Brown as the party's new leader. Brown failed to win a seat in the 1907 election, however, and resigned shortly thereafter. Mickle again became the party's legislative leader, and served as leader of the opposition until leaving politics in 1909.

Tobias Norris became Liberal leader in 1910. When the Tories under Rodmond Roblin resigned amid scandal in 1915, Norris became the province's premier, and retained the position until 1922. The Norris Liberals introduced temperance laws, suffrage for women, workers compensation, compulsory education, and minimum wage, as well as the establishment of a public-nursing system, rural farm credit, regulation of industrial conditions, and a mother's allowance for widowed dependent mothers.^[5]

The Norris administration's relationship with the Liberal Party of Canada under Wilfrid Laurier was often antagonistic. Norris withdrew funding for French-language education in 1916, at a time when the federal Liberals were attempting to regain the support of Quebec nationalists. The Manitoba Liberals also supported Robert Borden's Union government in the election of 1917 (see Conscription Crisis of 1917), and were not reconciled with the "Laurier Liberals" until 1922. Even then, they refused to officially re-align themselves with the federal party.

The Liberals were swept from power in 1922 by the United Farmers of Manitoba, who were also known as the Progressive Party. Norris continued to lead the party through most of the 1920s, but was replaced by Hugh Robson before the 1927 election (which was again won by the Progressives). Robson, in turn, resigned on January 3, 1930. He was replaced as parliamentary leader by James Breakey. In 1931, Murdoch Mackay was selected as the party's official leader.

Liberal-Progressive Party: Merger with the Progressives

Pressured by William Lyon Mackenzie King, Mackay brought the Liberals into a coalition with Premier John Bracken's Progressives before the 1932 election. The national Progressive Party had been largely absorbed into the Liberal Party of Canada by this time, and King believed that it was foolish to divide the resources of the parties within Manitoba. He was especially concerned that the Conservatives could recapture the provincial government if the Liberals and Progressives were not united.

For the election of 1932, the provincial government referred to itself as "Liberal-Progressive" (effectively a fusion of the parties, albeit one dominated by Progressives). A small group of Liberals, led by St. Boniface mayor David Campbell, opposed the merger and ran as "Continuing Liberals". They were resoundingly defeated. After the election, the Liberals of Manitoba were absorbed into the Progressive Party. Two non-coalition Liberals were elected in 1936, but they were not intended to represent a rival party.

Despite being dominated by Progressives, the merged party soon became popularly known as the "Liberal Party of Manitoba". The federal Progressive Party had long since disappeared, and the "Progressive" name had little continued meaning in Manitoba politics.

Manitoba Liberal Party: Declining popularity (1960s–1970s)

Gildas Molgat, a protégé of Campbell, became party leader in 1961. Earlier that year, the party had formally renamed itself as simply the "Manitoba Liberal Party," over only scattered objections from Progressive diehards. Molgat prevented the Liberals from falling to third-party status during the 1960s, but never posed a serious threat to Roblin's government.

Robert Bend, a former minister under Campbell, came out of retirement to lead the party in 1969. However, Bend's rural populism did not play well with urban voters. Under his leadership, the party adopted a "cowboy"/"rodeo" theme for the campaign, which made it look and sound dated. The election that followed was an unmitigated disaster; the party dropped to only five seats, the fewest it had ever won. Bend himself was unsuccessful in his bid to succeed Campbell in his own riding. A succession of leaders, including Israel Asper (1970–1975), Charles Huband (1975–1978), and Doug Lauchlan (1980–1982) were unable to prevent the party's decline.

Well into the 1970s, the party was considered very right-wing for its time, despite the Liberal label. This was especially true under Asper's leadership; during his tenure as party leader Asper supported laissez-faire economics and an end to the welfare state—putting it to the right of the Tories. The party largely distanced itself from its right-wing past in the mid-1970s. By this time, however, the province was polarized between the Tories and the New Democratic Party of Manitoba (NDP, successor to the Manitoba CCF), and the Liberals were unable to present themselves as a viable alternative. The party bottomed out in the 1981 election, when it was completely shut out of the legislature for the first time ever.

1980s–1990

In 1984, the party chose Sharon Carstairs as its new leader. She was elected to the assembly in the 1986 election, and in the 1988 election, led the party to 20 seats—its best showing since 1953—and official opposition status. This was precipitated by the unpopularity of Howard Pawley's New Democratic government, which allowed the Liberals to win the support of many centre-left voters.

The Liberals' resurgence sparked hopes that they could win the next election. This proved to be a temporary recovery. The NDP revived under Gary Doer, and the Liberals slipped back into third place in the 1990 election with only seven seats, against 20 for the NDP and 30 for the Conservatives. Many in the party felt Carstairs had squandered their best chance of winning government in three decades.

Further decline (1993–2013)

Carstairs was replaced as leader by Paul Edwards in 1993. By the time the 1995 election was called, the party had managed to recover to a strong second-place position in the polls. They ran a poor campaign, however, and were again overtaken by the NDP well before election day. Despite having almost 24% of popular support, the Liberals won only three seats and lost official party status. Edwards, who was defeated in his own riding, stepped down as party leader in 1996.

The leadership convention of 1996 exposed deep divisions in the party, as Ginny Hasselfield defeated Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) Kevin Lamoureux by only 21 votes. Two of the party's three MLAs (Lamoureux and Gary Kowalski) subsequently sat as "Independent Liberals", and there were threats of legal action between Hasselfield and Lamoureux. The party was only reunited when Hasselfield resigned in 1998, replaced by former federal Member of Parliament (MP) Jon Gerrard.

Liberal Party support fell by 10% in the election of 1999, which allowed Gary Doer's New Democrats to regain centre-left support and win government. Gerrard became the party's only MLA, winning election in the upscale riding of River Heights, Carstairs' old riding. The party failed to recover much of its support base in the 2003 election, although Lamoureux was able to regain his seat in north Winnipeg to become the party's second MLA.

Despite Lamoureux's re-election, the Liberal popular vote fell in 2003 even through the party managed to field a full slate of candidates (they were 7 shy in 1999). The Liberals did have more second-place finishes than in the previous election, which appeared to be a sign of a rebound. If the party had any momentum to build upon, it was negated by a weak campaign in the 2007 provincial election. Gerrard and Lamoureux were both re-elected, but the party's popular support declined to just above 12%. They also had fewer second-place finishes than they had in 1999.

Rebuilding the Party (2010s–present)

The 2011 provincial election resulted in Jon Gerrard being the only Liberal MLA being elected. He subsequently announced his intention to resign as party leader after serving in the position for 15 years.

On October 26, 2013, the Manitoba Liberal Party held a leadership convention in Winnipeg.^[6] The contested nomination saw three individuals put their name forward: Bob Axworthy (younger brother of Lloyd Axworthy, former MP, federal Minister of various portfolios, and MLA), Rana Bokhari, and Dougald Lamont. Bokhari was elected leader of the party with 431 ballots cast.

In preparation of the 2016 Manitoba general election, the Liberals nominated candidates. The party initially had high hopes for the election after a strong showing by the federal Liberals in the 2015 federal election, in which they took all but one seat in Winnipeg. By the time of the writ, Elections Manitoba disqualified 4 candidates due to improper paperwork and 1 for being an enumerator while collecting signatures for her candidacy. The Liberals found their pre-writ polling of approximately 25% fall to 14% on Election Day. On May 7, 2016, Bokhari announced that she would not lead the party into the next election but would remain on as leader until her successor was chosen.^[7] Judy Klassen served as the interim leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party until June 13, 2017, when she stepped down to become a leadership candidate.^[8] Dougald Lamont was elected Manitoba Liberal leader at the October 21, 2017 Liberal leadership election, defeating MLA Cindy Lamoureux on the second ballot by eight votes.^[9]

On July 17, 2018, Lamont won a by-election in St. Boniface that gave the Liberals official party status for the first time in 23 years.^[10] The vote followed the resignation of former NDP Premier Greg Selinger.^[11]

Lamont led the Manitoba Liberals into the 2019 provincial election with four MLAs. He was one of three Liberal MLAs returned, being re-elected in St. Boniface, while Gerrard was re-elected in River Heights, and Cindy Lamoureux won in Tyndall Park.

Lamont remained the leader for the Liberals into the 2023 provincial election. Gerrard and Lamont would be defeated by New Democrats Mike Moroz and Robert Loiselle respectively, though Lamoureux would be re-elected by an increased margin. Lamont would resign as leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party that evening.^[12] Gerrard's defeat in River Heights would mark the first time a New Democrat held the seat, the first time since 1999 that a Liberal would not, and only the second time since 1986 that a Liberal would not hold the seat after PC Mike Radcliffe held the seat from 1995–1999.

On October 17, 2023, Cindy Lamoureux was appointed as the interim party leader.^[13]