Talk:Liberal Party of Canada

I propose changing the colour of the Liberal Party of Canada to instead a more "objective" red

Moved to Template talk:Canadian party colour § I propose changing the colour of the Liberal Party of Canada to instead a more "objective" red

Still “centre left”?

I know what my editing history looks like, but Mark Carney has made spending cuts to many programs and the capital gains tax. Additionally, he is pushing for significant increases to military spending. I feel that this warrants dropping the “centre left” characterization, if not replacing it with “centre to centre right”.

Again, I know what my editing history looks like, and that I have bias here, but this does feel like something to consider. Notanegoist (talk) 14:13, 8 April 2026 (UTC)

Do you have sources that support this change? I don't mean to be rude, but your own thoughts on this don't much matter for the purposes of Wikipedia. We're deliberately behind the curve on such things -- if the Liberal Party's ideology has indeed shifted, that will be something we'll see reflected in reliable sources sooner or later. Thanks, MediaKyle (talk) 14:35, 8 April 2026 (UTC)

I understand that. Just wanted to put this out there to encourage further discussion. Notanegoist (talk) 14:55, 8 April 2026 (UTC)

There are quite a few reputable sources that have come out describing the LPC as centre-right in the past few days, coincidentally.

From the Toronto Star: "What is clear is that this is no longer the Liberal party of Justin Trudeau. It also isn’t a throwback to the Paul Martin or Jean Chrétien years, when the party was seen as tilting between the centre-left and the centre of the political spectrum. Instead, many Liberals place Carney on the centre-right. Carney himself told Premier Doug Ford, 'I’m more conservative than you are.'"

From the Globe and Mail: "This moment finds her party in a recalibration under Mr. Carney, [MP Karina] Gould said. 'We’ve typically gone back and forth between a more centre right and a more centre left leader,' she said."

From the Canadian Press: "Seen by many to be shifting the party to the centre-right of the political spectrum, Carney made it a point to underscore in his speech core values the party holds dear: the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the guarantee that 'women always have the right to choose' and that Canadians can 'love who you want to love.'"

From the Hill Times: "Following Justin Trudeau’s exit as party leader and prime minister, Prime Minister Mark Carney has reoriented the Liberal Party, steering it from the left toward the centre-right, a move that caucus members describe as a reflection of Canadians’ evolving views."

In TV/radio interviews with Liberal MPs, strategists, party executives, volunteers, etc., this comes up quite frequently too. Former Liberal environment minister and MP Steven Guilbeault stated last weekend, for example "We campaigned in the last election as a centre, maybe centre-left party, and we're governing more as a centre-right party."

Perhaps the descriptor "centre-right to centre-left" would be most accurate, considering the recent range of positions the party has occupied. Vqaeola (talk) 22:44, 15 April 2026 (UTC)

Support, but I'd like a footnote in the infobox explaining on why it's centre-right to centre-left since most viewers are used to the Liberal Party being centre-left before the big change happens, Similar to what the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats has. GuesanLoyalist (talk) 23:24, 15 April 2026 (UTC)

I second and support Notanegoist (talk) 22:52, 16 April 2026 (UTC)

I support this as a second choice, the first choice being "centre" with a footnote explaining the centre-left to centre-right dynamic. ~2026-24261-32 (talk) 05:16, 21 April 2026 (UTC)

I got some various sources though on that one:

• "As European parties moved to the centre over recent decades, the Liberal Party of Canada has maintained the centre as a “Big Tent”, enveloping elements of the centre-left and centre-right."
• "Historically, the Canadian two-party plus system has been dominated by the centre-left Liberal Party and the centre-right Conservative Party".
  • Also for some reason says that it's centrist as well: "Liberal Party of Canada (LPC): centrist party, the oldest active federal political party in Canada"
• "The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and other Canadian media have projected the centre-left Liberals will win the most seats in Canada’s federal election."
• "Liberal Party of Canada, centrist Canadian political party, one of the major parties in the country since the establishment of the Dominion of Canada in 1867."
  • Also they did say that "However, it retained a centre-left position on some rights issues (e.g., abortion and gay rights)."
• "Canada has two relatively large centre-left parties: the centrist Liberals, that has won successive majority governments during the 20th century, and the fledgling New Democratic Party (NDP), that often comes third in Canadian federal elections." (Kinda contradicatory of itself)
• "The Conservative Party of Canada (formerly the Progressive Conservative Party) is almost unanimously considered to be the party that is more to the right, while the Liberal Party of Canada is considered to be the party that is more to the left (once again, among the two parties having held power during the period under study). "
• "Following Justin Trudeau’s exit as party leader and prime minister, Prime Minister Mark Carney has reoriented the Liberal Party, steering it from the left toward the centre-right, a move that caucus members describe as a reflection of Canadians’ evolving views, and somet..."
• "Historically, the Canadian two-party plus system has been dominated by the centre-left Liberal Party and a centre-right Conservative Party (that has gone by several different names). Since the 1980s or so Canada’s dominant third-place party has been the further-left NDP."
• "One third of Canadians (33%) place the Liberal Party as extreme left or left, and a slightly higher proportion (36%) feel the same way about the New Democratic Party (NDP)."
• "“You can just go back in history. We’ve typically gone back and forth between a more centre right and a more centre left leader. Like that’s just been the way that it’s gone,” she said."

Various sources says various things about the Liberal party either being centre-right, centre, or centre-left. So adding "Centre-right to centre-left" along with a footnote explaining why would be a pretty nice idea. GuesanLoyalist (talk) 06:55, 17 April 2026 (UTC)

The spending priorities have changed but major social programs haven't been cancelled. Centre-right to centre-left might fit given the increased military spending. G. Timothy Walton (talk) 16:17, 8 April 2026 (UTC)

Carney's Liberal Party is very different from Trudeau's Liberal Party; Carney is evidently trying to cast a big tent, particularly with the recent floor crossings of centre-left (left-wing?) MP Lori Idlout and right-wing MP Marilyn Gladu. A change should be in order soon to coincide with a change in tune in reliable sources. Yue🌙 (talk) 17:55, 8 April 2026 (UTC)

As I understand it, Idlout is one of the more centrist NDP MPs Notanegoist (talk) 18:41, 8 April 2026 (UTC)

I second the proposal to list the Liberal Party of Canada as big tent. The only reason why it's still listed as center-left is because it hasn't been edited since Trudeau left office. Trudeau was to Carney's left. Di123 (talk) 23:20, 9 April 2026 (UTC)

Just my two cents, Steven Guilbeault has now said on record he believes the party has been governing as a centre-right party, so I would very much support either centre/centre-right or big tent being the description. Greenw.envy (talk) 01:01, 11 April 2026 (UTC)

A few example articles from national news agencies that describe Carney's Liberals as "big tent", with some quoting party leaders: CBC News, CBC News #2, The Canadian Press via CityNews Halifax, and the National Post. Also worth noting the two sources cited for the "centre-left" label are from 2011 and 2012, respectively, which are over a decade old and predate Trudeau's leadership. Yue🌙 (talk) 01:12, 11 April 2026 (UTC)

Using the term "Big tent" may be recentism, but I think the case can be made to include centre-left to centre-right as its placement on the political spectrum. Historically, the party has gone back and forth, and it includes people from both sides of centre, especially now. -- Earl Andrew - talk 05:18, 11 April 2026 (UTC)

Perhaps a footnote would suffice for the time being while sources are being made of Mark Carney's leadership of the Liberal party? A footnote denoting that Mark Carney is a blue liberal (Blue Grit) for example, or big tent?. I 100% agree on changing the political position especially since Marilyn Gladu's floor crossing (she's debatably more conservative than Pierre Poilievre), because she's far from centre-left ZlatanSweden10 (talk) 12:22, 14 April 2026 (UTC)

I would say that maybe we can take some inspiration from the article for the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (hope this doesn't violate WP:COMPARE in this case) where we would go something like:

Position: [Something that a lot of reliable sources say]^a

a: The Liberal Party has additionally been referred to as big tent, centrist, centre-right, [insert other positions from significant minority views]

I think that it would be a good idea and even be a nice compromise (I think? I might be wrong) between all of us. What do you guys think of it?

GuesanLoyalist (talk) 00:44, 15 April 2026 (UTC)

@Mr. No Funny Nickname, ZlatanSweden10, Earl Andrew, Yue, Greenw.envy, Notannegoist, Di123, MediaKyle, and G. Timothy Walton: What is your opinion on this GuesanLoyalist (talk) 00:56, 15 April 2026 (UTC)

I think we need sources rather than we need a big tent of views. G. Timothy Walton (talk) 01:09, 15 April 2026 (UTC)

I'm open to it. Many parties have a footnote like that. The Law and Justice page is the most major example I know. I tried to also put a footnote for Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario denoting how Doug Ford has moved the party to the centre but that was removed sadly. ZlatanSweden10 (talk) 09:15, 15 April 2026 (UTC)

@Notanegoist Yeah there is no denying how the current Liberal Party government is operating. It's reasonable to consider it Centre to Centre-Right. PinkBunnyBun (talk) 09:45, 20 April 2026 (UTC)

This is all still subjective. The entire discussion here seems to be editors personal opinions vs bringing reliable sources that would warrant a change. Mr. No Funny Nickname (talk) 14:34, 14 April 2026 (UTC)

Agreed. I'm sure sources of his opinions though will eventually come out, as its very evident the differences between the Liberal Party under Trudeau and the Liberal Party currently under Carney. Like there is no way Marilyn Gladu would've floor crossed under Trudeau. ZlatanSweden10 (talk) 09:16, 15 April 2026 (UTC)

I've been following this discussion, and one thing seems clear: there is consensus to change the article. We just haven't yet landed on what we're changing it to. I think the footnote suggestion is a bad one personally, we can't just include every label, and we don't want to hide this information either. I think Vqaeola might have the right idea around describing them as "centre-right to centre-left" I suggest someone ponder it and put forward a proposal in a new section. MediaKyle (talk) 23:25, 15 April 2026 (UTC)

Because the topic of ideologies and political alignment in infoboxes is sensitive, the proposal should be an RfC to form a consensus. Yue🌙 (talk) 02:00, 16 April 2026 (UTC)

It doesn't necessarily have to be an RFC. There's a lot of eyes on this talk page anyway. If we can't come to agreement through normal discussion then maybe an RFC will be necessary. MediaKyle (talk) 13:04, 16 April 2026 (UTC)

Sorry if this sounds stupid, but what is an RFC? Notanegoist (talk) 15:51, 16 April 2026 (UTC)

Sorry about that, we have Too Many Acronyms (TMA). RFC stands for "Requests for comment". It's basically a way to draw more attention to the discussion and receive input from a wide variety of editors. They take up a lot of volunteer hours, though, and I don't think we're there yet... Everyone here is contributing to the discussion in good faith and I feel like we can come to the right answer without a formal RFC. MediaKyle (talk) 15:55, 16 April 2026 (UTC)

To be clear, I do not believe that we should change the article, as centre to centre-left is what I believe the position should be. There are several reasons, however, I would prefer not to simply argue my opinion. If the discussion is asking for editors to provide their own views, I will gladly offer mine. Mr. No Funny Nickname (talk) 15:30, 16 April 2026 (UTC)

I've been following this discussion, and I generally agree with MediaKyle's take. I would support changing it to "centre-left to centre-right." On today's CBC Reporter Roundtable, everyone seemed to agree that Carney had moved the Liberals to the right, though no one explicitly described it as "centre-right." Theodore.shouse (talk) 17:50, 17 April 2026 (UTC)

I still don't see any reason to change the position. No offence to anyone here, but a lot of this feels like recency bias. I guess I'm getting into my own analysis here, but Carney's direction for the party is hardly unusual historically — we have a word for it: Blue Grit — it only looks remarkable because we're used to ten years of Trudeau's left-of-centre stance. While certain aspects of Carney's government, like economic policy, could fairly be described as centre-right, he hasn't abandoned leftward positions on things like social spending. You could say he's straddling the centre.

Getting away from myself, I haven't seen much analysis that suggests the Liberals are now a centre-right party. While there is wide agreement that the party has moved right, when you're starting (from Trudeau) at the centre-left, the move doesn't necessarily mean landing in the centre-right — you have to reach the centre first. GuesanLoyalist linked to several sources above (thank you for compiling that, btw), and most of them call the Liberals centre or centre-left; only two articles (one from Hill Times and one from iPolitics) use "centre-right" (and one is just a caucus member's off-the-cuff remark). People still seem comfortable calling the Liberals centrist.

Even "big tent" seems excessive to me, since Canadian politics are traditionally big tent — for all parties. Conservative Party of Canada also mentions they "practic[e] brokerage politics" in the lead, for example. In fact, earlier this year, the National Post had an article defining the many types of conservatives in the tent. I'm just not sure it really adds much. — Kawnhr (talk) 19:39, 17 April 2026 (UTC)

I agree that Carney's direction is largely a reversion to the historical Blue Grit tradition, but that's still right-of-centre. The Wikipedia page you link even says as much: "A Blue Grit,[1][2][3] also known as a blue Liberal or a business Liberal,[4][5][6][7] is a member or supporter of the Liberal Party of Canada or of one of the nation's provincial and territorial Liberal parties who is generally considered to be right-of-centre."

Recency is ultimately important for accurately capturing political parties since they're dynamic entities that respond to the times, in my opinion. And there is substantial commentary about the Liberal Party currently occupying the centre-right; I posted a comment compiling such sources higher up in the thread from the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, the Canadian Press, the Hill Times, and in the words of Steven Guilbeault, who is another sitting Liberal MP who is saying the same thing about his own party in a CTV interview. To me, the weight of evidence seems to support at least including "centre-right" as a significant tendency in the LPC, hence my support for "centre-right to centre-left." Vqaeola (talk) 20:06, 17 April 2026 (UTC)

I've only seen "centre-right to centre-left" used like once or twice in Wikipedia infoboxes, and I believe it was for a Indian political alliance of some sort. Thus, having that for a party (not alliance) seems pretty crazy. I personally think having just "centre" is possible, centre-right is definitely too far-fetched. Perhaps on a footnote? But then I still think it's too unlikely (unless there are a ton of sources denoting so). ZlatanSweden10 (talk) 09:32, 18 April 2026 (UTC)

I would favour "centre" with a footnote detailing how the party is also described as "centre-left" and "centre-right" ~2026-24261-32 (talk) 05:55, 20 April 2026 (UTC)

Regardless of what is decided here, we really ought to have a moratorium on this subject afterwards. This is the third time this has come up since Carney has been prime minister. I initially didn't participate in this thread because I'm bored of it and feel like we're just saying the same things every time, and only jumped in once there was suggestion of a consensus forming. We can't just keep running this convo every few months until the right combination of editors endorses a change. — Kawnhr (talk) 14:54, 20 April 2026 (UTC)

"I guess I'm getting into my own analysis here, but Carney's direction for the party is hardly unusual historically — we have a word for it: Blue Grit"

Yes, but that's because, as many of us have argued, the LPC has always been a party of the centre-right, at least in part. That's why a alignment of "centre-right to centre" is historically ideal, but "centre-right to centre-left" is probably a consensus compromise ~2026-27848-11 (talk) 06:10, 9 May 2026 (UTC)

The terminally online leftists/New Democrat supporters in here making themselves obvious who they are and what they're (not) here for who aren't posting sources, but are posting based on "vibes" and "how I feel" or, at best "Muh Political Compass" should be utterly disregarded. ~2026-28022-14 (talk) 13:17, 9 May 2026 (UTC)

If I wasn't obvious enough, this includes the original poster. ~2026-28022-14 (talk) 13:20, 9 May 2026 (UTC)

Such comments should be avoided without proof of bad intentions, especially by anons. G. Timothy Walton (talk) 20:15, 9 May 2026 (UTC)

My friend, you're the only one ascribing bad faith to people. ~2026-27848-11 (talk) 18:24, 9 May 2026 (UTC)

Rude Notanegoist (talk) 23:21, 10 May 2026 (UTC)

RFC: Should the Canadian Liberal Party be listed as a "centre" party?

Should the Canadian Liberal Party be referred to as a:

1. Centre
2. Centre-left to centre party

Consensus is needed. Jollyrime (talk) 01:55, 31 May 2026 (UTC)

Can we not? We've wasted enough time on this. If you want to discuss it more that's fine, but we're not at the RfC stage yet, and you haven't brought any new sources to the table. MediaKyle (talk) 01:58, 31 May 2026 (UTC)

I have informed the project about this same topic again. I have always liked center best as we explains how they can go a bit left and a bit right and win all the time.... but and a big butt at that...we simply can't ignore so many sources as we are here to educate our readers not take a stand. (elaborated on more below).Moxy🍁 03:18, 31 May 2026 (UTC)

A large majority of users supported reclassification (including myself). The Canadian Liberal Party is routinely mentioned as a center-right party under Carney by a substantial fraction of reliable sources.

Hill Times:

Following Justin Trudeau’s exit as party leader and prime minister, Prime Minister Mark Carney has reoriented the Liberal Party, steering it from the left toward the centre-right, a move that caucus members describe as a reflection of Canadians’ evolving views, and somet..."

Broadbent Institute:

"As European parties moved to the centre over recent decades, the Liberal Party of Canada has maintained the centre as a “Big Tent”, enveloping elements of the centre-left and centre-right."

iPolitics:

You can just go back in history. We’ve typically gone back and forth between a more centre right and a more centre left leader. Like that’s just been the way that it’s gone,” she said.

Canadian outlets use centrist most commonly. Social conservatives often use centre-left due to its relatively culturally liberal policies, while social democrats and other economic leftists use centre-right to criticize the party's right of centre economic policies. Centre best represents what RS's say. Jollyrime (talk) 02:07, 31 May 2026 (UTC)

Centre per above. Jollyrime (talk) 02:07, 31 May 2026 (UTC)

Ok so why have we said center to center left for over two decades? because political analysts don't see much of a change in 100 years

So what do academics and tertiary sources mention? Our main tertiary sources ...the Canadian encyclopedia likes center left with Britannica liking centrist. Then we have basic academic publications some like describing them as pure centerist shifting a little bit left and a little bit right here and there practicing what we call brokerage politics in Canada. We also have academics saying Central left. We also see a minority of opinions describing the modern party as radical centrist. I personally see them as centrist that practice brokerage politics going a little bit left a little bit right..... as in they campaign on the left and governor in the center to Central right. (But this opinion would be an in-depth analysis that is easily sourced but not a place for the lead). What most Canadians learn is the basics (generally Central left for the Liberals) With modern polling believing they've gone more leftists in recent years. So what have the authors of this page decided to do for the past two decades? We decided to act as a tertiary source as outlined by Wikipedia:Purpose..... So what does this really mean? We are to show our readers both dominant sourceable positions as outlined by WP:WEIGHT. see where you sit here. Thinking the party is called Central right at any point in history is simply lack of understanding of the political system in Canada. Concern we have a push of personal opinions over an effort to educate our readers about the two main ideological positions they're described as. Why would we suppress so many sources? This is a real question!Moxy🍁 02:14, 31 May 2026 (UTC)

• Procedural close / Maintain status quo per WP:RECENTISM and WP:RFCNOT. The opening of this RfC is inherently non-neutral; the OP has restricted the choices to exclude options discussed in the section above. Furthermore, this RfC was launched by the OP a mere 30 minutes after their bizzare WP:NAC attempt to force a "SNOW" close on this exact topic was reverted. Because the question is framed non-neutrally by an WP:INVOLVED editor to engineer a specific outcome, this discussion should be speedy closed. ―"Ghost of Dan Gurney" _(hihi) 15:21, 31 May 2026 (UTC)

• Centre to centre-left (status quo). Academic and scholarly sources (currently in the article) typically describe the party as being centrist or centre-left, which "centre to centre-left" encompasses and reflects.

It is true that, under current leader Mark Carney, the party has shifted towards the centre and away from more left-leaning tenets, and that there are sources that back up this perception. But I would not put much weight on this. These sources are predominantly news/opinion pieces, so assessments from reporters, pundits and politicians. While I wouldn't say these people are unreliable, I would say they are perhaps not the best placed for judgment. For example, the iPolitics story linked is actually a quote from Karina Gould MP; and, no offence to Gould, but I don't think a politician speaking off-the-cuff and trying to justify their party's direction to a reporter is necessarily the most objective assessment.

Ultimately, I think it is best to take a longer, historical view of things rather than prioritize the latest developments from the latest leader — for any party — because doing that would necessitate constantly revisiting and revising the position, in a way that a broader view does not. Being slow to change is not a bug, it is a feature. — Kawnhr (talk) 19:47, 1 June 2026 (UTC)