Liberal Party of Canada leadership elections

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The first three leaders of the Liberal Party of Canada were not chosen at a leadership convention. Alexander Mackenzie (March 1873 – April 1880) and Edward Blake (May 1880 – June 1887) were chosen by the party caucus. Wilfrid Laurier (June 1887 – February 1919) was also chosen by caucus members with the party convention of 1893 ratifying his leadership. The most recent leadership election was held in 2013.

The first Liberal leadership convention was held on August 7, 1919. Balloting continued until one candidate won a majority of votes. After the 1919 convention, a system was adopted where the candidate with the fewest votes on a given ballot is automatically dropped. More recently, any candidate with less than 5% of the vote on the first ballot is also automatically dropped. Since 1919, time has also been given between ballots for candidates to announce if they wish to withdraw and throw their support to another candidate.

The 2009 Liberal leadership election was the last one in which the leader was chosen by delegates. Future leadership elections were to be conducted according to a weighted one member, one vote system in which all party members could cast ballots but in which they would be counted so that each riding had equal weight. This system, however, has been modified in the 2012 Biennial Convention in Ottawa. In addition to the card-carrying membership, registered supporters, a newly created category of Liberal sympathisers, given the right to vote in their constituency.

The 1919 leadership convention was held in Ottawa, Ontario on August 7, 1919.

Delegate support by ballot

Candidate		1st ballot		2nd ballot		5th ballot
		Votes cast	%	Votes cast	%	Votes cast	%
	KING, William Lyon Mackenzie	344	36.3%	411	43.8%	476	52.1%
	FIELDING, William Stevens	297	31.3%	344	36.6%	438	47.9%
	GRAHAM, George Perry	153	16.2%	124	13.2%	Withdrew
	MCKENZIE, Daniel Duncan	153	16.2%	60	6.4%	Withdrew
Total		947	100.0%	939	100.0%	914	100.0%

Graham withdrew while voting for the third ballot was underway. McKenzie withdrew while voting for the fourth ballot was in process. Votes were not counted for either one, and the convention proceeded directly to the fifth ballot.

The 1948 leadership convention was held in Ottawa on August 7, 1948.

First Ballot

Candidate		Delegate Support	Percentage
	ST. LAURENT, Louis Stephen	848	69.1%
	GARDINER, James Garfield	323	26.3%
	POWER, Charles Gavan	56	4.6%
Total		1,227	100%

The 1958 leadership convention was held in Ottawa on January 16, 1958.

First Ballot

Candidate		Delegate Support	Percentage
	PEARSON, Lester Bowles	1,074	77.8%
	MARTIN, Paul Joseph James	305	22.1%
	HENDERSON, Harold Lloyd	1	0.1%
Total		1,380	100%

The 1968 leadership convention was held in Ottawa Civic Centre in Ottawa, Ontario on April 6, 1968.

Delegate support by Ballot

Candidate		1st ballot		2nd ballot		3rd ballot		4th ballot
		Votes cast	%	Votes cast	%	Votes cast	%	Votes cast	%
	TRUDEAU, Pierre Elliott	752	31.5%	964	40.5%	1,051	44.2%	1,203	50.9%
	HELLYER, Paul Theodore	330	13.8%	465	19.5%	377	15.9%	Endorsed Winters
	WINTERS, Robert Henry	293	12.3%	473	19.9%	621	26.1%	954	40.3%
	MARTIN, Paul Joseph James	277	11.6%	Did not endorse
	TURNER, John Napier	277	11.6%	347	14.6%	279	11.8%	195	8.2%
	GREENE, John James	169	7.1%	104	4.4%	29	12.2%	Endorsed Trudeau
	MACEACHEN, Allan Joseph	163	6.8%	11	0.5%	Endorsed Trudeau[A]
	KIERANS, Eric William	103	4.3%	Did not endorse
	HENDERSON, Harold Lloyd	0	-	Did not endorse
Spoiled ballots		24	1.0%	15	0.6%	19	0.8%	13	0.6%
Total		2,390	100.0%	2,379	100.0%	2,376	100.0%	2,365	100.0%

^A MacEachen announced after the first ballot that he was withdrawing and would support Trudeau, but he missed the deadline to remove his name from the ballot.

A leadership convention was scheduled for late March 1980, in Winnipeg, Manitoba but was cancelled due to the fall of the Progressive Conservative government on December 13, 1979 and the calling of the February 18, 1980 federal election. As a result of the snap election call, the Liberal caucus and party executive persuaded Pierre Trudeau to rescind his resignation as party leader and lead the Liberals into the election.

The 1984 leadership convention was held in Ottawa on June 16, 1984.

Delegate support by Ballot

Candidate		1st ballot		2nd ballot
		Votes cast	%	Votes cast	%
	TURNER, John Napier	1,593	46.4%	1,862	53.9%
	CHRÉTIEN, Joseph Jacques Jean	1,067	31.1%	1,398	40.5%
	JOHNSTON, Donald James	278	8.1%	192	5.6%
	ROBERTS, John (Moody)	185	5.4%	Endorsed Chrétien
	MACGUIGAN, Mark R.	135	3.9%	Endorsed Turner
	MUNRO, John Carr	93	2.7%	Endorsed Chrétien
	WHELAN, Eugene Francis	84	2.4%	Endorsed Chrétien
Spoiled ballots		2	-	1	-
Total		3,437	100.0%	3,453	100.0%

The 1990 leadership convention was held in Calgary, Alberta on June 23, 1990.

First Ballot

Candidate		Delegate Support	Percentage
	CHRÉTIEN, Joseph Jacques Jean	2,652	56.8%
	MARTIN, Paul Edgar Philippe	1,176	25.2%
	COPPS, Sheila Maureen	499	10.7%
	WAPPEL, Thomas (Tom) William	267	5.7%
	NUNZIATA, John V.	64	1.4%
Spoiled ballots		10	0.2%
Total		4,668	100%

The 2003 leadership convention was held in Toronto, Ontario on November 14, 2003.

First Ballot

Candidate		Delegate Support	Percentage
	MARTIN, Paul Edgar Philippe	3,242	93.8%
	COPPS, Sheila Maureen	211	6.1%
Spoiled ballots		2	0.1%
Total		3,455	100%

Source: Parliament of Canada website

The 2006 leadership convention was held at the Palais des congrès de Montréal in Montreal, Quebec on December 2–3, 2006.

  = Eliminated from next round

  = Withdrew nomination

  = Winner

Delegate support by Ballot

Candidate		1st ballot		2nd ballot		3rd ballot		4th ballot
		Votes cast	%	Votes cast	%	Votes cast	%	Votes cast	%
	IGNATIEFF, Michael Grant	1,412	29.3%	1,481	31.8%	1,660	34.5%	2,084	45.3%
	RAE, Robert Keith (Bob)	977	20.3%	1,132	24.1%	1.375	28.5%	Released delegates
	DION, Stéphane Maurice	856	17.8%	974	20.8%	1.782	37.0%	2,521	54.7%
	KENNEDY, Gerard Michael	854	17.7%	884	18.8%	Endorsed Dion
	DRYDEN, Kenneth Wayne (Ken)	238	4.9%	219	4.7%	Endorsed Rae
	BRISON, Scott A.	192	4.0%	Endorsed Rae
	VOLPE, Giuseppe Joseph (Joe)	156	3.2%	Withdrew before 1st ballot began; endorsed Rae
	HALL FINDLAY, Martha	130	2.7%	Endorsed Dion
Total		4,815	100.0%	4,690	100.0%	4,817	100.0%	4,605	100.0%

The 2009 leadership convention was held at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia from April 30-May 3, 2009.

Due to the selection of Michael Ignatieff as interim leader as a result of the 2008–2009 Canadian parliamentary dispute and an agreement by other candidates to withdraw in favour of Ignatieff, the 2009 convention served to ratify Ignatieff's leadership and was not a contested leadership vote. Bob Rae and Dominic LeBlanc withdrew in December 2008 (five months prior to the convention) allowing Ignatieff to become leader by default.

First Ballot

Candidate		Delegate Support	Percentage
	IGNATIEFF, Michael Grant	1,964	97%
Spoiled ballots		59	3%
Total		2,023	100%

The leadership election was held on April 14, 2013.^[1] The voter turnout was 82% of all registered voters.

First Ballot

Candidate
		Votes cast	%	Points allocated	%
	TRUDEAU, Justin Pierre James	81,389	78.76%	24,668.71	80.09%
	MURRAY, Joyce	12,148	11.76%	3,130.76	10.16%
	HALL FINDLAY, Martha	6,585	6.37%	1,760.43	5.72%
	CAUCHON, Martin	1,630	1.58%	815.86	2.65%
	COYNE, Deborah Margaret Ryland	833	0.81%	214.14	0.70%
	MCCRIMMON, Karen Anne	757	0.73%	210.08	0.68%
Rejected Ballots		1,210
Total		104,552	100.00	30,800	100.00