The Young Liberals of Canada (YLC) (French: Jeunes libéraux du Canada) is the national youth wing of the Liberal Party of Canada. All members of the Liberal Party aged 25 and under are automatically members of the YLC. The Young Liberals of Canada are an official commission of the Liberal Party and the largest youth political organization in Canada.
The YLC is composed of Provincial and Territorial Boards (PTBs) in all ten provinces and clubs on almost 50 post-secondary campuses and in most of Canada's 338 ridings. The organization is led by the National Executive. Several major initiatives by Liberal governments over the years have started out as Young Liberal ideas, including same-sex marriage, marijuana legalization and medical assistance in dying.
Many Young Liberal alumni have gone on to have prominent careers in Canadian politics, including former prime ministers Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin and current cabinet ministers Bardish Chagger and Karina Gould, among others.
History
1936–1984
The Young Liberals of Canada were founded in 1936, though youth had played a role in the Liberal Party (particularly election campaigns) since its founding. During the 1950s and 60s, future Prime Ministers Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin were both active Young Liberals. Chrétien, who joined during law school at Université Laval, was elected president of the uLaval Young Liberals in 1958 (no one else wanted the job, as everyone else was too afraid of drawing the ire of the Union Nationale.) [1] Martin was active during his years at the University of Toronto, where future Liberal leaders Michael Ignatieff and Bob Rae were also engaged in Young Liberal activities on campus.
In an attempt to attract Young Liberal supporters for his 1968 leadership bid, Pierre Trudeau campaigned on the promise of reserving specific number of delegate spots at national conventions to Young Liberals. Trudeau went on to win the party leadership, and YLC was allocated guaranteed number of delegate spots in each riding association and in accredited campus Liberal clubs. This has meant the YLC has wielded unique influence in the party's leadership selection as it controls the accreditation process of campus clubs, which were fierce battlegrounds during federal leadership races from the early 1980s to 2006. Trudeau's government also lowered the voting age to 18 in 1970, further endearing him to Young Liberals.
1984–2006
During the 1980s, YLC members found themselves on both sides of raging intra-party debates. During the 1986 leadership review, some supported leader John Turner, such as future MP Joe Peschisolido,[2] while others opposed him, including YLC-Quebec President and future politician Denis Coderre (who publicly called for Turner's resignation.) During the 1990 leadership race, the Paul Martin leadership campaign was particularly notorious for hostile take over of campus clubs, though many Young Liberals supported the eventual winner (and YLC alumni), Jean Chrétien.
Under the leadership of president (and future MP) Greg Fergus, the YLC began to push for the legalization of same-sex marriage in 1994, the first group in the Liberal Party to do so.[3] The 2003 leadership race, which saw YLC alum Paul Martin become prime minister, again featured heavy Young Liberal involvement, with intense battles for delegates on many campuses (especially by the Martin campaign.) Young Liberals mobilized against Canada's proposed entry into United States Missile Defence System in 2005, helping convince the Martin Government to say no to the Americans.
2006–Present
The YLC's influence in the leadership selection process was greatly diminished in 2009 when the federal party changed its constitution to elect its future leaders by a "weighted One Member, One Vote" voting method. Following this, and the Liberal Party's historic defeat in 2011, the YLC helped lead the process of party renewal by assisting youth in taking on new leadership roles and promoting new progressive policies. Most prominently, Young Liberal policies advocating for the legalization of marijuana (first passed by the YLC-British Columbia) and medical assistance in dying (passed by the Ontario Young Liberals) were overwhelmingly endorsed by the party's entire membership at the 2012 and 2014 Biennial conventions and were key planks in the 2015 election platform.[4]
The election of the youthful and energetic Justin Trudeau as Liberal leader in 2013 helped attract new Young Liberals. The younger Trudeau has proven as popular with Canadian youth as his father, helping the YLC recruit new members and ensuring youth concerns were included in the Liberals 2015 election platform. This popularity, coupled with the YLC's efforts, helped ensure a record youth turnout[5] in the 2015 election, which made the difference in securing a majority government.[6] Following the Liberals' victory, Trudeau appointed himself as his government's Minister of Youth, a move that met with approval from many Young Liberals.[7] As part of larger reforms to the Liberal Party's internal structures beginning in 2016, the YLC's Constitution was replaced by a new Charter.
YLC has also sometimes been a source of embarrassments and scandals for the party.
In 1997, Jim MacLaren, president of the BC wing, misappropriated $30,000 from the federal party's coffers, and was later convicted of fraud.[8]
In 1999, several drunken Young Liberal delegates attending a convention in Victoria smashed up a couple of hotel rooms. The Liberal Party was sued by the hotel and settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.[8]
In 2000, Jesse Davidson, president of the Ontario wing, faced one count of fraud over $5,000 and 23 counts for allegedly drewing money from the party's bank account by forging the signature of a former treasurer.[9] The charges were dropped in 2011 in exchange of Davidson agreeing to repay some $7,000 that he withdrew from the party's bank account.[10]
In 2007, a former president of the BC wing, Erik Bornmann, was implicated by the investigation following the BC Legislature Raids,[11][12][13] and served as a key witness in a trial that pertains to the scandal.[12][14]
In 2015, YLC-BC President Linda Ching was discovered to be the daughter of Cheng Muyang, a fugitive wanted by Chinese authorities for graft. Cheng is believed to have helped his daughter secure the position of president. After Cheng's fugitive status became publicly known, Linda Ching quietly called an election, but did not resign.[15]
Policy
Liberal MPs, candidates and supporters participating in the Vancouver Pride Parade 2019
Developing and promoting progressive policies is at the core of the YLC's mission. The YLC brings a slate of policies to every Liberal Biennial Convention, which are solicited, debated and voted on every two years in the lead-up to the convention. In many policy areas, Young Liberals have been more progressive than the party as a whole, taking a pro-same sex marriage position as early as 1994. During the Liberal governments of Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin (1993-2006), the YLC successfully pushed initiatives like the long-term commitment to Africa, the Canada Post-Secondary Education Transfer, the promotion and protection of safe-injection sites and the commitment to the Kyoto Accord. The 2005 decision of the Martin Liberal government to not enter into the American missile defence program was in part credited to the opposition of the Young Liberals.
During the Harper years (2006-2015), the YLC redoubled its focus on advocacy and highlighted the government's neglect of youth issues. In response to Conservative TV and radio attack ads, the YLC launched the "Hi.im.a.liberal.ca" initiative, a spoof of the Mac/PC ads, which garnered media attention for its novelty. In May 2010, they began a campaign in opposition to Bill C-391 and in support of the federal long gun registry.[16] Other initiatives during this period included the "Red Revolution" campaign (focusing on "taking Canada back" by improving youth involvement in politics), the "Go Green, Vote Red" initiative (to appeal to environmentally-minded voters and promote the party's "Green Shift" program) and the "End the Crisis" campaign (to increase the admission of Middle Eastern refugees displaced by the Syrian Civil War).
Prominent former members
Many elected officials played prominent roles at the party's youth wing, including:
Mitchell Brownstein, Mayor of Côte St. Luc, Quebec[26]
Denis Coderre, former mayor of Montreal, MP for Bourassa and federal minister (as president of YLC's Quebec wing called for the resignation of Leader John Turner)[27]
The organization is a member of the International Federation of Liberal Youth, and at one time sent delegates to international gatherings of youth from Liberal parties around the world.
^Ryan, Carolyn. "Stephen Harper and the road to power". Canada Votes 2006. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on August 24, 2007. Retrieved August 6, 2011. Trudeau was one of the young Stephen Harper's earliest political inspirations, in fact. Admiration for the then-prime minister led him to join the Liberal student club a friend founded in the mid-1970s at Richview Collegiate in Etobicoke, Ont.
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