Editing Liberal Party of Canada (section)

====Organization====
[[File:Wm Lyon Mackenzie King.jpg|left|165px|thumb|[[William Lyon Mackenzie King]], the 10th prime minister of Canada (1921–1926, 1926–1930, 1935–1948)]]
Until the early part of the century, the Liberal Party was a loose coalition of local, provincial, and regional bodies with a strong national party leader and caucus, but with an informal and regionalized extra-parliamentary organizational structure. There was no national membership of the party. An individual became a member by joining a provincial Liberal party. Laurier called the party's first national convention in 1893 to unite Liberal supporters behind a programme and build the campaign that successfully brought the party to power in 1896, but no efforts were made to create a formal national organization outside Parliament.

As a result of the party's defeats in the [[1911 Canadian federal election|1911]] and [[1917 Canadian federal election|1917]] federal elections, Laurier attempted to organize the party on a national level by creating three bodies: the Central Liberal Information Office, the National Liberal Advisory Committee, and the National Liberal Organization Committee. However, the advisory committee became dominated by members of Parliament and all three bodies were underfunded and competed with both local and provincial Liberal associations and the national caucus for authority. The party did organize the [[Liberal Party of Canada leadership elections|national party's second convention in 1919]] to elect [[William Lyon Mackenzie King]] as Laurier's successor (Canada's first [[leadership convention]]), yet following the party's return to power in the [[1921 Canadian federal election|1921 federal election]] the nascent national party organizations were eclipsed by powerful ministers and local party organizations largely driven by [[patronage]].

As a result of both the party's defeat in the [[1930 Canadian federal election|1930 federal election]] and the [[Beauharnois scandal]], which highlighted the need for distance between the Liberal Party's parliamentary wing and campaign fundraising,<ref name="encyc">[http://www.canadianencyclopedia.ca/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0000604 Beauharnois Scandal] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070514003713/http://www.canadianencyclopedia.ca/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0000604 |date=May 14, 2007 }} at ''The Canadian Encyclopedia''</ref> a central coordinating organization, the National Liberal Federation, was created in 1932 with [[Vincent Massey]] as its first president. With the Liberal return to power, the national organization languished except for occasional national committee meetings, such as in 1943 when Mackenzie King called a meeting of the federation (consisting of the national caucus and up to seven voting delegates per province) to approve a new platform for the party in anticipation of the end of World War II and prepare for a post-war election.<ref>{{cite web |title = Federal Election Question May Be Settled Shortly |url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=G_guAAAAIBAJ&pg=5119,3289151&dq=liberal-federation+canada&hl=en |newspaper = Ottawa Citizen |date = September 20, 1943 |access-date = October 18, 2015 |archive-date = August 17, 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210817003605/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=G_guAAAAIBAJ&pg=5119,3289151&dq=liberal-federation+canada&hl=en |url-status = live }}</ref> No national convention was held, however, until 1948; the Liberal Party held only three national conventions prior to the 1950s – in 1893, 1919 and 1948.<ref>John W. Lederle. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/137623?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents "The Liberal Convention of 1893"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202001814/http://www.jstor.org/stable/137623?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents |date=February 2, 2017 }}. ''The Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science''. Vol. 16, No. 1 (Feb. 1950), pp. 42–52.</ref> The National Liberal Federation remained largely dependent on provincial Liberal parties and was often ignored and bypassed the parliamentary party in the organization of election campaigns and the development of policy. With the defeat of the Liberals in the [[1957 Canadian federal election|1957 federal election]] and in particular [[1958 Canadian federal election|1958]], reformers argued for the strengthening of the national party organization so it would not be dependent on provincial Liberal parties and patronage. A national executive and Council of presidents, consisting of the presidents of each Liberal riding association, were developed to give the party more co-ordination and national party conventions were regularly held in biennially where previously they had been held infrequently. Over time, provincial Liberal parties in most provinces were separated from provincial wings of the federal party and in a number of cases disaffiliated. By the 1980s, the National Liberal Federation was officially known as the Liberal Party of Canada.<ref>{{cite journal |last = Koop |first = Ryan |title = The Elusive Nature of National Party Organization in Canada and Australia |url = https://sfu.academia.edu/RoyceKoop/Papers/414297/The_Elusive_Nature_of_National_Party_Organization_in_Canada_and_Australia |journal = Paper Presented at the Canadian Political Science Association Annual Conference. University of British Columbia, Vancouver BC. 4–6 June 2008 |access-date = June 17, 2012 |archive-date = July 8, 2023 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230708191422/https://sfu.academia.edu/RoyceKoop/Papers/414297/The_Elusive_Nature_of_National_Party_Organization_in_Canada_and_Australia |url-status = live }}</ref>