The Liberal party has sometimes been described as Canada's "natural governing party" because it has formed the government for most of the past century.
Its policies, for the most part, fall in the middle of the political spectrum, making them broadly acceptable to a wide number of Canadians. Although not as popular in the West as in other parts of Canada, the Liberal party has long-standing support in the key provinces of Ontario and Quebec.
At the time of Parliament's dissolution, the Liberals had been in power for just over 12 years, largely under the leadership of Jean Chrétien. Current leader Paul Martin was keen to distinguish himself from his predecessor, however, promising to "change the way things work in Ottawa."
The June election didn't really leave any of the parties fully satisfied. Martin's Liberals came out ahead in the numbers, with 135 of the 308 seats in the House of Commons. The Conservatives were the next closest, with 99. But analysts were unable to agree on whether the Liberals had won or the Conservatives had lost. So for the following days and weeks, Martin tried to strike a conciliatory tone, and work on issues.
Despite a major health-care agreement in the fall of 2004, and moves to decriminalize pot and legalize same-sex marriage, the party was still labouring under the weight of sponsorship.
Paul Martin
The government released its first budget in 2005, which included the fulfilment of several election promises: gas tax money for cities, a national child-care program, defence spending and $1 billion for climate change. But they needed the co-operation of the opposition to get it passed. That came in the form of a deal with the NDP, a deal that included $4.6 billion in additional spending on NDP priorities.
The taint of the sponsorship scandal was hard to shake, though, particularly once the first report on the scandal was released on Nov. 1, 2005. Justice John Gomery didn't blame Martin for the scandal, but did say a kickback scheme had funnelled government money to the Quebec wing of the Liberal Party of Canada. Martin pledged that the party would repay $1.14 million to the government, then moved to expel 10 people from the party, and forwarded the first Gomery report to the RCMP.
Martin had promised to call an election within 30 days of the release of the final Gomery report, expected in February 2006, but opposition parties decided that they had lost confidence in the government, and triggered the election call.
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The Liberal party has sometimes been described as Canada's "natural governing party" because it has formed the government for most of the past century.
