Young Liberals of Canada

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The Young Liberals of Canada (YLC) is the national youth wing of the Liberal Party of Canada. The organization binds together provincial and territorial Liberal Youth organizations. The Young Liberals of Canada are the largest political youth organization in Canada. Some policies that have been championed by the Young Liberals are same-sex marriage, ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, increased funding for post-secondary education and decriminalization of marijuana.

The Young Liberals of Canada have 56 Post-Secondary Institution Young Liberal clubs throughout the country. As well, the Young Liberals also have a presence in nearly every one of Canada’s 308 ridings. It has been estimated that the YLC has nearly 60,000-80,000 members at various periods. All members of the Liberal Party, who are aged 26 and under, are members of the Commission of the Young Liberals.

The YLC does not always agree with the Liberal Party of Canada. In fact, the YLC often pushes the larger membership of the Liberal Party to adopt new policies that may be viewed as too radical or challenging. In order for the YLC to promote and push a policy for the entire Liberal Party to adopt, it must be an official YLC policy, properly adopted at a Policy Convention. Therefore, The YLC and Liberal Party of Canada often do not agree, or have not passed the same resolutions, at any given time.

The organization is a member of the International Federation of Liberal Youth.

The current President of the YLC is Cory Pike.

[edit] Manitoba

This wing was formed in 2001 following the division of the Young Liberals of Manitoba into federal and provincial wings to comply with provincial legislation that made a joint federal and provincial youth wing impossible. The federal wing is known as the "Young Liberals of Canada (Manitoba) whereas the provincial branch is known as the "Manitoba Young Liberals".

The Young Liberals of Canada (Manitoba) have several campus clubs throughout Manitoba, including the University of Manitoba, University of Winnipeg and College universitaire de Saint-Boniface. The current executive is as follows:

President: Danielle Keenan, Vice President: Brenden Sommerhalder, Director of Finance: James Houston, Director of Internal Affairs: Graham Podolecki, Director of Policy: Sarah Bedi, Director of Communications: Erik Nosaluk, Director of Organization: Meira Gisser, Director of Membership: Johnathon Theissen, Director of Rural Affairs: Micheal Gousseau, Director of Aboriginal Affairs: Brett McDowell Manitoba Young Liberal Liaison: Jeremiah Kopp,