More the European way. It definitely does not have the strong negative connotations, even among conservatives. Also worth noting that one of our two main political parties is actually called the Liberal Party of Canada.
Another fun fact: Liberals are also affectionately known as Grits, and Conservatives as Tories.
Do you Canadians use liberal like we Americans use it or like Europeans use it?
More the European way...Also worth noting that one of our two main political parties is actually called the Liberal Party of Canada.
My understanding is that that party is roughly the equivalent of the U.S. Democrats or U.K. Labour—which would make the usage of “liberal” much more like the American usage (meaning “left-wing”) than the European usage (meaning “opposed to high levels of economic regulation”).
In Australia the Liberal party is right-wing (liberal on free trade policies, not on social policies), so I tend to get confused about discussions of “liberals” in the US unless I remember to switch definitions before reading.
More the European way. It definitely does not have the strong negative connotations, even among conservatives. Also worth noting that one of our two main political parties is actually called the Liberal Party of Canada.
Another fun fact: Liberals are also affectionately known as Grits, and Conservatives as Tories.
My understanding is that that party is roughly the equivalent of the U.S. Democrats or U.K. Labour—which would make the usage of “liberal” much more like the American usage (meaning “left-wing”) than the European usage (meaning “opposed to high levels of economic regulation”).
uh—interesting. Thanks for pointing that out.
In Australia the Liberal party is right-wing (liberal on free trade policies, not on social policies), so I tend to get confused about discussions of “liberals” in the US unless I remember to switch definitions before reading.
There is that. I thought Jack was getting at the negative connotation aspect.
The Liberal party here is basically centre-left.