In Manitoba's first Legislative Assembly (1871–1874), the leader of the opposition was Edward Hay, a Liberal who represented the interests of recent anglophone immigrants from Ontario.

In 1874, Hay served as Minister of Public Works in the government of Marc-Amable Girard, which included both Conservatives and Liberals.

Luxton subsequently supported Davis and Norquay against Conservative Orangeman Thomas Scott, a leader of the local opposition (not to be confused with the figure executed by Louis Riel in 1870).

[2] Based in the province's rural areas, this group soon surpassed the Winnipeg Liberals as the dominant opposition to Norquay.

After the election of 1883, Greenway united the opposition MLAs into the Manitoba Liberals (which were soon recognized as a de facto political party).

[2] The Greenway government's most notable feat in office was curtailing the rights of Manitoba's French Canadian population.

[2] Charles Mickle was chosen parliamentary leader on December 5, 1904, and led the party until a provincial convention was held in late March 1906.

When the Tories under Rodmond Roblin resigned amid scandal in 1915, Norris became the province's premier, and retained the position until 1922.

The Norris Liberals introduced temperance laws, suffrage for women, workers compensation, compulsory education, and minimum wage, as well as the establishment of a public-nursing system, rural farm credit, regulation of industrial conditions, and a mother's allowance for widowed dependent mothers.

Norris withdrew funding for French-language education in 1916, at a time when the federal Liberals were attempting to regain the support of Quebec nationalists.

Pressured by William Lyon Mackenzie King, Mackay brought the Liberals into a coalition with Premier John Bracken's Progressives before the 1932 election.

For the election of 1932, the provincial government referred to itself as "Liberal-Progressive" (effectively a fusion of the parties, albeit one dominated by Progressives).

In 1940, Bracken's Liberal-Progressives forged an even broader coalition, bringing the Conservatives, Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, and Social Credit in a "non-partisan" government.

Bracken's government undertook few major initiatives, and was unfriendly to labour issues even during its alliance with the CCF.

The government of Garson's successor, Douglas Lloyd Campbell, was socially conservative and generally opposed to state intervention of any sort.

The educational system remained primitive (it was dominated by one-room schoolhouses well into the 1950s), and no significant steps were taken on language or labour issues.

A succession of leaders, including Israel Asper (1970–1975), Charles Huband (1975–1978), and Doug Lauchlan (1980–1982) were unable to prevent the party's decline.

This was precipitated by the unpopularity of Howard Pawley's New Democratic government, which allowed the Liberals to win the support of many centre-left voters.

The leadership convention of 1996 exposed deep divisions in the party, as Ginny Hasselfield defeated Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) Kevin Lamoureux by only 21 votes.

The party was only reunited when Hasselfield resigned in 1998, replaced by former federal Member of Parliament (MP) Jon Gerrard.

Despite Lamoureux's re-election, the Liberal popular vote fell in 2003 even through the party managed to field a full slate of candidates (they were 7 shy in 1999).

By the time of the writ, Elections Manitoba disqualified four candidates due to improper paperwork and a fifth for being an enumerator while collecting signatures for her candidacy.

On May 7, 2016, Bokhari announced that she would not lead the party into the next election but would remain on as leader until her successor was chosen,[6] though she would ultimately resign in September to enter the private sector.

[11] Lamont led the Manitoba Liberals into the 2019 provincial election with four MLAs, though Judy Klassen would not seek re-election.

The party, however, would suffer a nearly four-point swing away in terms of vote percentage and would return only one MLA, as the New Democrats were swept into power.

Gerrard and Lamont lost their seats to New Democrats Mike Moroz and Robert Loiselle respectively, though Lamoureux improved her vote percentage by a small margin.