My answer in Quora.
The shift started with the outsize influence of Pierre Trudeau (Prime Minister from 1968–1979 then 1980 to 1984) and his strong pro-labor, Federalist and social democratic stance. Trudeau enjoyed close ties with the CCF (the forerunner of the left wing New Democratic Party) and was essentially a man of the left for most of his life. Big government economists Joseph Schumpeter and Kenneth Galbraith both influenced his economic outlook.
He was actually was a latecomer to Liberal politics only joining the party in 1965 (well into his 40s) and was described by a former Cabinet Minister, Judy LaMarsh, as not being ‘a liberal’. She was correct. Trudeau never left his social democratic roots.
In office Trudeau greatly expanded Canada’s social welfare system, ran large budget deficits throughout his term in first rem in office (with the slight exception of 1969), implemented wage and price controls, forced the Western Canadian provinces to freeze oil prices and eventually created a nationalized oil company.
He was also a strong friend of Fidel Castro, an opponent of gun ownership, a champion of high capital gains taxes, and a Federalist whose top down approach alienated both Western Canada and Quebec,
Supporters credit him though with Canada’s policy of official bilingualism, the abolition of the death penalty, multiculturalism, expansion of unemployment insurance, the Criminal Law Amendment Act and the Patriation of the Constitution. The latter led to the Constitution Act of 1982 and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
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