John A. was Canada's first Prime Minister. An immigrant from Scotland, MacDonald rose to be a prominent colonial politician and championed the cause of Canadian unity. He became head of the parliament of Upper Canada, and under his leadership, the creation of the self-governing Dominion of Canada was negotiated, thereby uniting the loosely organized British colonies of North America into a single country.

Once in office as the new nation's Prime Minister, MacDonald's vision was to keep expanding Canada westward, and unite the new country with a massive railroad. He got his wish, but he was forced to resign after it was revealed he had made a shady business deal to pay for the thing. He was elected back to power in 1878, but then tragically died in office shortly after.

Most Canadians know John A. MacDonald as the guy who appears on the ten-dollar bill. Infamously, he was also an unstable alcoholic, and would often show up to Parliament drunk.

Like MacDonald, Mackenzie was also born in Scotland and was one of Canada's founding politicians. Unlike MacDonald, however, he was a staunch Liberal and opposed MacDonald's crazy railroad building schemes. Mackenzie was elected Prime Minister after MacDonald resigned in 1873, but was later voted out when MacDonald regained his popularity.

Sir John Abbott, Sir John Thompson, Sir Mackenzie Bowell, and Sir Charles Tupper

Following MacDonald's death, Canada went through a bunch of dorky "acting" Prime Ministers. Mr. Abbott served for about a year as interim Prime Minister, then he handed the reigns over to Mr. Thompson, who died. Then Mr. Bowell replaced Thompson, but he was seen as being too weak, so his party forced him out of power. The Conservative Party then appointed Mr. Tupper as Prime Minister, who then went ahead and promptly lost the next election. These four are Canada's most obscure leaders, and no one remembers them. Thompson is vaguely important, because he was Canada's first Catholic Prime Minister.

Wilfred Laurier was Canada's first French-Canadian Prime Minister. He's considered to be one of Canada's best PMs but his accomplishments aren't really that exciting. He presided over a booming economy, helped negotiate the creation of two new western provinces, and met Queen Victoria a few times. Canada became very rich under his rule, largely due to his lack of interest in zany schemes. But then he proposed having free trade with the United States and the people voted him out.

As you will notice by reading his dates, Robert Borden was Prime Minister during the first World War, and this is largely what he is remembered for. World War I was Canada's first war, although as a colony of Britain, she didn't really have much choice in the matter. In the endless cycle of peace treaties that followed the war's end, Mr. Borden argued that Canada's large contribution to the conflict should earn her some respect as a sovereign nation. His words were persuasive, and despite initial objections, President Wilson allowed Canada to sit as an independent country within the League of Nations.

While Borden's policies of distancing Canada from Britain were popular internationally, they received less enthusiasm at home. Some accused him of being a traitor to Canada's colonial master, but Mr. Borden shrugged it off and responded by banning Canadians from receiving Knighthoods.

Arthur Meighen was Mr. Borden's hand-picked successor. In Canada, when the tides of public opinion turn against you, it is easy to just resign, and leave some schmo to lose the next election in your place. Fearing the public backlash for his rising unpopularity, Borden quietly abandoned the Prime Ministership, and handed it over to Meighen. Meighen's weak personality was no match for the wave of anti-Borden feelings, and he was soundly beaten.

In 1926 there was an odd constitutional fluke and the Governor General fired Mackenzie King (see below) letting Meighen briefly serve as Prime Minister for a couple of months in the fall of that year. But the public had made it clear they didn't want him and so he was voted out a second time.

Mackenzie King was Prime Minister three times, and if you add up all his dates you'll see he was in power for over 20 years- making him Canada's longest-serving Prime Minister. Mackenzie King is most famous for two things- One, leading Canada through World War II, and two, being insane. You see, Mackenzie King believed he could communicate with his dead mother, not to mention his dead pets, and routinely sought political advice from them. Their advice must have been good, because despite his numerous eccentricities, Mackenzie King is now largely considered one of Canada's best Prime Ministers.

King sent troops to Europe immediately after France was invaded, was good friends with Roosevelt and Churchill, and helped  pull Canada out of the Great Depression with a flurry of "New Deal" style economic reforms. He was also one of Canada's first liberal-nationalists, and was sympathetic to the idea that Canada needed an identity distinct from Britain.

He had two breaks in his career  as Prime Minister. The first came in 1926, when the Governor General sacked him for calling too many elections. The second time was in 1930, when he lost an election to R.B. Bennett. Other than those two brief interruptions, he was able to govern Canada for most of the mid-20th Century, and his terms overlapped that of five US Presidents.

Millionaire R.B. Bennett was the Herbert Hoover of Canada. His ambitious economic policy got him elected in 1930, but he was thoroughly unprepared for the hardships of the Great Depression. His policies crashed and burned, and Canadians couldn't wait to throw him out and bring back Mackenzie King.

When King finally resigned Louis St. Laurent became Prime Minister. But one ever talks much about him. He is the "forgotten Prime Minister." St. Laurent was PM during the 1950's, a time when Canadians were generally quite content, and there wasn't much going on in the world. When the post-war boom began to wind down he was promptly thrown out of office.

"Dief the Chief" was one of Canada's more controversial Prime Ministers. "Loud and angry" pretty much characterizes his style.

Diefenbaker was the last "Old Tory" to rule Canada. He was a staunch conservative and British Loyalist, and heavily obsessed with the Queen and Commonwealth. He is well-known for opposing anything he deemed anti-British, and during his time in opposition he was a huge critic of the Liberals' refusal to support Britain in the Suez crisis, and their subsequent decision to change the Canadian flag.

Dief was also viciously anti-American, and hated President Kennedy with a fiery passion. Though very anti-Communist, there were still a lot of controversies about Canada-US Cold War co-operation (especially military co-operation) during his term. One of his most controversial decisions in office was the cancellation of the "Arvo Arrow" jet program that was supposed to make Canada an aerospace superpower. Ironically, his opponents would accuse him of only canceling the program because President Kennedy ordered him to.

Diefenbaker was also notoriously paranoid, and when he lost the 1963 election to Lester Pearson he maintained it was due to some sort of elaborate American conspiracy. Unlike other Prime Ministers, Diefenbaker did not resign from politics after losing the Prime Ministership. He hung around as a member of Parliament until his death in 1979.

Lester Pearson was one of Canada's preeminent statesmen. A former President of the U.N. General Assembly, he had won a Nobel Peace Prize for his supervision of a peacekeeping mission in the Suez Canal. Entering politics seemed like a clear step down for someone like Pearson, but he was too ambitious to stay at the UN. He beat Diefenbaker in the 1963 election but only got a minority government.

Pearson's most visible legacy was the introduction of a distinct Canadian flag. As a UN diplomat, Pearson had been repeatedly frustrated by people judging him based on his country's ties to Britain; ties that were embarrassingly highlighted by the prominent Union Jack on Canada's flag. Pearson lobbied to change it, and after the longest political debate in Canadian history, the Maple Leaf flag (or "Pearson Pennant") was adopted.

In the realm of foreign policy, Pearson was famously pragmatic. Canada acquired nuclear weapons during his term as part of a joint partnership with the US, but he also broke sharply with the Americans over the Vietnam War, which he steadfastly kept Canadian troops out of. Today in Canada people still speak nostalgically about the golden era of "Personian diplomacy," a time when Canada was actually a relevant player in important international matters.

Pearson is often considered to be one of Canada's greatest Prime Ministers, which is ironic considering he was never very popular while in office. He only served for four years before resigning.

Depending on who you talk to, Pierre Trudeau is either Canada's best, or worst-ever Prime Minister. He passed away in 2000, so Canadians have been debating his legacy a lot lately. He's easily Canada's most famous Prime Minister, and was probably the most visible leader on the world stage that our country has ever had. Regardless of what you think of him, he undeniably led Canada through some of the country's most critical years.

Trudeau came from a wealthy, elite, French-Canadian family, and as a young man he always had aspirations to not only rule, but transform Canadian society. A career academic, he was very much a leading member of Canada's intellectual class. His personality was often arrogant and condensing, but people respected him as a man with a vision. Some were shocked when the Liberal party chose him as the new Prime Minister after Pearson's resignation in 1968, but many others heralded his victory as a bold injection of "new blood" into the stuffy Canadian political establishment.

Trudeau always had a reputation for being very left-wing, and his rhetoric was often very socialist in tone. Yet as a leader he was able to govern fairly pragmatically during his 15 years in office.

Today he is credited with being at the forefront of many events in modern Canadian history, such as the creation of the modern Canadian Constitution, holding down Quebec nationalism and Quebec terrorism, and promoting Canada's spirit of internationalism. However his reign also dramatically increased the size of the federal government, with high spending that drove the Canadian economy into deep deficits. More than anything else, the Trudeau administration is responsible for creating the modern liberal political climate of Canada.

Trudeau is also well remembered for his rather unconventional and flamboyant personal life. A swinging bachelor upon assuming office, his high-profile dates captured a lot of tabloid attention. Eventually he married a bi-polar flowerchild 30 years his junior. They had three kids, but the marriage predictably failed, and he divorced while in office too.

At 35, Joe Clark was Canada's youngest Prime Minister, and the first one from a western province. Though he was mocked for his lack of popularity ("Joe Who?" was a popular joke at the time) he was an effective conservative populist, and was able to achieve the impossible and beat the invincible Pierre Trudeau in the 1979 General Election. To his considerable displeasure, however, Clark only won a minority government. On purpose, he quickly allowed his government to be defeated in a Vote of No Confidence, and called another election in the hopes of winning a majority. But that didn't materialize, and he lost and Trudeau got back in.

In a bizarre epilogue, Joe Clark once again led the Progressive Conservative Party from 1998 to 2003. By this point he was so old and the party was in such disarray no one really took him seriously.

Poor John Turner. When Trudeau left government in 1984 the Canadian public decided that they were tired of being governed by the Liberal party. Mr. Turner, who directly succeeded Trudeau, had no choice but to call an election, and was soundly beat. He was Prime Minister for less than three months, and his reign is now a mere footnote to history.

Turner stayed Liberal leader for a long time, and led the opposition against Prime Minister Mulroney. In the 1988 election he campaigned vigorously against Free Trade with the United States; a vigor which in retrospect seems a little overly hysterical. After his second failed election Turner's party eventually turned against him and forced him out.

After Trudeau, Mr. Mulroney is probably Canada's most controversial Prime Minister. Unlike all the other Prime Ministers, Mulroney was not a career politician. A successful private businessman, he was able to win the nomination of the Progressive Conservative Party and proceeded to crush the weak John Turner in the '84 elections. Canada had gone too far to the left under Trudeau, he said, and it was time for sound, conservative management of the Canadian economy. Once in power, he quickly moved to cut government spending, balance the budget, and reduce the Liberal-era deficit.

Brian was handsome and charismatic with a smooth speaking voice, but his initial charms quickly wore off. Mulroney advocated stronger economic ties to the United States, and his government passed controversial Free Trade legislation in 1989. He had a very close relationship with American President Ronald Reagan, which irritated an increasingly anti-American Canadian public. His two attempts to change the Canadian constitution both ended in failure, and many now say helped foster bitter regional divides across the country that persist to this day.

In 1990 the Mulroney Government created a new 7% "Goods and Service Tax" that would henceforth be imposed on all commercial goods. To this day, the tax is synonymous with Mulroney's name, and remains one of the most despised elements of his government. By 1993 everyone hated Mulroney, and the polls revealed he had earned the dubious distinction of being the most unpopular Prime Minister in Canadian history. Rather than face certain defeat at the ballot box, Mulroney decided to resign and hand the reigns of power over to a sacrificial lamb.

Yes, that's right, Canada actually had a woman Prime Minister for a brief period. When Mulroney jumped ship, the Conservative Party appointed Ms. Campbell, his defense minister, to replace him. Like Trudeau, Campbell was an intellectual, but lacked the charms and charisma of her predecessor. She came off as arrogant and snobby, and voters soon hated her as much as Mulroney. She had a continual habit of making PR blunders, such as when she posed semi-nude for a newspaper article, or when she ran political ads making fun of Liberal Leader Jean Chretien's facial paralysis. Her landslide defeat in the 1993 election surprised no one.

Jean Chretien was one of the longest-serving politicians in Canadian history, and thus it seemed inevitable that he would wind up Prime Minister someday. First elected to Parliament in 1963, Mr. Chretien served numerous cabinet posts in the Pearson and Trudeau administrations. He would later emerge as Trudeau's right-hand-man, and was a key architect of the revised Canadian constitution. He wanted to be Trudeau's successor, but that job instead went to Turner. Not one to be defeated easily, he orchestrated a succesful drive to depose Turner as leader of the Liberal Party and install himself in his place. Once leader, Chretein easily beat Kim Campbell in the 1993 election.

After being elected, the new PM loudly proclaimed that he would work to reverse all the horrible policies of the Mulroney years. Despite his left-wing rhetoric, however, Chretien ended up governing fairly pragmatically. He kept the GST and Free Trade, and was just as much a fiscal conservative as Mulroney, continuing to cut government spending and social programs, and completely eliminating the deficit.

He reign as PM was notable for a strong lack of "bold" or "risky" initiatives, and perhaps as a result his "status quo all the way" leadership allowed him to remain quite popular, winning reelection in 1997 and 2000. The fact that the Conservative party was badly fractionalized during his time in office is often credited as a leading explanation for his successes as well.

Chretien has a few interesting personality quirks. Since birth, half his face has been paralyzed, and he noticeably speaks out of only one corner of his mouth. Though fluent in French, he is not very good with English, and speaks in a quite broken, foreign-sounding manner. He is thus a popular target of Canadian comedians, impersonators, and cartoonists.

Paul Martin was Chretien's arch nemesis. A wealthy steamship line CEO from a prominent political family, Martin first entered government in Chretien's Liberal sweep of '93. Chretien made Martin his finance minster, a decision he soon regretted. Martin was far more conservative than Chretien, and represented a wing of the party that wanted to push Canada into more of a centrist direction, away from the "big government" days of the past. Though Chretien made some compromises with tax cuts and the like, the power struggle between the two men was truly epic, and from practically day one everyone in Ottawa knew Martin was after Chretien's job.

In 2002 Chretien finally fired Martin, when the backroom plotting became too blatant to bear. But Martin ultimately got the last laugh. He had been able to turn the Liberal Party against Chreiten, and rather than face defeat at the upcoming leadership review, Chretien glumly announced he would step down. Martin won the leadership of the party, and automatically became the new Prime Minister- a job many said he had been waiting his entire life to get.

In his first year in office, many Chretien-era corruption scandals involving the Liberal Party continued to dominate the headlines, causing Martin a lot of guilt-by-association. He called a late election in June of 2004, which he narrowly managed to win, though he lost a great deal of seats in the process. He held a shaky minority government for a few months, but then his government collapsed under a non confidence vote in late 2005 which forced an emergency election in which he was voted out of power.

Stephen Harper is the current Prime Minister, he was elected in the recent 2006 federal election. Though some had written him off as "unelectable" following his loss to Martin in 2004, in 2006 he was able to take advantage of a growing sense of public outrage towards Liberal corruption and narrowly won a minority government.

Harper was originally a founding member of the right-wing, grassroots-based Reform Party that rose up in opposition to the administration of Brian Mulroney and his Progressive Conservative Party. After he became leader of the Reform Party, however, Harper became a peacemaker and championed the cause of a merger with his former enemies, the PCers. Harper became the first leader of the new Conservative Party of Canada, a move that helped unite the country's once splintered right-wing vote, thereby forming a coalition competent enough to end the previous 13 years of Liberal rule.

Harper can be regarded as one of the most anti-establishment "outsider" Prime Ministers in Canadian history. He did not come from one of Canada's two main establishment political parties and was never a cabinet minister.

What do Canadians think?
Canadians are not generally very knowledgeable about their Prime Ministers. Most are probably familiar with Trudeau and Mulroney, and some will be able to name the PMs who appear on money, such as Lauerier and MacDonald, but other than that, Canada's past heads of government are largely unknown.

The nature of the office of Prime Minister is quite different from that of the American Presidency. With so many Prime Ministers holding office for a year or less, and others holding office for decades and yet achieving very little, past Prime Ministers are usually regarded as boring politicians, and not inspirational national heroes. For example, learning about the Prime Ministers is rarely something that is given much focus in school, especially in the lower grades. There is somewhat of an attempt to make John A. MacDonald into a Canadian George Washington-ish figure, but his many personal and political failings make this quite difficult.