prime ministers of Canada

There are about ten million sites on the net that could give you a list of all the prime ministers of Canada. However, the unique nature of the office merits a more comprehensive chart.

Non-Canadians hear about how we had a female prime minister, and think how lovely and progressive Canada must be to allow for such a thing. Unfortunately, Kim Campbell, along with many other prime ministers, were never popularly elected, and simply assumed the office of prime minister following the resignation of a sitting PM. They were appointed by the governing party, and not elected by the people.

In this chart, I use the term "interim" to designate prime ministers who were never elected to office by the Canadian people, and simply held their position by virtue of party appointment. Once they win an election, they cease to be interim, although sometimes that never happened.

Blue signifies the "Conservative Party" (in whatever form the party was taking at the time) and red signifies the Liberal Party, obviously. The dark colors are used to signify prime ministers who were elected to their office.

Minority Governments

There have been a few cases in which a prime minister has not founnd himself in control of the majority of MPs in the House of Commons. Such a situation is known as a "minority government" and rarely lasts long before the opposition MPs decide to turn against the PM and force a no-confidence vote. Here is a timeline of Canada's minority governments:

NOTES:

Technically, there are no such things as "terms" for Canada's prime ministers. Brian Mulroney was not a "two-term" prime minister, he was just a prime minister who was elected twice. He only took the oath of office once. For the few "interim" prime ministers who were elected in their own right, I have used the date they won election as the date they ceased to be "interim." There may be a more formal date to use, such as the day the governor general officially asks them to "form government" but for the purposes of this chart, the date of an election seems sufficient.

¹ John A. resigned in 1873, and the Governor General appointed opposition leader Alexander Mackenzie as prime minister to replace him. Mackenzie called elections shortly thereafter, which he won.

² The second term of Arthur Meighen was a bit weird. Mackenzie King's Liberal Party lost the 1925 election, earning fewer seats than the Conservatives. However, King refused to resign as prime minister, and allied his party with the Progressive Party caucus in Parliament, which gave him a narrow legislative majority. After seven months of governing, King wanted to call another election, with the intent of winning back a proper majority. The Governor General of the day refused to consent, and fired King, appointing Conservative Party Leader Arthur Meighen the new prime minister. However, despite having more seats than King, Meighen still lacked a majority and was quickly defeated in a confidence vote by the Liberals and their allies. A new election was called, and MacKenzie King was once again elected PM with a majority in Parliament. Arthur Meighen is probably Canada's least legitimate prime minister.

³ In determining the start and end of a minority governement I use the dates of election calls / no confidence votes as the end and the days of elections themselves as the start (if the PM is already the incumbent.)

CONCLUSIONS:

For starters, the prime minister's Office has absolutely no immediate mechanisms in place for what to do in the event of the sudden death of the prime minister. When the current occupant drops dead, his party's caucus has to make a mad scramble to appoint a new leader ASAP. This usually takes about a week.

The charming John Thompson remains the prime minister who ruled the longest without a public mandate (over two years). Conversely, Pierre Trudeau is the PM who remained illegitimate for the shortest period of time, calling an election almost immediately upon assuming office, and thus serving in an interim capacity for a scant two months and five days.

Of Canada's 21 prime ministers, 11 gained the position without being popularly-elected. They were either appointed by the ruling party to replace a resigning predecessor, or in Alexander Mackenzie and Arthur Meighen's case, appointed at the independent prerogative of the Governor General. Only four of those eleven (Mackenzie, St. Laurent, Trudeau, and Martin) would go on to win a federal election. Paul Martin was the only appointed PM to go on to win a minority government.

Overall, Mackenzie King was prime minister for the longest, with over 22 years in power if you add up all his dates. Wilfrid Laurier was the longest serving continual PM, with over 15 unbroken years of rule.

Charles Tupper was the shortest-serving prime minister, only two months and 10 days. He beat John Turner by a week.

Joe Clark was the shortest serving elected prime minister. But you already knew that, right?

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