Prime Ministers of Canada

This is a list of the past Prime Ministers of Canada. I have included some of their accomplishments during (and in some cases before and after where appropriate) their time in office. All of the information posted I received from a government book entitled 1867 - 1994, The Prime Ministers of Canada. If you have any questions or concerns, please e-mail them to me.

The Right Honourable Sir John A. Macdonald

Time served as PM:
1 July 1867 - 5 November 1873, 
17 October 1878 - 6 June 1891

Notes:

• First Prime Minister of Canada
• Liberal Conservative (forerunner of Progressive Conservative Party, the party adopted the name "Progressive Conservative" in 1942 after John Bracken, a member of the Progressive Party won the Conservative leadership)
• Died while still in office (6 June 1891)
  

The Honourable Alexander Mackenzie

Time served as PM: 
7 November 1873 - 9 October 1878

Notes:

• Liberal
• Created the Supreme Court in 1875
  

The Honourable Sir John Joseph Caldwell Abbott

Time served as PM: 
16 June June 1891 - 24 November 1892

Notes:

• Liberal Conservative
• The first Prime Minister to lead the country from the Senate
  

The Right Honourable Sir John Sparrow David Thompson

Time served as PM: 
5 December 1892 - 12 December 1894

Notes:

• Liberal Conservative
• Worked for the Creation of the Canadian Criminal Code (1892)
• Died while still in office
  

The Honourable Sir Mackenzie Bowell

Time served as PM: 
21 December 1894 - 27 April 1896

Notes:

• Conservative
• Second Prime Minister to lead the Country from Senate
• Supervised the collection of the new tariff duties that were the foundation of the National Policy
  

The Right Honourable Sir Charles Tupper

Time served as PM: 
1 May 1896 - 8 July 1896

Notes:

• Conservative
• Served the shortest amount of time out of all Prime Ministers
• Ministers of Railways and Canals during construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway 1884-1887, 1888-1896
  

The Right Honourable Sir Wilfrid Laurier

Time served as PM: 
11 July 1896 - 6 October 1911

Notes:

• Liberal
• Oversaw the creation of Yukon Territory, Alberta and Saskatchewan
• Oversaw Birth of the Canadian Navy
• Died while still a member of the House of Commons
  

The Right Honourable Sir Robert Laird Borden

Time served as PM: 
10 October 1911 - 12 October 1917
12 October 1917 - 10 July 1920

Notes:

• Conservative
• Leader of Canada during World War I (War Measures Act 1914, Income War Tax Act 1917, Military Service Act 1917)
• Principle Author of Resolution IX of the 1917 Imperial War Conference
• Leader of Canadian Delegation at the Paris Peace Conference 1919
  

The Right Honourable Arthur Meighen

Time served as PM: 
10 July 1920 - 29 December 1921
29 June 1926 - 25 September 1926

Notes:

• Conservative
• Introduced legislation that would create the Canadian National Railway.
• Prominent in ending the Winnipeg General Strike 1919
  

The Right Honourable William Lyon Mackenzie King

Time served as PM: 
29 December 1921 - 28 June 1926 
25 September 1926 - 7 August 1930
23 October 1935 - 15 November 1948

Notes:

• Liberal
• Served for longest amount of time as Prime Minister
• Led Canada as Prime Minister during World War II
• Unemployment Insurance 1940, Old Age Pensions 1926,
• Appointed First Woman Senator
  

The Right Honourable Richard Bedford Bennett (later Viscount)

Time served as PM: 
7 August 1930 - 23 October 1935

Notes:

• Conservative
• Oversaw the creation of the Bank of Canada 1935, Canadian Wheat Board 1935
• Later became a member of the British House of Lords as Viscount Bennett 1941-1947
  

The Right Honourable Louis St. Laurent

Time served as PM: 
15 November 1948 - 21 June 1957

Notes:

• Liberal
• Oversaw Canadian participation in Korean War 1950-1953
• Welcomed Newfoundland into Confederation in 1949
• Appointed first Canadian Born Governor General (Vincent Massey) in 1952
• Promoted Canada's membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949.
  

The Right Honourable John George Diefenbaker

Time served as PM: 
21 June 1957 - 22 April 1963

Notes:

• Conservative
• Canadian Bill of Rights 1958
• Appointed Ellen Fairclough the first woman Cabinet Minister in 1957
• Appointed James Gladstone Canada's first aboriginal senator in 1958
• Cancelled the Avro Arrow Airplane (CF-105) in 1959
  

The Right Honourable Lester Bowles Pearson

Time served as PM: 
22 April 1963 - 20 April 1968

Notes:

• Nobel Peace Prize 1957 (Peace keepers)
• Canada Pension Plan 1965
• Auto Pact with the United States in 1965
• New National Flag in 1965
  

The Right Honourable Pierre Elliot Trudeau

Time served as PM: 
20 April 1968 - 4 June 1979, 3 March 1980 - 30 June 1984

Notes:

• Liberal
• Prime Minister during the October Crisis in 1970 (implemented The War Measures Act)
• Appointed First Woman Speaker of the Senate (Muriel Mcqueen Fergusson) 1972
• Wage and Price Controls
• Appointed Jean Sauve first woman Speaker of the House of Commons
• Canadian Charter of Human Rights and Constitution Act 1982 (legal independence from Britain)
• Appointed Jean Sauve first woman Governor General in 1984
  

The Right Honourable Charles Joseph Clark

Time served as PM: 
2 June 1979 - 3 March 1980

Notes:

• Conservative
• Appointed Lincoln Alexander the first black Cabinet Minister in 1979
• Worked on Charlottetown in 1992
  

The Right Honourable John Napier Turner

Time served as PM: 
30 June 1984 - 17 September 1984

Notes:

• Liberal
• Became Prime Minister after Trudeau retired in 1984
• Oversaw Criminal Code reforms from 1968 to 1972
  

The Right Honourable Martin Brian Mulroney

Time served as PM: 
17 September 1984 - 13 June 1993

Notes:

• Progressive Conservative
• Can-US Free Trade Agreement 1988
• Oversaw Canada's participation in the Gulf War 1991
• Goods and Services Tax 1991 (GST)
• NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) 1992
• Meech Lake (Constitutional Accord) 1987, Charlottetown (Constitutional Accord) 1992
  

The Right Honourable Kim Campell

Time served as PM: 
13 June 1993 - 25 October 1993

Notes:

• Progressive Conservative
• First Woman Prime Minister of Canada
• Criminal Code Amendments (Firearms Control) 1991
  

The Right Honourable Jean Chretien

Time served as PM: 
25 October 1993 - December 2003

Notes:

• Liberal
• Entrenched the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms into the Constitution Act 1982.
• Appointed Bertha Wilson the first woman justice of the Supreme Court of Canada in 1982
  

The Right Honourable Paul Martin

Time served as PM:
December 2003 - Present

Notes:

• Liberal
• Former Minister of Finance
• Son of Paul Martin Senior, a former prominent Liberal

HOME