Prime Ministers of Canada

**This page needs visual enhancement.**
You can help All The Tropes by finding a high-quality image or video to illustrate the topic of this page.

"I hate politics, and what are considered their appropriate methods. I hate notoriety, public meetings, public speeches, caucuses and everything that I know of that is apparently the necessary incident of politics – except doing public work to the best of my ability."

—John Abbott, 12 days before becoming Prime Minster of Canada upon the death of Sir John A. Macdonald

Canada has had a wide variety of Prime Ministers since 1867, ranging from staid to flamboyant to ... well ... odd.

Sir John A. Macdonald (Liberal-Conservative, 1867-1873)
Alexander Mackenzie (Liberal, 1873-1878)
Sir John A. Macdonald (again, Liberal-Conservative, 1878-1891) - Built the transcontinental railroad. Known to be a heavy drinker; rumoured to have had gin in his water glass in the House of Commons. Died in office.
Sir John Abbott (Liberal-Conservative, 1891-1892)
Sir John Thompson (Liberal-Conservative, 1892-1894)
Sir Mackenzie Bowell (Conservative, 1894-1896)
Sir Charles Tupper (Conservative) - He held the title of Prime Minister for 69 days, but he never lead a federal Parliament.
Sir Wilfrid Laurier (Liberal, 1896-1911)
Sir Robert Borden (Conservative, 1911-1917; Unionist, 1917-1920)
Arthur Meighen (National Liberal and Conservative Party, 1920-1921)
William Lyon Mackenzie King (Liberal, 1921-1926)
Arthur Meighen (again, Conservative, 1926)
William Lyon Mackenzie King (again, Liberal, 1926-1930)
R. B. Bennett (Conservative, 1930-1935) - Had the misfortune to be Prime Minister during the beginning of the Great Depression. Best-known nowadays for "Bennett Buggies" - motorcars pulled by horses because the owners couldn't afford fuel.
William Lyon Mackenzie King (one more time, Liberal, 1935-1948) - Staid, never-married, known now (but not while he was Prime Minister) to employ mediums so he could consult dead colleagues and his dead mother.
Louis St. Laurent (Liberal, 1948-1957)
John Diefenbaker (Progressive Conservative, 1957-1963)
Lester B. Pearson (Liberal, 1963-1968)
Pierre Trudeau (Liberal, 1968-1979) - Brought Canadian Politics out of sobriety and into flamboyance. Got inflation under control. Co-founded the G7. Called out the army to deal with a terrorist group in Montreal. Yes, he was a liberal.
Joe Clark (Progressive Conservative, 1979-1980) - "Joe Who?" Took Canadian Politics right back into sobriety... but it didn't completely take. Lost a confidence motion on his very first budget.
Pierre Trudeau (Liberal, 1980-1984) - This time around, repatriated the Constitution, meaning the UK could no longer overrule Canadian laws. However, the way he did that annoyed Quebec so much that a separatist movement took hold there (and has never completely gone away).
John Turner (Liberal) - He held the title of Prime Minister for 79 days (10 days longer than Tupper), but he never lead a federal Parliament.
Brian Mulroney (Progressive Conservative, 1984-1993) - Privatized a bunch of Crown Corporations, but not all of them. Sang "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" on-stage with Ronald Reagan when they signed NAFTA. As PM, he was loved by many and hated by many. As of 2019, still working the dinner-speech circuit.
Kim Campbell (Progressive Conservative, 1993) - The first (and, as of 2019, only) female Prime Minister of Canada. Set up to fail after Mulroney read the popularity polls and resigned; the Progressive Conservatives went from a majority government to two seats in the 1993 election, splintering the right into various rump parties.
Jean Chrétien (Liberal, 1993-2003) - The Conservatives belittled his facial deformity during the election, causing him to reply "This is the face God gave me," giving him the sympathy vote. Didn't need sympathy to get re-elected. Is a member of the Order of Merit.
Paul Martin (Liberal, 2003-2006) - A competent leader... and that's about all anyone remembers.
Stephen Harper (Conservative, 2006-2015) - Pulled the splintered right-of-centre political parties back together and pulled the political pendulum back from the left. By the end, he'd pulled the pendulum too far to the right for most people's comfort - which gave Canada a short grace period before right-wing populism started becoming attractive in the country.
Justin Trudeau (Liberal, 2015- ) - As of July 2019, the incumbent. Pierre Trudeau's son. Best known as... Pierre Trudeau's son. Has been portrayed on The Simpsons.