Prime Minister of Canada

The position of prime minister is not outlined in any Canadian constitutional document and is mentioned only in a few sections of the Constitution Act, 1982,{{citation| url=http://www.pco-bcp.gc.ca/aia/index.asp?lang=eng&page=canada&sub=constitution&doc=constitution-eng.htm| url-status=dead| author=Privy Council Office| author-link=Privy Council Office (Canada)| title=Intergovernmental Affairs > About Canada > The Canadian Constitution| publisher=Queen's Printer for Canada| accessdate=June 7, 2010| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140227162006/http://www.pco-bcp.gc.ca/aia/index.asp?lang=eng&page=canada&sub=constitution&doc=constitution-eng.htm| archive-date=February 27, 2014}}{{Cite web|url=https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/const/page-13.html#h-53|title=Consolidated federal laws of canada, THE CONSTITUTION ACTS, 1867 to 1982|first=Legislative Services|last=Branch|date=August 7, 2020|website=laws-lois.justice.gc.ca}} and in the Letters Patent, 1947 issued by King George VI.{{citation| url=http://www.solon.org/Constitutions/Canada/English/LettersPatent.html| author=George VI| author-link=George VI| title=Letters Patent Constituting the Office of Governor General of Canada| chapter=I| date=October 1, 1947| publisher=King's Printer for Canada| location=Ottawa| accessdate=May 29, 2009}} The office and its functions are instead governed by constitutional conventions and modelled on the same office in the United Kingdom.

In 2008, a public opinion survey showed that 51% of Canadians believed they voted to directly elect the prime minister.{{refn|{{citation| url=https://www.constitutionalstudies.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/22.1-Full-Issue.pdf| editor-last1=Lagassé| editor-first1=Philippe| editor-last2=MacDonald| editor-first2=Nicholas A.| title=The Crown in the 21st Century| last1=Cyr| first1=Hugo| series=On the Formation of Government| page=105| volume=22| issue=1| year=2017| publisher=Centre for Constitutional Studies| location=Edmonton| accessdate=June 6, 2023}}{{cite web |title=Survey suggests Canadians ignorant of government system |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/survey-suggests-canadians-ignorant-of-government-system-1.751002 |website=CBC News |date=2008-12-14 |accessdate=June 6, 2023}}}} In fact, the prime minister, along with the other ministers in Cabinet, is appointed by the governor general on behalf of the monarch.{{citation| url=http://www.gg.ca/media/fs-fd/P1_e.asp| url-status=dead| author=Office of the Governor General of Canada| title=Media > Fact Sheets > The Swearing-In of a New Ministry| publisher=Queen's Printer for Canada| accessdate=May 18, 2009| archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20080616012920/http://www.gg.ca/media/fs-fd/P1_e.asp| archive-date=June 16, 2008}} By the conventions of responsible government, the foundation of parliamentary democracy, the governor general will call to form a government the individual most likely to receive the support, or confidence, of a majority of the directly elected members of the House of Commons;{{citation| last=Pothen| first=Phil| title=Disinformation as a Back Door to 'Constitutional Revolution' in Canada| url=http://www.oba.org/En/ccl_en/newsletter_en/v13n1.aspx#Article_3| year=2009| place=Toronto| publisher=Ontario Bar Association| accessdate=September 13, 2010}} as a practical matter, this is often the leader of the party, or a coalition of parties,{{Harvnb| Brooks| 2007| p=235}}{{citation| url=https://globalnews.ca/news/6054421/experts-scheer-claims-forming-government/| url-status=live| last=Bryden| first=Joan| title='Complete nonsense': Experts dispute Scheer's claims about forming government| date=October 19, 2019| publisher=Global News| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191021114342/https://globalnews.ca/news/6054421/experts-scheer-claims-forming-government/| archive-date=October 21, 2019}} whose members form a majority, or a very large plurality, of seats in the House of Commons.{{citation| url=http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Sites/LOP/AboutParliament/Forsey/PDFs/How_Canadians_Govern_Themselves-6ed.pdf| url-status=dead| last=Forsey| first=Eugene| author-link=Eugene Forsey| title=How Canadians Govern Themselves| pages=3–4| edition=6| year=2005| publisher=Queen's Printer for Canada| place=Ottawa| isbn=0-662-39689-8| accessdate=December 9, 2009| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091229155255/http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Sites/LOP/AboutParliament/Forsey/PDFs/How_Canadians_Govern_Themselves-6ed.pdf| archive-date=December 29, 2009}} No document is needed to begin the appointment; both the invitation and acceptance are usually oral.{{citation| url=https://jameswjbowden.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/6-governor-general.pdf| author=Government of Canada| title=Governor General| page=147| year=1970| publisher=WordPress| accessdate=14 March 2024}}

A prime minister who has given intention to resign may advise the governor general on whom to appoint as the next prime minister. However, if the prime minister is resigning because he has lost the confidence of the House of Commons, the viceroy is not obligated to follow that advice. If the leader of the opposition is unable or unwilling to form a government,{{NoteTag|When Prime Minister John A. Macdonald died in office in 1891, Governor General the Lord Stanley of Preston approached John Thompson to form a government. But Thompson declined and instead advised Stanley to call on Senator John Abbott. Ahead of Prime Minister Mackenzie Bowell's resignation in 1896, Donald Smith turned down the offer to be the next head of government, leading Governor General the Earl of Aberdeen to appoint Charles Tupper as prime minister. Robert Borden announced his intention to resign as prime minister in 1920. Thomas White was summoned by Governor General the Viscount Byng of Vimy and rejected the appointment as prime minister. Byng then installed Arthur Meighen as his chief advisor.{{harvnb| Government of Canada| 1970| p=146}}}} the governor general can consult whomever they wish.

While there is no legal requirement for the prime minister to be an MP, for practical and political reasons the prime minister is expected to win a seat very promptly.{{Cite web |last=Forsey |first=Eugene |date=March 2012 |title=How Canadians Govern Themselves > The Prime Minister |url=http://www.parl.gc.ca/about/parliament/senatoreugeneforsey/book/chapter_6-e.html#6_5 |access-date=November 26, 2015 |publisher=Queen's Printer for Canada}} However, in rare circumstances individuals who are not sitting members of the House of Commons have been appointed to the position of prime minister. Two former prime ministers—John Joseph Caldwell Abbott and Mackenzie Bowell—served in the 1890s while members of the Senate.{{Harvnb|Forsey|2005|p=38}} Both, in their roles as government leader in the Senate, succeeded prime ministers who had died in office—John A. Macdonald in 1891 and John Sparrow David Thompson in 1894.

File:John A Macdonald (ca. 1875).jpg, the first prime minister of Canada (1867–1873, 1878–1891)]]

Prime ministers who are not MPs upon their appointment (or who lose their seats while in office) have since been expected to seek election to the House of Commons as soon as possible. For example, William Lyon Mackenzie King, after losing his seat in the 1925 federal election and again in the 1945 Canadian federal election (despite his party being elected government both times), briefly governed without a seat in the House of Commons on both occasions before winning a by-election a few weeks later. Similarly, John Turner replaced Pierre Trudeau as leader of the Liberal Party in 1984 and subsequently was appointed prime minister while not holding a seat in the House of Commons; Turner won a riding in the next election but the Liberal Party was swept from power.

When a prime minister loses their seat in the legislature, or should a new prime minister be appointed without holding a seat, the typical process that follows is that a member in the governing political party will resign to allow the prime minister to run in the resulting by-election. A safe seat is usually chosen; while the Liberal and Conservative parties generally observed a practice of not running a candidate against another party's new leader in the by-election, the New Democratic Party and smaller political parties typically do not follow the same practice.{{Cite web |last=Grenier |first=Éric |date=July 12, 2018 |title=NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh won't have a free pass if he runs in a byelection |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/grenier-singh-byelection-1.4742487 |website=CBC News}} However, if the governing party selects a new leader shortly before an election is due, and that new leader is not a member of the legislature, they will normally await the upcoming election before running for a seat in Parliament.

{{Further|List of prime ministers of Canada by time in office#Calculation of terms of office}}

The prime minister serves at His Majesty's pleasure, meaning the post does not have a fixed term, and once appointed and sworn in by the governor general, the prime minister remains in office until they resign, are dismissed, or die.{{Harvnb| Forsey|2005|p=5}}

While the lifespan of a parliament is constitutionally limited to five years, a 2007 amendment to the Canada Elections Act, Section 56.1(2) limited the term of a Parliament to four years, with election day being set as the third Monday in October of the fourth calendar year after the previous polling date.{{Cite web |last=Branch |first=Legislative Services |title=Consolidated federal laws of Canada, Canada Elections Act |url=http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/E-2.01/index.html |access-date=November 17, 2017 |website=laws-lois.justice.gc.ca}} The governor general may still, on the advice of the prime minister, dissolve parliament and issue the writs of election prior to the date mandated by the constitution or Canada Elections Act; the King–Byng Affair was the only time since Confederation that the governor general refused the prime minister's request for a general vote.

Following parliamentary dissolution, should the prime minister's party subsequently win a majority of seats in the House of Commons, it is unnecessary to re-appoint the prime minister or for the prime minister to retake the oath of office. If, however, an opposition party wins a majority of seats, the prime minister may resign or choose to meet Parliament to see if the incumbent government can win a confidence vote. Should the prime minister's party achieve a minority while an opposition party wins a plurality (i.e., more seats than any other party but less than a majority), the prime minister can attempt to maintain the confidence of the House by forming a coalition with other minority parties, which was last entertained in 1925 or by entering into a confidence-and-supply agreement, or by winning support of other parties on a vote-by-vote basis.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

{{Further|King's Privy Council for Canada}}

File:Prime Ministers of Canada to 1963.jpg

Because the prime minister is, in practice, the most politically powerful member of the Canadian government, they are sometimes erroneously thought to be Canada's head of state,{{NoteTag|A 2008 Ipsos-Reid poll found 42% of respondents thought the prime minister was head of state.{{Citation |title=In the Wake of Constitutional Crisis: New Survey Demonstrates that Canadians Lack Basic Understanding of Our Country's Parliamentary System |date=December 15, 2008 |url=http://www.dominion.ca/DominionInstituteDecember15Factum.pdf |page=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081216053714/http://www.dominion.ca/DominionInstituteDecember15Factum.pdf |place=Toronto |publisher=Ipsos Reid |access-date=May 18, 2010 |archive-date=2008-12-16 |url-status=dead}}|name=IRpoll}} when, in fact, that role belongs to the Canadian monarch, represented by the governor general.{{Cite web |last=Library and Archives Canada |author-link=Library and Archives Canada |title=First Among Equals: The Prime Minister in Canadian Life and Politics > Alone at the Top > Head of State |url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/primeministers/h4-2013-e.html |access-date=January 18, 2010 |publisher=Queen's Printer for Canada}} The prime minister is, instead, the head of government and is responsible for advising the Crown on how to exercise much of the royal prerogative and its executive powers, which are governed by the written constitution and constitutional conventions. However, the function of the prime minister has evolved with increasing power. Today, per the doctrines of constitutional monarchy, the advice given by the prime minister is ordinarily binding, meaning the prime minister effectively carries out those duties ascribed to the sovereign or governor general, leaving the latter to act in predominantly ceremonial fashions.{{Harvnb| Brooks|2007|pp=233–235}} As such, the prime minister, supported by the Office of the Prime Minister (PMO), controls the appointments of many key figures in Canada's system of governance, including the governor general, the Cabinet, justices of the Supreme Court, senators, heads of Crown corporations, ambassadors and high commissioners, the provincial lieutenant governors, and approximately 3,100 other positions. Further, the prime minister plays a prominent role in the legislative process—with the majority of bills put before Parliament originating in the Cabinet.

File:WilliamLyonMackenzieKing.jpg, the 10th prime minister of Canada (1921–1926; 1926–1930; 1935–1948)]]

Pierre Trudeau is often credited with, throughout his tenure as prime minister (1968–79, 1980–84), consolidating power in the PMO,{{Cite news |last=Geddes |first=John |date=January 25, 2009 |title=Will the prorogation of Parliament set off a populist revolt? |work=Maclean's |publisher=Kenneth Whyte |location=Toronto |url=http://www.macleans.ca/2010/01/25/the-people-speak/ |access-date=January 27, 2010 |issn=0024-9262}} which is itself filled by political and administrative staff selected at the prime minister's discretion and unaccountable to Parliament. At the end of the 20th century and into the 21st, analysts—such as Jeffrey Simpson,{{Cite book |last=Simpson |first=Jeffrey |url=https://archive.org/details/friendlydictator0000simp/page/248 |title=The Friendly Dictatorship |publisher=McClelland & Stewart |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-7710-8079-1 |location=Toronto |page=[https://archive.org/details/friendlydictator0000simp/page/248 248] |author-link=Jeffrey Simpson |url-access=registration}} Donald Savoie, Andrew Coyne,{{cite news |title=Liberals' idea for gender quota in Cabinet leaves out the principle of merit |url=http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/andrew-coyne-liberals-idea-for-gender-quota-in-cabinet-leaves-out-the-principle-of-merit |date=2015-06-30 |work=National Post |last1=Coyne |first1=Andrew |access-date=June 30, 2015}} and John Gomery—argued that both Parliament and the Cabinet had become eclipsed by prime ministerial power;{{NoteTag|See note 2 at Cabinet of Canada.|name=BNA}}{{Harvnb| Brooks|2007|p=258}} Savoie wrote: "The Canadian prime minister has little in the way of institutional check, at least inside government, to inhibit his ability to have his way."{{Cite book |last=Savoie |first=Donald |title=Governing from the Centre: The Concentration of Power in Canadian Politics |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-8020-8252-7 |location=Toronto |page=362}} Indeed, the position has been described as undergoing a "presidentialization",{{cite news |title=Time to address democratic deficit |url=https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/article/756262--time-to-address-democratic-deficit |date=2010-01-27 |work=Toronto Star |access-date=January 27, 2010}} to the point that its incumbents publicly outshine the actual head of state (and prime minister's spouses are sometimes referred to as First Lady of Canada{{cite web |title=The Prime Minister's Wife: What Is Her Title, Exactly? |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/11/04/prime-minister-wife-sophie-gregoire_n_8464096.html |date=2015-11-04 |last1=Zamon |first1=Rebecca |access-date=June 3, 2017 |newspaper=The Huffington Post}}{{Citation |last=Alberici |first=Emma |title='I need help': Why did Canada's first lady spark such a backlash? |date=May 18, 2016 |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-19/alberici-why-did-canadas-first-lady-spark-such-a-backlash/7428228 |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=June 3, 2017}}).{{Cite news |last=Jackson |first=Michael D. |year=2009 |title=The Senior Realms of the Queen |volume=Autumn 2009 |page=10 |work=Canadian Monarchist News |publisher=Monarchist League of Canada |issue=30 |location=Toronto |url=http://www.monarchist.ca/cmn/2009/Autumn_2009_CMN.pdf |url-status=dead |access-date=January 17, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091229100400/http://www.monarchist.ca/cmn/2009/Autumn_2009_CMN.pdf |archive-date=December 29, 2009}}{{Cite book |last=Blair |first=Louisa |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xyNlYxdpdfcC |title=Vive Quebec!: new thinking and new approaches to the Quebec nation |publisher=James Lorimer & Company |year=2001 |isbn=978-1-55028-734-9 |editor-last=Venne |editor-first=Michel |location=Toronto |page=91}} Former governor general Adrienne Clarkson alluded to what she saw as "an unspoken rivalry" that had developed between the prime minister and the Crown.{{cite news |title=Keep the Queen and choose another head of state |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/keep-the-queen-and-choose-another-head-of-state/article1529705/singlepage/ |date=2010-04-09 |work=The Globe and Mail |last1=Franks |first1=C.E.S. |access-date=January 23, 2011}} It has been theorized that such is the case in Canada as its Parliament is less influential on the executive than in other countries with Westminster parliamentary systems; particularly, Canada has fewer MPs, a higher turnover rate of MPs after each election, and a US-style system for selecting political party leaders, leaving them accountable to the party membership rather than caucus (as is the case in the UK).{{cite news |title=Only in Canada: Harper's prorogation is a Canadian thing |url=https://nationalpost.com/story.html?id=2446705 |date=2010-01-15 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20100118165801/http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=2446705 |archive-date=2010-01-18 |url-status=dead |work=National Post |last1=Foot |first1=Richard |access-date=January 16, 2010}}

There do exist checks on the prime minister's power: the House of Commons may revoke its confidence in an incumbent prime minister and Cabinet or caucus revolts can quickly bring down a serving premier and even mere threats of such action can persuade or compel a prime minister to resign their post, as happened with Jean Chrétien. The Reform Act, 2014,{{Citation |last=Parliament of Canada |title=Bill C-586 |date=June 23, 2015 |url=http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&DocId=8058690 |publisher=Queen's Printer for Canada |access-date=June 2, 2015}} codifies the process by which a caucus may trigger a party leadership review and, if necessary, chose an interim leader, thereby making a prime minister more accountable to the MPs in one's party. Caucuses may choose to follow these rules, though the decision would be made by recorded vote, thereby subjecting the party's choice to public scrutiny.{{cite news |title=Thanks to the Senate, I've finally come around to liking the Reform Act |url=http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/chris-selley-thanks-to-the-senate-ive-finally-come-around-to-liking-the-reform-act |date=2015-05-28 |work=National Post |last1=Selley |first1=Chris |access-date=June 2, 2015}}

The Senate may delay or impede legislation put forward by the Cabinet, such as when Brian Mulroney's bill creating the Goods and Services Tax (GST) came before the Senate, and given Canada's federal nature, the jurisdiction of the federal government is limited to areas prescribed by the constitution. Further, as executive power is constitutionally vested in the monarch, meaning the royal prerogative belongs to the Crown and not to any of its ministers,{{Citation |last=MacLeod |first=Kevin S. |title=A Crown of Maples |url=http://www.pch.gc.ca/pgm/ceem-cced/fr-rf/crnCdn/crn_mpls-eng.pdf |page=16 |year=2008 |edition=1 |place=Ottawa |publisher=Queen's Printer for Canada |isbn=978-0-662-46012-1 |access-date=June 21, 2009 |author-link=Kevin S. MacLeod}}{{Cite journal |last=Cox |first=Noel |date=September 2002 |title=Black v Chrétien: Suing a Minister of the Crown for Abuse of Power, Misfeasance in Public Office and Negligence |url=http://www.murdoch.edu.au/elaw/issues/v9n3/cox93.html |journal=Murdoch University Electronic Journal of Law |location=Perth |publisher=Murdoch University |volume=9 |issue=3 |page=12 |access-date=May 17, 2009}}{{Cite magazine |last=Neitsch |first=Alfred Thomas |year=2008 |title=A Tradition of Vigilance: The Role of Lieutenant Governor in Alberta |url=http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Sites/LOP/Infoparl/30/4/30n4_07e_Neitsch.pdf |url-status=dead |magazine=Canadian Parliamentary Review |location=Ottawa |publisher=Commonwealth Parliamentary Association |volume=30 |issue=4 |pages=23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025113652/http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Sites/LOP/Infoparl/30/4/30n4_07e_Neitsch.pdf |archive-date=October 25, 2012 |access-date=May 22, 2009}} the sovereign's supremacy over the prime minister in the constitutional order is thus seen as a "rebuff to the pretensions of the elected: As it has been said, when the prime minister bows before the queen, he bows before us [the Canadian people]."{{Cite news |last=Coyne |first=Andrew |author-link=Andrew Coyne |date=November 13, 2009 |title=Defending the royals |work=Maclean's |publisher=Rogers Communications |location=Toronto |url=https://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/defending-the-royals/ |access-date=April 9, 2020 |issn=0024-9262}}{{cite web |title=A lightning rod for patriotic love |url=http://andrewcoyne.com/columns/NationalPost/2002/20020410.html |website=National Post |date=2002-04-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060523040653/http://andrewcoyne.com/columns/NationalPost/2002/20020410.html |archive-date=2006-05-23 |url-status=dead |last1=Coyne |first1=Andrew |access-date=May 22, 2006 |author-link=Andrew Coyne}} Either the sovereign or the governor general may therefore oppose the prime minister's will in extreme, crisis situations.{{NoteTag|See "Responsibilities" and note 1 at Cabinet of Canada.|name=RP}} Near the end of her time as governor general, Adrienne Clarkson stated: "My constitutional role has lain in what are called 'reserve powers': making sure that there is a prime minister and a government in place, and exercising the right 'to encourage, to advise, and to warn'[...] Without really revealing any secrets, I can tell you that I have done all three."{{Cite news |date=September 14, 2005 |title=GG reflects on mandate during farewell address |publisher=CTV |url=http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1126719024327_33?hub=TopStories |url-status=dead |access-date=August 8, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013001953/http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1126719024327_33?hub=TopStories |archive-date=October 13, 2007}}

File:Residence of the Prime Minister of Canada.jpg, the official residence of the prime minister of Canada]]

Two official residences are provided to the prime minister—24 Sussex Drive in Ottawa and Harrington Lake, a country retreat in Gatineau Park—as well an office in the Office of the Prime Minister and Privy Council building (formerly known as Langevin Block), across from Parliament Hill.{{Cite web |last=Privy Council Office |author-link=Privy Council Office (Canada) |title=Did You Know > The Langevin Block from Yesterday to Today |url=http://www.pco-bcp.gc.ca/index.asp?lang=eng&page=dyk-svq&doc=archive%2Flangevin%2Fdyk-svq-eng.htm |access-date=January 17, 2010 |publisher=Queen's Printer for Canada |archive-date=May 22, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130522200854/http://www.pco-bcp.gc.ca/index.asp?lang=eng&page=dyk-svq&doc=archive%2Flangevin%2Fdyk-svq-eng.htm |url-status=dead }}

For transportation, the prime minister is afforded an armoured car (a car allowance of $2,000 per year) and shared use of two official aircraft—a Airbus CC-330 Husky for international flights and a Bombardier CC-144 Challenger for domestic trips. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police also furnish constant personal security for the prime minister and their family. All of the aforementioned is provided through budgets approved by Parliament.

As of April 2024, the prime minister's annual salary is $406,200{{Cite web |date= June 15, 2022|title=Political Salaries – What the world pays its politicians – Leaders |url=https://politicalsalaries.com/leaders/ |access-date=2024-11-19 |language=en-US}} (consisting of an MP's salary of $203,100 and the prime minister's additional salary of $203,100).{{Cite web |title=Indemnities, Salaries and Allowances |url=https://lop.parl.ca/sites/ParlInfo/default/en_CA/People/Salaries |access-date=2024-11-19 |website=lop.parl.ca}}

Serving or former prime ministers are accorded a state funeral, wherein their casket lies in state in the Centre Block of Parliament Hill.{{Cite web |last=State Funerals in Canada |title=Frequently Asked Questions on State Funerals in Canada |url=http://www.commemoration.gc.ca/cntct/index-eng.cfm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091227080756/http://www.commemoration.gc.ca/cntct/index-eng.cfm |archive-date=December 27, 2009 |access-date=December 10, 2009 |publisher=Queen's Printer for Canada}} Only Bowell and the Viscount Bennett were given private funerals, Bennett also being the only former prime minister of Canada to die and be buried outside the country and Bowell the only whose funeral was not attended by politicians. John Thompson also died outside Canada, at Windsor Castle, where Queen Victoria permitted his lying-in-state before his body was returned to Canada for a state funeral in Halifax.{{cite DCB |last=Waite |first=P.B. |title=Thompson, Sir John Sparrow David |volume=XII |url = http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/thompson_john_sparrow_david_12E.html }}

File:Heraldic mark of the Prime Minister of Canada.svg, applied to the arms of prime ministers]]

Prior to 1919, it was traditional for the monarch to bestow a knighthood on newly appointed Canadian prime ministers. Accordingly, several carried the prefix Sir before their name; of the first eight prime ministers of Canada, only Alexander Mackenzie refused the honour of a knighthood from Queen Victoria. Following the 1919 Nickle Resolution, however, the House of Commons declared that it should be against the policy of the Canadian Sovereign (and the Canadian government advising the Monarch when such honours are not within the Monarch's personal gift) to bestow aristocratic or chivalric titles to Canadians. The Crown in right of Canada (but not the Crown in right of the United Kingdom, which has periodically bestowed such Imperial honours on such citizens) has since adopted this policy generally, such that the last prime minister to be knighted near appointment was Robert Borden, who was the prime minister at the time the Nickle Resolution was debated in the House of Commons (and was knighted before the resolution). Still, Bennett was, in 1941, six years after he stepped down as prime minister, elevated to the peerage of the United Kingdom by King George VI as Viscount Bennett, of Mickleham in the County of Surrey and of Calgary and Hopewell in Canada.{{Cite web |last=Library of Parliament |author-link=Library of Parliament |title=Federal Government > Prime Ministers of Canada > Biographical Informarion > BENNETT, The Right Hon. Richard Bedford, P.C., K.C., K.G.St.J., LL.B. |url=http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Parlinfo/Files/Parliamentarian.aspx?Item=b9296f13-96f7-4c62-a577-63a5fc91ac2f&Language=E&Section=ALL |access-date=December 10, 2009 |publisher=Queen's Printer for Canada}}[http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/35225/pages/4213/page.pdf] The London Gazette, July 22, 1941. No prime minister has since been titled.

The Canadian Heraldic Authority (CHA) grants former prime ministers an augmentation of honour on the coat of arms of those who apply for them. The heraldic badge, referred to by the CHA as the mark of the Prime Ministership of Canada,{{Cite web |title=Clark, Rt. Hon. Charles Joseph |url=http://www.heraldry.ca/arms/c/clark.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110613183301/http://www.heraldry.ca/arms/c/clark.htm |archive-date=June 13, 2011 |access-date=May 27, 2011 |publisher=Royal Heraldry Society of Canada}} consists of four red maple leaves joined at the stem on a white field (Argent four maple leaves conjoined in cross at the stem Gules); the augmentation is usually a canton or centred in the chief.{{Cite web |title=Trudeau, Rt. Hon. Pierre Elliot |url=http://www.heraldry.ca/arms/t/trudeau.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515194632/http://www.heraldry.ca/arms/t/trudeau.htm |archive-date=May 15, 2011 |access-date=May 27, 2011 |publisher=Royal Heraldry Society of Canada}}{{Cite web |title=Turner, Rt. Hon. John Napier |url=http://www.heraldry.ca/arms/t/turner_j.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110613184219/http://www.heraldry.ca/arms/t/turner_j.htm |archive-date=June 13, 2011 |access-date=May 27, 2011 |publisher=Royal Heraldry Society of Canada}}{{Cite web |title=Mulroney, Rt. Hon. Martin Brian |url=http://www.heraldry.ca/arms/m/mulroney.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706182717/http://heraldry.ca/arms/m/mulroney.htm |archive-date=July 6, 2011 |access-date=May 27, 2011 |publisher=Royal Heraldry Society of Canada}}{{Cite web |title=Campbell, Rt. Hon. Kim, PC |url=http://www.heraldry.ca/arms/c/campbell_k.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110613154100/http://www.heraldry.ca/arms/c/campbell_k.htm |archive-date=June 13, 2011 |access-date=May 27, 2011 |publisher=Royal Heraldry Society of Canada}} Joe Clark, Pierre Trudeau, John Turner, Brian Mulroney, Kim Campbell, Jean Chrétien{{Cite web |last=General |first=The Office of the Secretary to the Governor |date=November 12, 2020 |title=Chrétien, Joseph Jacques Jean [Individual] |url=https://reg.gg.ca/heraldry/pub-reg/project-pic.asp?lang=e&ProjectID=2930&ProjectElementID=10301 |website=reg.gg.ca}} and Paul Martin{{cite web |title=Paul Edgar Phillippe Martin |url=https://www.gg.ca/en/heraldry/public-register/project/2449 |website=The Governor General of Canada |publisher=Canadian Heraldic Authority |accessdate=29 November 2022 |date=August 15, 2013}} were granted arms with the augmentation.

File:Kim Campbell.jpg, the 19th prime minister of Canada (1993) and only female and British Columbia–born person to hold the office]]

Canada continues the Westminster tradition of using the title Prime Minister when one is speaking to the federal head of government directly; the Department of Canadian Heritage advises that the term Mr. Prime Minister should not be used in official contexts.{{Cite web |last=Department of Canadian Heritage |date=October 16, 2017 |title=Styles of address |url=https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/protocol-guidelines-special-event/styles-address.html |access-date=April 10, 2020 |publisher=Queen's Printer for Canada}} The written form of address for the prime minister should use their full parliamentary title: The Right Honourable [name], [post-nominal letters], Prime Minister of Canada. However, while in the House of Commons during Question Period, other members of parliament may address the prime minister as the Right Honourable Member for [prime minister's riding] or simply the Right Honourable Prime Minister.{{Cite web |last=Department of Canadian Heritage |author-link=Department of Canadian Heritage |title=Ceremonial and Canadian Symbols Promotion > Styles of address — Federal dignitaries |url=http://www.pch.gc.ca/pgm/ceem-cced/prtcl/address2-eng.cfm |access-date=January 24, 2010 |publisher=Queen's Printer for Canada}} Former prime ministers retain the prefix the Right Honourable for the remainder of their lives; should they remain sitting MPs, they may be referred as the Right Honourable Member for [member's riding], by their portfolio title (if appointed to one), as in the Right Honourable Minister of National Defence, or should they become opposition leader, as the Right Honourable Leader of the Opposition.

In the decades following Confederation, it was common practice to refer to the prime minister as Premier of Canada,{{Cite news |date=1893-03-12 |title=Canada's Premier Talks; Attitude of the Dominion on the Seal Question |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9D05E1DB1731E033A25751C1A9659C94629ED7CF |url-access=subscription |access-date=January 25, 2010 |work=The New York Times |page=9}}{{Cite book |last=Grand Lodge of Canada |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FqwqAAAAMAAJ&q=%22premier+of+canada%22&pg=RA2-PA15 |title=Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free, & Accepted Masons of Canada |publisher=Spectator Printing Co. |year=1884 |location=Hamilton |page=15 |access-date=January 25, 2010}}{{Cite magazine |last=Hopkins |first=J. Castell |year=1901 |title=The Proposed Union of Canada with Newfoundland |url=http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/nfldhistory/1901proposedunion.htm |magazine=The Canadian Annual Review of Public Affairs |location=Toronto |publisher=The Annual Review Publishing Company |volume=1902 |pages=449–453 |access-date=January 25, 2010}} a custom that continued during the First World War, around the time of Robert Borden's premiership.{{Cite news |date=1916-11-21 |title=Premier Pledges Canada to Fight Until War is Won |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9902EEDB1F3FE233A25752C2A9679D946796D6CF |url-access=subscription |access-date=January 25, 2010 |work=The New York Times |page=1}}{{Cite news |year=1914 |title=The Santa Fe magazine, Volume 9 |volume=9 |page=44 |work=The Santa Fe |publisher=Santa Fe Magazine |location=Santa Fe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HfHNAAAAMAAJ&q=%22premier+of+canada%22 |access-date=January 25, 2010 |issn=0036-4541}}{{Cite journal |last=Freshfield |first=A. C. Haddon |date=May 1913 |title=The Distribution of Human and Animal Life in Western Arctic America |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1449288 |journal=The Geographical Journal |location=Oxford |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |volume=41 |issue=5 |pages=459–460 |doi=10.2307/1778163 |issn=0016-7398 |jstor=1778163}} While contemporary sources will still speak of early prime ministers of Canada as premier,{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2010 |title=Sir John Sparrow David Thompson |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/592993/SIr-John-Thompson |access-date=January 25, 2010}}{{Cite web |last=Library and Archives Canada |author-link=Library and Archives Canada |date=June 25, 2008 |title=Politics and Government > Sir John A. Macdonald > The Opponents |url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/sir-john-a-macdonald/023013-4000-e.html |access-date=January 25, 2010 |publisher=Queen's Printer for Canada}}{{Cite web |last=Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland |title=John Alexander MacDonald |url=http://www.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=000-000-202-908-C |access-date=January 25, 2010 |publisher=Queen's Printer}} the modern practice is such that the federal head of government is known almost exclusively as the prime minister, while the provincial and territorial heads of government are termed premiers (in French, premiers are addressed as {{lang|fr|premier ministre du [province]}}, literally translated as prime minister of [province]).

File:Lester Pearson at Constellation Hotel (50540638176).jpg ]]

After exiting office, former prime ministers of Canada have engaged in various pursuits. Some remained in politics: Bowell continued as a senator, and Bennett moved to the United Kingdom after being elevated to the House of Lords.{{cite DCB |last=Waite |first=P.B. |title=Bennett, Richard Bedford, 1st Viscount Bennett |volume=17 |url = http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/bennett_richard_bedford_17E.html }} A number were leaders of the Official Opposition: John A. Macdonald, Arthur Meighen, Mackenzie King,{{cite DCB|authorlink1=H. Blair Neatby |last=Neatby |first=H. Blair |title=King, William Lyon Mackenzie |volume=17 |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/king_william_lyon_mackenzie_17E.html}} and Pierre Trudeau, all before being re-appointed as prime minister (Mackenzie King twice); Alexander Mackenzie and John Diefenbaker, both prior to sitting as regular Members of Parliament until their deaths;{{cite DCB |last=Smith |first=Dennis |title=Diefenbaker, John George |volume=20 |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/diefenbaker_john_george_20E.html}} Wilfrid Laurier dying while still in the post;{{cite DCB |last=Bélanger |first=Réal |title=Laurier, Sir Wilfrid |volume=14 |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/laurier_wilfrid_14E.html}} and Charles Tupper,{{cite DCB |last=Buckner |first=Phillip |title=Tupper, Sir Charles |volume=14|url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/tupper_charles_14E.html}} Louis St. Laurent,{{cite DCB |last=Bothwell |first=Robert |title=St. Laurent, Louis |volume=20 |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/st_laurent_louis_stephen_20E.html}} and John Turner, each before they returned to private business. Meighen was also appointed to the Senate following his second period as prime minister, but resigned his seat to seek re-election and moved to private enterprise after failing to win a riding.{{cite DCB |last=Glassford |first=Larry A. |title=Meighen, Arthur |volume=18 |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/meighen_arthur_18E.html }} Also returning to civilian life were: Robert Borden, who was Chancellor of Queen's and McGill Universities, as well as working in the financial sector; Lester B. Pearson, who was Chancellor of Carleton University;{{cite DCB |last=English |first=John |title=Pearson, Lester Bowles |volume=20 |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/pearson_lester_bowles_20E.html }} Joe Clark and Kim Campbell, who were university lecturers, Clark also consultant and Campbell working in international diplomacy and as the director of private companies and chairperson of interest groups; while Pierre Trudeau and Jean Chrétien returned to legal practice.{{cite DCB |last=English |first=John |title=Trudeau, Pierre Elliott |volume=22 |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/trudeau_pierre_elliott_22E.html}} Former prime ministers also commonly penned autobiographies—Tupper, for example—or published their memoirs—such as Diefenbaker and Paul Martin.

{{portal|border=no|Canada|Politics}}

• Historical rankings of prime ministers of Canada
• List of prime ministers of Canada
• List of prime ministers of Canada by time in office
• List of prime ministers of Canada by religious affiliation
• List of books about prime ministers of Canada
• Prime ministers of Canada in popular culture
• Spouse of the prime minister of Canada

{{NoteFoot}}

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

{{further|List of books about prime ministers of Canada}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book | last=Brodie | first=I. | title=At the Centre of Government: The Prime Minister and the Limits on Political Power | publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press | year=2018 | isbn=978-0-7735-5378-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_NNZDwAAQBAJ}}
• {{cite book | last=Coucill | first=I. | title=Canada's Prime Ministers, Governors General and Fathers of Confederation | publisher=Pembroke Publishers | year=2005 | isbn=978-1-55138-185-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wlFJPQHUY5UC}}
• {{cite book | last=Dutil | first=P. | title=Prime Ministerial Power in Canada: Its Origins under Macdonald, Laurier, and Borden | publisher=UBC Press | series=The C.D. Howe Series in Canadian Political History | year=2017 | isbn=978-0-7748-3476-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z3AlDwAAQBAJ&pg=PP1 }}
• {{cite book | last=Donaldson | first=G. | title=The Prime Ministers of Canada | publisher=Doubleday Canada | year=1994 | isbn=978-0-385-25454-0}}
• {{cite book | last1=English | first1=J.R. | last2=Dutil | first2=P. | title=Statesmen, Strategists and Diplomats: Canada's Prime Ministers and the Making of Foreign Policy | publisher=University of British Columbia Press | series=The C. D. Howe Series in Canadian Political History Series | year=2023 | isbn=978-0-7748-6855-6 }}
• {{cite book | last=Schlee | first=Gary | title=Unknown and unforgettable : a guide to Canada's Prime Ministers | publication-place=Toronto, Ontario, Canada | date=2018 | isbn=978-1-7753780-0-6 | oclc=1108336247 |publisher=Shorelawn Publishing }}
• {{cite book | last=Stewart | first=J.D.M. | title=Being Prime Minister | publisher=Dundurn | year=2018 | isbn=978-1-4597-3849-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r5MwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PP1}}

{{refend}}

{{Commons}}

• {{official website}}
• {{YouTube|h=CanadianPM|title=Prime Minister of Canada}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20050901031658/http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/people/key/pm/index.asp?lang=E Library of Parliament of Canada]
• [http://www.macleans.ca/2011/06/10/canadas-best-prime-ministers Canada's Best Prime Ministers]: 2011 Maclean's article

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{{Prime ministers of Canada}}

{{Lists of prime ministers of Canada}}

{{Canadian First Ministers}}

{{Cabinet of Canada}}

{{Canada topics}}

{{Heads of state and government of North America}}

{{Prime ministers}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1867 establishments in Canada

Category:Government of Canada