This is a list of Canadian ministries, the collective body of ministers of the Crown that advises the Canadian monarch—presently King Charles III—on how to exercise their Crown prerogatives. Since Canadian Confederation, July 1, 1867, there have been 29 ministries.
In Canada, a ministry is formed when a new prime minister is appointed and dissolved when that individual leaves office. The one exception occurred in 1917, when the incumbent prime minister, Sir Robert Borden, formed a new national unity government (the 10th Canadian Ministry) as a wartime coalition composed primarily of members of his own Conservative Party with some individual Liberal Party members of parliament.
In contrast to various other Commonwealth realms (such as Australia and the United Kingdom) where a "new" ministry is considered to have been formed after every general election regardless of the winner, elections in Canada do not cause dissolution of the ministry unless they result in the government's defeat. As such, the current 29th Ministry, chaired by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, began governing shortly before the opening of the 42nd Parliament in 2015.
With a duration of 15 years, 87 days, the 8th Ministry, under the leadership of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, was the lengthiest; the 68-day-long 7th Ministry, under the leadership of Sir Charles Tupper, was the briefest. William Lyon Mackenzie King led three ministries—the 12th, 14th, and 16th—the most for any Canadian prime minister.
Ministry | Dates | Prime Minister | Governing party | Duration | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st Canadian Ministry | July 1, 1867 – November 5, 1873 | John A. Macdonald | Liberal-Conservative | 6 years, 127 days | |
2nd Canadian Ministry | November 7, 1873 – October 8, 1878 | Alexander Mackenzie | Liberal | 4 years, 335 days | |
3rd Canadian Ministry | October 17, 1878 – June 6, 1891 | John A. Macdonald | Liberal-Conservative | 12 years, 232 days | |
4th Canadian Ministry | June 16, 1891 – November 24, 1892 | John Abbott | 1 year, 161 days | ||
5th Canadian Ministry | December 5, 1892 – December 12, 1894 | John Sparrow David Thompson | 2 years, 7 days | ||
6th Canadian Ministry | December 21, 1894 – April 27, 1896 | Mackenzie Bowell | Conservative (Historical) | 1 year, 128 days | |
7th Canadian Ministry | May 1, 1896 – July 8, 1896 | Charles Tupper | 68 days | ||
8th Canadian Ministry | July 11, 1896 – October 6, 1911 | Wilfrid Laurier | Liberal | 15 years, 87 days | |
9th Canadian Ministry | October 10, 1911 – October 11, 1917 | Robert Laird Borden | Conservative (Historical) | 6 years, 1 day | |
10th Canadian Ministry | October 12, 1917 – July 10, 1920 | Unionist | 2 years, 272 days | ||
11th Canadian Ministry | July 10, 1920 – December 29, 1921 | Arthur Meighen | Nat'l Liberal & Conservative | 1 year, 172 days | |
12th Canadian Ministry | December 29, 1921 – June 28, 1926 | William Lyon Mackenzie King | Liberal | 4 years, 303 days | |
13th Canadian Ministry | June 29, 1926 – September 25, 1926 | Arthur Meighen | Conservative (Historical) | 88 days | |
14th Canadian Ministry | September 25, 1926 – August 7, 1930 | William Lyon Mackenzie King | Liberal | 3 years, 316 days | |
15th Canadian Ministry | August 7, 1930 – October 23, 1935 | Richard Bedford Bennett | Conservative (Historical) | 5 years, 77 days | |
16th Canadian Ministry | October 23, 1935 – November 15, 1948 | William Lyon Mackenzie King | Liberal | 13 years, 23 days | |
17th Canadian Ministry | November 15, 1948 – June 21, 1957 | Louis St. Laurent | 8 years, 218 days | ||
18th Canadian Ministry | June 21, 1957 – April 22, 1963 | John Diefenbaker | Progressive Conservative | 5 years, 305 days | |
19th Canadian Ministry | April 22, 1963 – April 20, 1968 | Lester B. Pearson | Liberal | 4 years, 364 days | |
20th Canadian Ministry | April 20, 1968 – June 4, 1979 | Pierre Trudeau | 11 years, 45 days | ||
21st Canadian Ministry | June 4, 1979 – March 3, 1980 | Joe Clark | Progressive Conservative | 273 days | |
22nd Canadian Ministry | March 3, 1980 – June 30, 1984 | Pierre Trudeau | Liberal | 4 years, 119 days | |
23rd Canadian Ministry | June 30, 1984 – September 17, 1984 | John Turner | 79 days | ||
24th Canadian Ministry | September 17, 1984 – June 25, 1993 | Brian Mulroney | Progressive Conservative | 8 years, 281 days | |
25th Canadian Ministry | June 25, 1993 – November 4, 1993 | Kim Campbell | 132 days | ||
26th Canadian Ministry | November 4, 1993 – December 12, 2003 | Jean Chrétien | Liberal | 10 years, 38 days | |
27th Canadian Ministry | December 12, 2003 – February 6, 2006 | Paul Martin | 2 years, 56 days | ||
28th Canadian Ministry | February 6, 2006 – November 4, 2015 | Stephen Harper | Conservative | 9 years, 271 days | |
29th Canadian Ministry | November 4, 2015 – present | Justin Trudeau | Liberal | 9 years, 18 days | |
Source: [1] |