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Appendix 6Government Ministries and Prime Ministers of Canada Since 1867The selection of a Ministry is the Prime Minister’s responsibility, and the Governor General follows the Prime Minister’s advice in formalizing the appointments. The formal initiative in selecting a new Prime Minister rests with the Governor General. The duration of a Ministry is measured by the tenure of its Prime Minister. It is calculated from the day the Prime Minister takes the oath of office to the day the Prime Minister resigns. The resignation of a Prime Minister brings about the resignation of the Ministry as a whole. A Prime Minister who resigns but later returns to form another Ministry is said to be forming a new Ministry. Since Confederation, there have been 28 Ministries.
[1] The government of Sir John A. Macdonald resigned on November 5, 1873, as a result of the Canadian Pacific Railway scandal. On November 7, 1873, the Liberals under Alexander Mackenzie formed a government. [2] Sir John Abbott served as Prime Minister from the Senate. [3] Sir Mackenzie Bowell served as Prime Minister from the Senate. [4] Sir Charles Tupper served as Prime Minister during the dissolution period following the end of the Sixth Session of the Seventh Parliament and before the beginning of the First Session of the Eighth Parliament. [5] The Tenth Ministry was a re-organization of the Ninth Ministry, with the addition of certain Liberal Ministers. All Ministers continuing from the Ninth Ministry and changing office, resigned by Order in Council, were re-appointed by Order in Council and were sworn to their new offices; those continuing in their old offices were not required to be either re-appointed or re-sworn. Sir Robert Borden continued throughout as Prime Minister from his original appointment in 1911. [6] On October 12, 1917, Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden formed a Ministry, known as the Unionist government, which brought together Liberal-Conservative and Liberal Members of Parliament who supported conscription during World War I. See Brown, R.C., Robert Laird Borden: A Biography, Volume II: 1914-1937, Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1980, pp. 84-90, 101-110, 123-5. [7] According to some sources like Madden, W.D., (ed.), Canadian Guide of Leadership and Electoral History, 1867-1997, Fort McMurray, Alberta, 1998, Arthur Meighen succeeded Sir Robert Borden as the leader of the Unionist Party. Shortly thereafter, the party was officially renamed the National Liberal and Conservative Party and then, in 1922, it again became the Liberal-Conservative Party. [8] On June 26, 1926, Prime Minister W.L. Mackenzie King requested that the Governor General dissolve Parliament and order a general election. The Governor General declined to do so and, following the resignation of Prime Minister Mackenzie King, on June 28, 1926, called upon the Leader of the Opposition, Arthur Meighen, to form a government. On June 29, 1926, Arthur Meighen formed a government. However, his government faced Parliament for only three days before being defeated in the House on July 1, 1926. The Fifteenth Parliament was dissolved the next day and a general election was called for September 14, 1926. [9] During his tenure as Prime Minister, John Turner did not sit in the House as a Member of Parliament. [10] The House did not meet during Kim Campbell’s tenure as Prime Minister. |
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