Historical rankings of prime ministers of Canada

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East Block (left) and the Office of the Prime Minister and Privy Council (right) have housed the office of the prime minister since Canadian Confederation, the former from 1867 to 1977 and the latter since 1977. East Block and Langevin Block.jpg
East Block (left) and the Office of the Prime Minister and Privy Council (right) have housed the office of the prime minister since Canadian Confederation, the former from 1867 to 1977 and the latter since 1977.

Surveys have been conducted to construct historical rankings of individuals who have served as prime minister of Canada. These ranking systems are usually based on surveys of academic historians, economists and political scientists. The rankings focus on the achievements, leadership qualities, failures and faults in office.

Contents

Scholar survey results

Canadian custom is to count by the individuals who were prime minister, not by terms. [1] Since Confederation, 23 prime ministers have been "called upon" by the governor general to form 29 Canadian ministries. [1]

Legend
Blue backgrounds indicate first quartile.
Green backgrounds indicate second quartile.
Orange backgrounds indicate third quartile.
Red backgrounds indicate fourth quartile.

Note: Click the "sort" icon at the head of each column to view the rankings for each survey in numerical order.

SequencePrime MinisterPolitical party Maclean's 1997 [2] Maclean's 2011 [3] Maclean's 2016 [4] Aggr. [5] Time in office (rank)
1 Sir John A. Macdonald Conservative 223032
2 Alexander Mackenzie Liberal 1113131314
3 Sir John Abbott [a] Conservative1719202018
4 Sir John Thompson [a] Conservative1014161516
5 Sir Mackenzie Bowell [a] Conservative1921212219
6 Sir Charles Tupper [a] Conservative1618191923
7 Sir Wilfrid Laurier Liberal312024
8 Sir Robert Borden Conservative, Unionist 789089
9 Arthur Meighen [a] Conservative1416171717
10 William Lyon Mackenzie King Liberal131011
11 R. B. Bennett Conservative1212141412
12 Louis St. Laurent Liberal4760610
13 John George Diefenbaker Progressive Conservative 1310121211
14 Lester B. Pearson Liberal6450513
15 Pierre Elliott Trudeau Liberal554043
16 Joe Clark [a] Progressive Conservative1517181820
17 John Turner [a] Liberal1820222122
18 Brian Mulroney Progressive Conservative898098
19 Kim Campbell [a] Progressive Conservative2022232321
20 Jean Chrétien Liberal9 [b] 67075
21 Paul Martin [a] Liberal15151615
22 Stephen Harper Conservative 11 [b] 11116
23 Justin Trudeau Liberal10 [b] 107
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Served less than 2 years, 3 months as prime minister, while all others served for more than 4 years, 11 months. There is a strong correlation between time served in office and the poll rankings: the bottom quartile of the aggregate poll rankings are all in the bottom quartile of time served in office. Similarly, the top four prime ministers in terms of aggregate rankings are in the top four of time spent in office.
  2. 1 2 3 Ranking calculated before the prime minister had left office.

Sequence listed by first term as prime minister.

By approval rating

The following is a list of prime ministers of Canada by their highest and lowest approval rating during their term. The approval rating system came into effect when John Diefenbaker was prime minister (1957–1963).

Highest approval rating

1.    Jean Chrétien66% (September 1994) [6]
2.    Justin Trudeau65% (September 2016) [7]
3.    John Diefenbaker64% (June 1958) [6]
3.    Stephen Harper64% (March 2006) [6]
5.    Brian Mulroney61% (June 1985) [6]
6.    Paul Martin56% (September 2004) [6]
6.    Lester B. Pearson56% (January 1966) [6]
8.    Pierre Trudeau55% (September 1972) [6]
9.    Kim Campbell53% (July 1993) [6]
10.    Joe Clark32% (November 1979) [6]

Note: Ratings are up to date as of October 26, 2024.
Legend:
   Conservative    Liberal    Progressive Conservative

Lowest approval rating

1.    Brian Mulroney12% (November 1992) [6]
2.    Justin Trudeau22% (December 2024) [8]
3.    Stephen Harper23% (May 2013) [6]
4.    Pierre Trudeau25% (September 1982) [6]
5.    John Diefenbaker34% (March 1963) [6]
6.    Jean Chrétien36% (June 2000) [6]
7.    Paul Martin41% (June 2005) [6]
8.    Lester B. Pearson41% (September 1965) [6]
9.    Kim Campbell48% (October 1993) [6]

Note: Ratings are up to date as of December 30, 2024.
Legend:
   Conservative    Liberal    Progressive Conservative

Other surveys

The Institute for Research on Public Policy undertook a survey to rank the prime ministers who had served in the 50 years preceding 2003. [9] They ranked those nine prime ministers as follows:

  1. Pearson
  2. Mulroney
  3. Pierre Trudeau
  4. St. Laurent
  5. Chrétien
  6. Diefenbaker
  7. Clark ^
  8. Turner ^
  9. Campbell ^

^ Served less than 10 months as prime minister, while all others served for more than 4 years, 11 months.

In October 2016, Maclean's again ranked the prime ministers, this time splitting them into two lists. The long-serving prime ministers were ranked as follows:

  1. King
  2. Laurier
  3. Macdonald
  4. Pierre Trudeau
  5. Pearson
  6. St. Laurent
  7. Chrétien
  8. Mulroney
  9. Borden
  10. Harper
  11. Diefenbaker
  12. Mackenzie
  13. Bennett

The short-term prime ministers were ranked as follows:

  1. Martin
  2. Thompson
  3. Meighen
  4. Clark
  5. Tupper
  6. Abbott
  7. Bowell
  8. Turner
  9. Campbell

See also

Other countries

References

  1. 1 2 "Prime Ministers of Canada". Library of the Canadian Parliament. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
  2. Hillmer, Norman and Granatstein, J. L. "Historians rank the BEST AND WORST Canadian Prime Ministers" Archived 2001-07-19 at the Wayback Machine . Maclean's . April 21, 1997. Accessed July 9, 2012.
  3. Hillmer, Norman and Azzi, Stephen. "Canada's best prime ministers", Maclean's , June 10, 2011. Accessed July 9, 2012.
  4. Azzi, Stephen and Hillmer, Norman. "Ranking Canada's best and worst prime ministers" Maclean's , October 7, 2016. Accessed June 22, 2017.
  5. Aggregate of all polls in the table using Copeland's method.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 "Éric Grenier's Leader Meter". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 2018-12-19. Archived from the original on 2021-01-27. Retrieved 2022-02-22.
  7. "Trudeau Tracker". Angus Reid Institute . Retrieved 2024-02-04.
  8. "The Federal Liberals' New Year's Eve Nightmare: Party vote intent sinks to 16%, Trudeau approval at all-time low" (PDF). Angus Reid Institute. December 30, 2024.
  9. MacDonald, L. Ian. "The Best Prime Minister of the Last 50 Years Pearson, by a landslide," Archived 2014-04-07 at the Wayback Machine Policy Options , June–July 2003. Accessed April 3, 2014.

Further reading