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.
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]
Note: Click the "sort" icon at the head of each column to view the rankings for each survey in numerical order.
| Sequence | Prime Minister | Political 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 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 03 | 2 |
| 2 | Alexander Mackenzie | Liberal | 11 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 14 |
| 3 | Sir John Abbott [a] | Conservative | 17 | 19 | 20 | 20 | 18 |
| 4 | Sir John Thompson [a] | Conservative | 10 | 14 | 16 | 15 | 16 |
| 5 | Sir Mackenzie Bowell [a] | Conservative | 19 | 21 | 21 | 22 | 19 |
| 6 | Sir Charles Tupper [a] | Conservative | 16 | 18 | 19 | 19 | 23 |
| 7 | Sir Wilfrid Laurier | Liberal | 3 | 1 | 2 | 02 | 4 |
| 8 | Sir Robert Borden | Conservative, Unionist | 7 | 8 | 9 | 08 | 8 |
| 9 | Arthur Meighen [a] | Conservative | 14 | 16 | 17 | 17 | 17 |
| 10 | William Lyon Mackenzie King | Liberal | 1 | 3 | 1 | 01 | 1 |
| 11 | R. B. Bennett | Conservative | 12 | 12 | 14 | 14 | 12 |
| 12 | Louis St. Laurent | Liberal | 4 | 7 | 6 | 06 | 9 |
| 13 | John George Diefenbaker | Progressive Conservative | 13 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 11 |
| 14 | Lester B. Pearson | Liberal | 6 | 4 | 5 | 05 | 13 |
| 15 | Pierre Elliott Trudeau | Liberal | 5 | 5 | 4 | 04 | 3 |
| 16 | Joe Clark [a] | Progressive Conservative | 15 | 17 | 18 | 18 | 20 |
| 17 | John Turner [a] | Liberal | 18 | 20 | 22 | 21 | 22 |
| 18 | Brian Mulroney | Progressive Conservative | 8 | 9 | 8 | 09 | 7 |
| 19 | Kim Campbell [a] | Progressive Conservative | 20 | 22 | 23 | 23 | 21 |
| 20 | Jean Chrétien | Liberal | 9 [b] | 6 | 7 | 07 | 5 |
| 21 | Paul Martin [a] | Liberal | — | 15 | 15 | 16 | 15 |
| 22 | Stephen Harper | Conservative | — | 11 [b] | 11 | 11 | 6 |
| 23 | Justin Trudeau | Liberal | — | — | 10 [b] | 10 | 10 |
Sequence listed by first term as prime minister.
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).
Note: Ratings are up to date as of October 26, 2024.
Legend: Conservative Liberal Progressive Conservative
Note: Ratings are up to date as of December 5, 2024.
Legend: Conservative Liberal Progressive Conservative
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:
^ 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:
The short-term prime ministers were ranked as follows:
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