List of Senate of Canada appointments by prime minister

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This is a list of Canadian Senate appointments during a prime minister's tenure. Members of the Senate of Canada are appointed by the Governor General of Canada on the recommendation of his or her prime minister. This list is broken down by party and further sorted into three categories: senators appointed who sat in the government caucus, senators appointed who sat in opposition caucuses, and senators appointed who sat in neither.

Contents

Only three prime ministers have recommended with any frequency the appointment of senators belonging to opposition parties: John A. Macdonald, Pierre Trudeau, and Paul Martin. The remaining prime ministers have, between them, recommended the appointment of only six opposition senators. Of those six, four were from the party forming the Official Opposition: three were appointed on the recommendation of Prime Minister Robert Borden, who was trying to create a cross-party coalition National Government during World War I; and one was made on the recommendation of Louis St. Laurent, upon the advice of his strategists, as the PC Party was in danger of losing official party status in the Senate by dropping below five seats. The remaining one was from a minor party. One prime minister, Kim Campbell, recommended no senators during her time in office.

Prime ministerTerm(s)TotalPartyGovernmentOppositionNon-partisan
FromTo Lib. Cons. [a] Ind.Lib.Ind.Cons.No af.Other# %# %# %
Royal ProclamationOctober 23, 18677327 [b] 45 [c] —1——4561.62736.911.2
   Macdonald July 1, 1867November 5, 187391978 [d] 111—78 [d] 85.799.833.3
October 17, 1878June 6, 1891
   Mackenzie November 7, 1873October 8, 18781616 [e] —————16 [e] 100.000.000.0
   Abbott June 16, 1891November 24, 18926—6 [f] ————6100.000.000.0
   Thompson December 5, 1892December 12, 1894514————480.0120.000.0
   Bowell December 21, 1894April 27, 189613—13 [g] ————13100.000.000.0
   Tupper May 1, 1896July 8, 18961—1————1100.000.000.0
   Laurier July 11, 1896October 6, 19118180—1———8098.800.011.2
   Borden October 10, 1911July 10, 192062357—1—1 [h] 58 [i] 93.634.800.0
   Meighen July 10, 1920December 29, 192115—13——11 [j] 14 [i] 93.300.016.7
June 29, 1926September 25, 1926
   King December 29, 1921June 28, 1926103103 [k] —————103 [k] 100.000.000.0
September 25, 1926August 7, 1930
October 23, 1935November 15, 1948
   Bennett August 7, 1930October 23, 193533—32——1—3297.000.013.0
   St. Laurent November 15, 1948June 21, 1957555112—1—5192.711.835.5
   Diefenbaker June 21, 1957April 22, 196337—36—1——3697.300.012.7
   Pearson April 22, 1963April 20, 19683938—1———3897.400.012.6
   P. E. Trudeau April 20, 1968June 4, 197981707——31 [l] 7086.489.933.7
March 3, 1980June 30, 1984
   Clark June 4, 1979March 3, 198011—11————11100.000.000.0
   Turner June 30, 1984September 17, 198433—————3100.000.000.0
   Mulroney September 17, 1984June 25, 199357—55——11 [m] 5596.411.811.8
   Campbell June 25, 1993November 4, 19930————————————
   Chrétien November 4, 1993December 12, 20037572———3—7296.000.034.0
   Martin December 12, 2003February 6, 200617122—2 [n] —1 [o] 1270.6529.400.0
   Harper February 6, 2006November 4, 201559—59 [p] [q] [1] ————59100.000.000.0
   J. Trudeau November 4, 2015—100 [2] ————100 [2] —————100100.0

Notes

  1. ↑ The Cons. column includes appointees who are members of the historical Conservative party (prior to 1942), the Progressive Conservative Party (1942-2003), and the Conservative Party of Canada (since 2003).
  2. ↑ Includes Charles Cormier and Luc Letellier de St-Just, who sat as Nationalist Liberals. Also includes William Todd, who declined appointment.
  3. ↑ Includes eight Liberal Conservatives. Also includes Narcisse-Fortunat Belleau and Edward Barron Chandler, who declined appointment.
  4. 1 2 Includes 25 Liberal Conservatives. Also includes Joseph Bolduc, who sat as a Nationalist Conservative.
  5. 1 2 Includes William Henry Brouse, who sat as a Reformer, as well as Christian Henry Pozer and Hector Fabre, who both sat as Nationalists.
  6. ↑ Includes one Liberal Conservative
  7. ↑ Includes four Liberal Conservatives
  8. ↑ Liberal-Unionist senator William Proudfoot
  9. 1 2 Includes one Liberal–Unionist
  10. ↑ Liberal–Unionist senator Sanford Johnston Crowe
  11. 1 2 Includes Robert Forke, who sat as a Liberal-Progressive
  12. ↑ Social Credit senator Ernest Manning
  13. ↑ Reform Party senator Stanley Waters, who had been elected in the 1989 Alberta Senate nominee election.
  14. ↑ Includes Nancy Ruth and Elaine McCoy who were appointed as senators for the defunct Progressive Conservatives. Nancy Ruth subsequently joined the Conservatives.
  15. ↑ New Democratic Party senator Lillian Dyck. She was not recognized by the NDP caucus and joined the Liberal caucus in 2009.
  16. ↑ Two senators, Bert Brown and Betty Unger, had been elected in the 2004 Alberta Senate nominee election.
  17. ↑ Scott Tannas was appointed on March 25, 2013, having been elected in the 2012 Alberta Senate nominee election.

References

  1. ↑ Payton, Laura (January 25, 2013). "PM Harper appoints 5 new senators". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation . Retrieved January 25, 2013.
  2. 1 2 "Prime Minister announces the appointment of senators". Prime Minister of Canada. March 7, 2025. Retrieved March 7, 2025.
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