Parliamentary leader (Canada)

See also: Parliamentary leader

Not to be confused with Interim leader (Canada) or House Leader.

In Canada, a parliamentary leader typically refers to a member of Parliament that acts as the party leader when the actual leader of the party does not sit in the House of Commons. Parliamentary leaders are typically appointed in the event that the party leader loses their seat in an election but does not resign as party leader, or when a party elects a new leader that has not yet been elected to a seat in the House of Commons. It is common for a party's deputy leader or house leader to take on this role. In instances where the leader of the party with Official Opposition status does not sit in the House, the parliamentary leader will automatically assume the position of leader of the Opposition.

History

The first notable instance of a parliamentary leader being appointed occurred in 1958, when Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) leader M. J. Coldwell lost his seat in the 1958 Canadian federal election. Despite facing some pressure to do so, Coldwell did not immediately resign as leader of the party, and appointed CCF MP Hazen Argue to act as the CCF party leader in the 24th Canadian Parliament. Argue served in this role until 1960, when he was eventually selected by the CCF caucus to become the actual party leader following a leadership succession crisis.

From 2011 to 2019, the leadership of the Bloc Québécois was very unstable as the party went through 7 leaders in 9 years, with many party leaders and interim leaders not holding a seat in the House of Commons for parts of their tenure as leader. As a result, the party routinely nominated a parliamentary leader, often assigning the role to the party's House Leader.

The Liberal Party often avoided appointing a parliamentary leader as each time the Liberal leader did not hold a seat in the House, the Liberals were also in government, and were able to use their governmental privileges to quickly return their leader to Parliament if necessary. William Lyon Mackenzie King lost his seat twice in general elections while serving as prime minister, and used his executive position to quickly schedule a by-election to re-enter Parliament before or very soon after the first parliamentary session began. When Mark Carney was elected as the Liberal leader and prime minister in 2025, he did not hold a seat, but requested an early dissolution of parliament, which prevented any absence in parliament as he would go on to win a seat in the subsequent general election. However, when John Turner was elected as the Liberal leader and prime minister in 1984, he did not immediately dissolve parliament, and famously attended parliamentary sittings by observing the proceedings from a viewing gallery. ^[1] Turner appointed Jean Chrétien (who did have a seat in the House of Commons) as his deputy prime minister, essentially making Chrétien the Liberal parliamentary leader. ^[2]

Notable federal parliamentary leaders

Parliamentary leader	Term	Party caucus		Party leader	Reason for leader's absence
Hazen Argue [3]	March 31, 1958 – August 11, 1960		Co-operative Commonwealth	M. J. Coldwell	Lost seat
Erik Nielsen	June 11, 1983 – August 29, 1983		Progressive Conservative	Brian Mulroney	Elected leader without a seat
Jean Chrétien	June 30, 1984 – September 17, 1984		Liberal	John Turner	Elected leader without a seat
Bill Blaikie	January 25, 2003 – June 28, 2004		New Democratic	Jack Layton	Elected leader without a seat
Louis Plamondon	June 2, 2011 – December 16, 2013		Bloc Québécois	Vivian Barbot	Appointed interim leader without seat [a]
				Daniel Paillé	Elected leader without a seat
André Bellavance	December 16, 2013 – February 25, 2014		Bloc Québécois	vacant	Vacant leadership position
Jean-François Fortin	February 26, 2014 – August 12, 2014		Bloc Québécois
				Mario Beaulieu	Elected leader without a seat
Louis Plamondon	August 12, 2014 – October 22, 2015		Bloc Québécois	Gilles Duceppe	Appointed without a seat
Gabriel Ste-Marie	March 19, 2017 – February 26, 2018		Bloc Québécois	Martine Ouellet	Elected leader without a seat
Guy Caron [4]	October 4, 2017 – February 25, 2019		New Democratic	Jagmeet Singh	Elected leader without a seat
Elizabeth May	November 4, 2019 – November 19, 2022		Green	Jo-Ann Roberts	Appointed interim leader without a seat
				Annamie Paul	Elected leader without a seat
				Amita Kuttner	Appointed interim leader without a seat
Andrew Scheer [5]	May 6, 2025 – August 18, 2025		Conservative	Pierre Poilievre	Lost seat

1. BQ leader Gilles Duceppe lost his seat in the 2011 federal election and resigned as party leader immediately on May 2, 2011. He was replaced by interim leader Vivian Barbot who also did not win a seat in 2011.

See also

• Interim leader (Canada)
• House Leader

References

1. Major, Darren (January 14, 2025). "Can someone be prime minister if they're not an MP?". CBC News . Retrieved May 22, 2025.
2. "Twenty-Third Ministry". Government of Canada . Retrieved July 14, 2025.
3. Stewart, Walter (2000). M.J.: The Life and Times of M.J. Coldwell . Toronto: Stoddart Publishing Co. Ltd. ISBN   0-7737-3232-2.
4. "Jagmeet Singh names Quebec MP Guy Caron as parliamentary leader". CBC News . October 4, 2017. Archived from the original on February 28, 2018. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
5. Aiello, Rachel (May 6, 2025). "Poilievre pledges to listen after election loss, Scheer tapped to represent caucus in interim". CTV News . Retrieved May 20, 2025.