Global InformationList of Senate of Canada appointments by prime minister information
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.
Only Prime Ministers John A. Macdonald, John Thompson, Pierre Trudeau, and Paul Martin recommended with any frequency the appointment of senators belonging to opposition parties; all together, only six opposition senators have been appointed on the recommendation of other prime ministers. Of those six, only four have been from the party forming the Official Opposition. Of those four, 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. The other appointment 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. No other prime minister advised the appointment of opposition senators, and one, Kim Campbell, recommended none.
| Prime Minister | Term(s) | Total | Party | Government | Opposition | Non-Partisan | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| From | To | Lib. | Cons.[a] | Lib- Con |
L-U | NDP | L-P | Ind. Lib. |
Ind. Cons. |
No. Af. | Ref. | S.C. | # | % | # | % | # | % | |||
| Royal Proclamation | October 23, 1867 | 73 | 27[b] | 37[c] | 8 | — | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | 45 | 61.6 | 27 | 36.9 | 1 | 1.2 | ||
| Macdonald | July 1, 1867 | November 5, 1873 | 91 | 9 | 53[d] | 25 | — | — | — | 1 | 1 | 1 | — | — | 78[d] | 85.7 | 9 | 9.8 | 3 | 3.3 | |
| October 17, 1878 | June 6, 1891 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Mackenzie | November 7, 1873 | October 8, 1878 | 16 | 16[e] | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 16[e] | 100.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | |
| Abbott | June 16, 1891 | November 24, 1892 | 6 | — | 5 | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 6 | 100.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | |
| Thompson | December 5, 1892 | December 12, 1894 | 5 | 1 | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 4 | 80.0 | 1 | 20.0 | 0 | 0.0 | |
| Bowell | December 21, 1894 | April 27, 1896 | 13 | — | 9 | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 13 | 100.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | |
| Tupper | May 1, 1896 | July 8, 1896 | 1 | — | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | 100.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | |
| Laurier | July 11, 1896 | October 6, 1911 | 81 | 80 | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | — | 80 | 98.8 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 1.2 | |
| Borden | October 10, 1911 | July 10, 1920 | 62 | 3 | 57 | — | 1 | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | 58[f] | 93.6 | 3 | 4.8 | 0 | 0.0 | |
| Meighen | July 10, 1920 | December 29, 1921 | 15 | — | 13 | — | 1 | — | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | 14[f] | 93.3 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 6.7 | |
| June 29, 1926 | September 25, 1926 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| King | December 29, 1921 | June 28, 1926 | 103 | 102 | — | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | 103[g] | 99.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | |
| September 25, 1926 | August 7, 1930 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| October 23, 1935 | November 15, 1948 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Bennett | August 7, 1930 | October 23, 1935 | 33 | — | 32 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | 32 | 97.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 3.0 | |
| St. Laurent | November 15, 1948 | June 21, 1957 | 55 | 51 | 1 | — | — | — | — | 2 | — | 1 | — | — | 51 | 92.7 | 1 | 1.8 | 3 | 5.5 | |
| Diefenbaker | June 21, 1957 | April 22, 1963 | 37 | — | 36 | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | 36 | 97.3 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 2.7 | |
| Pearson | April 22, 1963 | April 20, 1968 | 39 | 38 | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | — | 38 | 97.4 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 2.6 | |
| P. E. Trudeau | April 20, 1968 | June 4, 1979 | 81 | 70 | 7 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 3 | — | 1 | 70 | 86.4 | 8[h] | 9.9 | 3 | 3.7 | |
| March 3, 1980 | June 30, 1984 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Clark | June 4, 1979 | March 3, 1980 | 11 | — | 11 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 11 | 100.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | |
| Turner | June 30, 1984 | September 17, 1984 | 3 | 3 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 3 | 100.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | |
| Mulroney | September 17, 1984 | June 25, 1993 | 57 | — | 55 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | 1[i] | — | 55 | 96.4 | 1 | 1.8 | 1 | 1.8 | |
| Campbell | June 25, 1993 | November 4, 1993 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Chrétien | November 4, 1993 | December 12, 2003 | 75 | 72 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 3 | — | — | 72 | 96.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 3 | 4.0 | |
| Martin | December 12, 2003 | February 6, 2006 | 17 | 12 | 2 | — | — | 1[j] | — | — | 2[k] | — | — | — | 12 | 70.6 | 5 | 29.4 | 0 | 0.0 | |
| Harper | February 6, 2006 | November 4, 2015 | 59 | — | 59[l][m][1] | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 59 | 100.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | |
| J. Trudeau | November 4, 2015 | — | 78[2] | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 78[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] | — | — | — | — | — | — | 78 | 100.0 | |
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
- ^ Payton, Laura (January 25, 2013). "PM Harper appoints 5 new senators". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved January 25, 2013.
- ^ a b "Prime Minister announces the appointment of three senators". Prime Minister of Canada. December 20, 2023. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
- ^ "Prime Minister announces the appointment of five senators". Prime Minister of Canada. October 31, 2023. Retrieved November 9, 2023.
- ^ Tasker, John Paul (April 12, 2016). "7 new senators sworn in, opposition jumps on their independence". Retrieved January 21, 2017.
- ^ Tasker, John Paul (November 4, 2016). "Meet the 21 new Trudeau-appointed senators". CBC News. Retrieved January 21, 2017.
- ^ "Prime Minister announces the appointment of two new Senators". pm.gc.ca (Press release). PMO. December 4, 2017.
- ^ "The Prime Minister announces the appointment of a senator". Prime Minister of Canada. November 10, 2022. Retrieved March 18, 2023.
- ^ "The Prime Minister announces the appointment of two Senators". September 26, 2022.
- ^ "The Prime Minister announces the appointment of three senators". Prime Minister of Canada. November 21, 2022. Retrieved March 18, 2023.
- ^ "The Prime Minister announces the appointment of two senators". Prime Minister of Canada. May 3, 2023. Retrieved May 8, 2023.
- ^ "The Prime Minister announces the appointment of two senators". Prime Minister of Canada. July 6, 2023. Retrieved July 7, 2023.