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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.

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] Ind. Lib. Ind. Cons. No af. Other # % # % # %
Royal Proclamation October 23, 1867 73 27[b] 45[c] — 1 — — 45 61.6 27 36.9 1 1.2
   Macdonald July 1, 1867 November 5, 1873 91 9 78[d] 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 — 6[f] — — — — 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 — 13[g] — — — — 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[h] 58[i] 93.6 3 4.8 0 0.0
   Meighen July 10, 1920 December 29, 1921 15 — 13 — — 1 1[j] 14[i] 93.3 0 0.0 1 6.7
June 29, 1926 September 25, 1926
   King December 29, 1921 June 28, 1926 103 103[k] — — — — — 103[k] 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[l] 70 86.4 8 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[m] 55 96.4 1 1.8 1 1.8
   Campbell June 25, 1993 November 4, 1993 0 — — — — — — — — — — — —
   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 — 2[n] — 1[o] 12 70.6 5 29.4 0 0.0
   Harper February 6, 2006 November 4, 2015 59 — 59[p][q][1] — — — — 59 100.0 0 0.0 0 0.0
   J. Trudeau November 4, 2015 — 93[2] — — — — 93[2] — — — — — 93 100.0

Notes

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  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. ^ a b Includes 25 Liberal Conservatives. Also includes Joseph Bolduc, who sat as a Nationalist Conservative.
  5. ^ a b 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. ^ a b Includes one Liberal–Unionist
  10. ^ Liberal–Unionist senator Sanford Johnston Crowe
  11. ^ a b 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

[edit]
  1. ^ Payton, Laura (January 25, 2013). "PM Harper appoints 5 new senators". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved January 25, 2013.
  2. ^ a b "Prime Minister announces the appointment of senators". Prime Minister of Canada. February 6, 2025. Retrieved February 9, 2025.
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