Historical rankings of prime ministers of Canada

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.

East Block (left) and the Office of the Prime Minister and Privy Council (right) have housed the office of the prime minister since Canadian Confederation, the former from 1867–1977 and the latter since 1977.

Scholar survey results

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]

Legend
Blue backgrounds indicate first quartile.
Green backgrounds indicate second quartile.
Orange backgrounds indicate third quartile.
Red backgrounds indicate fourth quartile.

Note: Click the "sort" icon at the head of each column to view the rankings for each survey in numerical order.

SequencePrime MinisterPolitical partyMaclean's 1997[2]Maclean's 2011[3]Maclean's 2016[4]Aggr.[5]Time in office (rank)
1Sir John A. MacdonaldConservative223032
2Alexander MackenzieLiberal1113131314
3Sir John Abbott[lower-alpha 1]Conservative1719202018
4Sir John Thompson[lower-alpha 1]Conservative1014161516
5Sir Mackenzie Bowell[lower-alpha 1]Conservative1921212219
6Sir Charles Tupper[lower-alpha 1]Conservative1618191923
7Sir Wilfrid LaurierLiberal312024
8Sir Robert BordenConservative, Unionist789088
9Arthur Meighen[lower-alpha 1]Conservative1416171717
10William Lyon Mackenzie KingLiberal131011
11R. B. BennettConservative1212141412
12Louis St. LaurentLiberal476069
13John George DiefenbakerProgressive Conservative1310121211
14Lester B. PearsonLiberal6450513
15Pierre Elliott TrudeauLiberal554043
16Charles Joseph Clark[lower-alpha 1]Progressive Conservative1517181820
17John Napier Turner[lower-alpha 1]Liberal1820222122
18Brian MulroneyProgressive Conservative898097
19Kim Campbell[lower-alpha 1]Progressive Conservative2022232321
20Jean ChretienLiberal9[lower-alpha 2]67075
21Paul Martin[lower-alpha 1]Liberal—15151615
22Stephen HarperConservative—11[lower-alpha 2]11116
23Justin TrudeauLiberal——10[lower-alpha 2]1010
  1. Served less than 2 years, 3 months, as Prime Minister, while all others served for more than 4 years, 11 months. There is a strong correlation between time served in office and the poll rankings: the bottom quartile of the aggregate poll rankings are all in the bottom quartile of time served in office. Similarly, the top four prime ministers in terms of aggregate rankings are in the top four of time spent in office.
  2. Ranking calculated before the prime minister had left office.

Sequence listed by first term as Prime Minister.

By approval rating

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).

Highest approval rating
1.   Jean Chrétien — 66% (September 1994)[6]
2.   Justin Trudeau — 64% (June 2016)[6][7]
2.   John Diefenbaker — 64% (June 1958)[6]
2.   Stephen Harper — 64% (March 2006)[6]
5.   Brian Mulroney — 61% (June 1985)[6]
6.   Paul Martin — 56% (September 2004)[6]
6.   Lester B. Pearson — 56% (January 1966)[6]
8.   Pierre Trudeau — 55% (September 1972)[6]
9.   Kim Campbell — 53% (July 1993)[6]
10.   Joe Clark — 32% (November 1979)[6]

Note: Ratings are up to date as of February 2022.
Legend:   Conservative   Liberal   Progressive Conservative

Lowest approval rating
1.   Brian Mulroney — 12% (November 1992)[6]
2.   Joe Clark — 24% (January 1980)[6]
3.   Stephen Harper — 24% (May 2014)[8]
4.   Pierre Trudeau — 25% (September 1982)[6]
5.   Justin Trudeau — 31% (August 2019)[7]
6.   John Diefenbaker — 34% (March 1963)[6]
7.   Jean Chrétien — 36% (June 2000)[6]
8.   Paul Martin — 41% (June 2005)[6]
8.   Lester B. Pearson — 41% (September 1965)[6]
10.   Kim Campbell — 48% (October 1993)[6]

Note: Ratings are up to date as of February 2022.
Legend:   Conservative   Liberal   Progressive Conservative

Other surveys

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:

  1. Pearson
  2. Mulroney
  3. Pierre Trudeau
  4. St. Laurent
  5. Chrétien
  6. Diefenbaker
  7. Clark ^
  8. Turner ^
  9. Campbell ^

^ 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:

  1. King
  2. Laurier
  3. Macdonald
  4. Pierre Trudeau
  5. Pearson
  6. St. Laurent
  7. Chrétien
  8. Mulroney
  9. Borden
  10. Harper
  11. Diefenbaker
  12. Mackenzie
  13. Bennett

The short-term prime ministers were ranked as follows:

  1. Martin
  2. Thompson
  3. Meighen
  4. Clark
  5. Tupper
  6. Abbott
  7. Bowell
  8. Turner
  9. Campbell

See also

References
  1. "Prime Ministers of Canada". Library of the Canadian Parliament. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
  2. Hillmer, Norman and Granatstein, J. L. "Historians rank the BEST AND WORST Canadian Prime Ministers" Archived 2001-07-19 at the Wayback Machine. Maclean's. April 21, 1997. Accessed July 9, 2012.
  3. Hillmer, Norman and Azzi, Stephen. "Canada's best prime ministers", Maclean's, June 10, 2011. Accessed July 9, 2012.
  4. Azzi, Stephen and Hillmer, Norman. "Ranking Canada's best and worst prime ministers" Maclean's, October 7, 2016. Accessed June 22, 2017.
  5. Aggregate of all polls in the table using Copeland's method.
  6. "Éric Grenier's Leader Meter". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 2018-12-19. Archived from the original on 2021-01-27. Retrieved 2022-02-22.
  7. "Trudeau Tracker". Angus Reid Institute. Retrieved 2022-02-25.
  8. https://toronto.citynews.ca/2013/10/30/harpers-approval-rating-at-all-time-low-poll/. Retrieved 2023-10-19. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  9. MacDonald, L. Ian. "The Best Prime Minister of the Last 50 Years — Pearson, by a landslide," Archived 2014-04-07 at the Wayback Machine Policy Options, June–July 2003. Accessed April 3, 2014.

Further reading
Further information: List of books about prime ministers of Canada
  • Azzi, Stephen, and Norman Hillmer. "Evaluating prime-ministerial performance: The Canadian experience." in Understanding Prime-Ministerial Performance: Comparative Perspectives (2013): 242-263. online
  • Azzi, Stephen, and Norman Hillmer. "Ranking Prime Ministers: Canada in a Commonwealth Context." Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 49.1 (2021): 22-43. online
  • Schwanen, Daniel. "Ranking prime ministers of the last 50 years: The numbers speak." POLICY OPTIONS-MONTREAL 24.6 (2003): 18-23. online
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