List of Canadian Senate appointments by Prime Minister

This is a list of Canadian Senate appointments during a prime ministers tenure. Members of the Canadian Senate are appointed by the Governor General of Canada on the recommendation of his or her Prime Minister. This list is sorted 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 Minsters Pierre Trudeau, Sir John A. Macdonald, John Thompson, 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 appointed opposition senators, and some, namely Kim Campbell, appointed none.

Harper

Stephen Harper -Conservative- 2006.02.06 -

Total = 2
Conservative = 2 ¹

Pro-Government senators appointed - 2 - 100.0%
Opposition senators appointed - 0 - 0.0%
Non-Partisan senators appointed - 0 - 0.0%

¹ One of these Senators had been Elected by the people of Alberta

Martin

Paul Martin -Liberal- 2003.12.12 - 2006.02.06
Liberal = 12
Conservative = 2
Progressive Conservative = 2
New Democratic Party = 1¹

Total = 17

Pro-Government senators appointed - 12 - 70.6%
Opposition senators appointed - 5 - 29.4%
Non-Partisan senators appointed - 0 - 0.0%

¹ Not recognized as a New Democratic Party senator by the New Democratic Party.

Chrétien

Jean Chrétien -Liberal- 1993.11.04 - 2003.12.11
Liberal = 72
Independent = 3

Total = 75

Pro-Government senators appointed - 72 - 96.0%
Opposition senators appointed - 0 - 0.0%
Non-Partisan senators appointed - 3 - 4.0%

Campbell

Kim Campbell -Progressive Conservative- 1993.06.25 - 1993.11.03

Total = 0

Pro-Government senators appointed - 0 - 0.0%
Opposition senators appointed - 0 - 0.0%
Non-Partisan senators appointed - 0 - 0.0%

Mulroney

Brian Mulroney -Progressive Conservative- 1984.09.17 - 1993.06.24
Progressive Conservative 55
Reform = 1 ¹
Independent = 1

Total = 57

Pro-Government senators appointed - 55 - 96.4%
Opposition senators appointed - 1 - 1.8%
Non-Partisan senators appointed - 1 - 1.8%

¹ This Senator had been Elected by the people of Alberta

Turner

John Turner -Liberal- 1984.06.30 - 1984.09.16
Liberal = 3

Total = 3

Pro-Government senators appointed - 3 - 100.0%
Opposition senators appointed - 0 - 0.0%
Non-Partisan senators appointed - 0 - 0.0%

Clark

Joe Clark -Progressive Conservative- 1979.06.04 - 1980.03.02
Progressive Conservative = 11

Total = 11

Pro-Government senators appointed - 11 - 100.0%
Opposition senators appointed - 0 - 0.0%
Non-Partisan senators appointed - - 0 0.0%

Trudeau

Pierre Trudeau -Liberal- 1980.03.03 - 1984.06.29
1968.04.20 - 1979.06.03
Liberal = 70
Progressive Conservative = 7
Independent = 3
Social Credit = 1

Total = 81

Pro-Government senators appointed - 70 - 86.4%
Opposition senators appointed - 8 - 9.9%
Non-Partisan senators appointed - 3 - 3.7%

Pearson

Lester B. Pearson -Liberal- 1963.04.22 - 1968.04.19
Liberal = 38
Independent Liberal = 1

Total = 39

Pro-Government senators appointed - 38 - 97.4%
Opposition senators appointed - 0 - 0.0%
Non-Partisan senators appointed - 1 - 2.6%

Diefenbaker

John Diefenbaker -Progressive Conservative- 1957.06.21 - 1963.04.21
Progressive Conservative = 36
Independent Conservative = 1

Total = 37

Pro-Government senators appointed - 36 - 97.3%
Opposition senators appointed - 0 - 0.0%
Non-Partisan senators appointed - 1 - 2.7%

t. Laurent

Louis St. Laurent -Liberal- 1948.11.15 - 1957.06.20
Liberal = 51
Independent Liberal = 2
Progressive Conservative = 1
Independent = 1

Total = 55

Pro-Government senators appointed - 51 - 92.7%
Opposition senators appointed - 1 - 1.8%
Non-Partisan senators appointed - 3 - 5.5%

Bennett

Richard Bedford Bennett -Conservative- 1930.08.07 - 1935.10.22
Conservative = 32
Independent = 1

Total = 33

Pro-Government senators appointed - 32 - 97.0%
Opposition senators appointed - 0 - 0.0%
Non-Partisan senators appointed - 1 - 3.0%

Mackenzie King

William Lyon Mackenzie King -Liberal- 1935.10.23 - 1948.11.14
1921.12.29 - 1926.06.28
1926.09.25 - 1930.08.06
Liberal = 101
Liberal (Unionist) = 1
Liberal Progressive = 1

Total = 103

Pro-Government senators appointed - 102 - 99.1%
Opposition senators appointed - 1 - 0.9%
Non-Partisan senators appointed - 0 - 0.0%

Meighen

Arthur Meighen -National Liberal and Conservative Party- 1920.07.10 - 1921.12.28
Conservative 1926.06.29 - 1926.09.24
Conservative = 13
Independent = 1
Liberal (Unionist) = 1

Total = 15

Pro-Government senators appointed - 14 - 93.3%
Opposition senators appointed - 0 - 0.0%
Non-Partisan senators appointed - 1 - 6.7%

Borden

Robert Laird Borden -Conservative- 1911.10.10 - 1917.10.11
Unionist 1917.10.12 - 1920.07.09
Conservative = 57
Liberal = 3
Liberal (Unionist) = 1
Independent Conservative = 1

Total = 62

Pro-Government senators appointed - 58 - 93.5%
Opposition senators appointed - 3 - 4.8%
Non-Partisan senators appointed - 1 - 1.6%

Laurier

Wilfrid Laurier -Liberal- 1896.07.11 - 1911.10.06
Liberal = 80
Independent Liberal = 1

Total = 81

Pro-Government senators appointed - 80 - 98.8%
Opposition senators appointed - 0 - 0.0%
Non-Partisan senators appointed - 1 - 1.2%

Tupper

Charles Tupper -Conservative- 1896.05.01 - 1896.07.08
Conservative = 1

Total = 1

Pro-Government senators appointed - 1 - 100.0%
Opposition senators appointed - 0 - 0.0%
Non-Partisan senators appointed - 0 - 0.0%

Bowell

Mackenzie Bowell -Conservative- 1894.12.21 - 1896.04.27
Conservative = 9
Liberal-Conservative = 4

Total = 13

Pro-Government senators appointed - 13 - 100.0%
Opposition senators appointed - 0 - 0.0%
Non-Partisan senators appointed - 0 - 0.0%

Thompson

John Sparrow David Thompson -Liberal-Conservative- 1892.12.05 - 1894.12.12
Conservative = 4
Liberal = 1

Total = 5

Pro-Government senators appointed - 4 - 80.0%
Opposition senators appointed - 1 - 20.0%
Non-Partisan senators appointed - 0 - 0.0%

Abbott

John Joseph Caldwell Abbott -Liberal-Conservative- 1891.06.16 - 1892.11.24
Conservative = 5
Liberal-Conservative = 1

Total = 6

Pro-Government senators appointed - 6 - 100.0%
Opposition senators appointed - 0 - 0.0%
Non-Partisan senators appointed - 0 - 0.0%

Mackenzie

Alexander Mackenzie -Liberal- 1873.11.07 - 1878.10.08
Liberal = 13
Nationalist = 2
Reformer = 1

Total = 16

Pro-Government senators appointed - 16 - 100.0%
Opposition senators appointed - 0 - 0.0%
Non-Partisan senators appointed - 0 - 0.0%

Macdonald

John A. Macdonald -Liberal-Conservative- 1878.10.17 - 1891.06.06
1867.07.01 - 1873.11.05
Conservative = 53
Liberal-Conservative = 24
Liberal = 10
Independent Liberal = 1
Independent Conservative = 1
Independent = 1
Nationalist Conservative = 1

Total = 91

Pro-Government senators appointed - 78 - 85.7%
Opposition senators appointed - 10 - 11.0%
Non-Partisan senators appointed - 3 - 3.2%

Royal Proclamation

Royal Proclamation 1867.07.01 - 1867.07.01
Conservative = 36
Liberal = 24
Liberal-Conservative = 7
Nationalist Liberal = 2
Independent Conservative = 1
Declined Appointment = 3

Total = 73

Pro-Government* senators appointed - 43 - 58.90%
Opposition senators appointed - 26 - 35.62%
Non-Partisan senators appointed - 1 - 1.37%
Declined senators - 3 - 4.11%

* The first government of Canada was that of the Conservatives. Although the Royal Proclamation was a non-partisan one, for the purposes of this article, the Government of the day is represented in this statistic