Leader of the Government in the House of Commons

Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
Ministry
Federal
Incumbent Peter Van Loan PC, MP
Style	The Honourable
Appointed by	David Johnston as Governor General of Canada
First	Ian Alistair Mackenzie
Formation	October 14, 1944
Term length	At Her Majesty's pleasure
Website	www.houseleader.gc.ca

Canada

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Canada

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The Leader of the government in the House of Commons (French: Chef du gouvernement à la Chambre des communes), more commonly known as the Government House Leader, is the Cabinet minister responsible for planning and managing the government's legislative program in the Canadian House of Commons. The position is not legally entitled to cabinet standing on its own, so all Government House Leaders must simultaneously hold another portfolio. In recent years, sinecure assignments have been used to give House Leaders cabinet standing while allowing them to focus entirely on house business. The current House Leader is Peter Van Loan.

The Government House Leader works on the government's behalf by negotiating with the House Leaders of the Opposition parties. This often includes discussion over timetables and may include concessions to demands by opposition parties to ensure quick passage of a bill or opposition support. The position is especially crucial during periods of minority government, when no party has a majority in the House and the government must rely on the support of one or more Opposition parties to not only pass its legislative agenda but remain in power. The holder of the position must be an expert in parliamentary procedure in order to argue points of order before the Speaker of the House of Commons as well as be a good strategist and tactician in order to outmanoeuver the opposition parties.

From 1867 until World War II, the Prime Minister of Canada took upon himself the responsibilities of being Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, organizing and coordinating House of Commons business with the other parties. The expansion of government responsibilities during the war led to Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King deciding to delegate the House leadership to one of his ministers. In 1946, the position of Government House Leader was formally recognized. In 1968, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau designated the Government House Leader as President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada.

Under Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, the roles of Government House Leader and President of the Privy Council were separated in 1989. Under Mulroney and his successors, the position of House Leader would often be held by someone who was named a Minister of State without any portfolio responsibilities specified. Since 2003, this Minister of State status has been obscured in all but the most official circumstances by the use of a "Leader of the Government in the House of Commons" style in its place.

Prime Minister Paul Martin's first House Leader, Jacques Saada was also Minister responsible for Democratic Reform; however, with the election of a minority government in the 2004 election, he appointed Tony Valeri to the position of Leader of the Government in the House of Commons with no additional responsibilities.

List of officeholders

Until 2005, the position of Government House Leader was not technically a cabinet-level post, but rather a parliamentary office, so to qualify for cabinet membership, an individual had to be named to cabinet in some other capacity. For a time, with the position having evolved into a full-time job, Government House Leaders have been named to cabinet as Ministers of State with no portfolio specified. The Martin government created these positions so that the Minister of State title is effectively invisible. An amendment to the Salaries Act made this unnecessary by listing the Government House Leader as a minister.^[1]

Key:

  Liberal Party of Canada

  Progressive Conservative Party of Canada

  Conservative Party of Canada

House Leader		Other office held	Prime Minister (Ministry)	Term of office
	Ian Alistair Mackenzie	Minister of Pensions and National Health	King (16)	October 14, 1944	October 17, 1944
		Minister of Veterans Affairs		October 18, 1944	April 30, 1948
	Alphonse Fournier	Minister of Public Works		May 1, 1948	November 15, 1948
		Minister of Public Works		November 15, 1948	May 8, 1953
	Walter Edward Harris	Minister of Citizenship and Immigration	St. Laurent (17)	May 9, 1953	June 30, 1954
		Minister of Finance		July 1, 1954	April 12, 1957
	Howard Charles Green	Minister of Public Works	Diefenbaker (18)	October 14, 1957	June 3, 1959
		Secretary of State for External Affairs		June 4, 1959	July 18, 1959
	Gordon Minto Churchill	Minister of Veterans Affairs		January 14, 1960	February 5, 1963
	Jack Pickersgill	Secretary of State of Canada	Pearson (19)	May 16, 1963	December 21, 1963
	Guy Favreau	Minister of Justice		February 18, 1964	October 29, 1964
	George James McIlraith	President of the QPCC		October 30, 1964	July 6, 1965
		Minister of Public Works		July 7, 1965	May 3, 1967
	Allan MacEachen (1st time)	Minister of Amateur Sport		May 4, 1967	April 23, 1968
	Donald Stovel Macdonald	President of the QPCC	Trudeau (20)	September 12, 1968	September 23, 1970
	Allan MacEachen (2nd time)	President of the QPCC		September 24, 1970	May 9, 1974
	Mitchell Sharp	President of the QPCC		August 8, 1974	September 13, 1976
	Allan MacEachen (3rd time)	President of the QPCC		September 14, 1976	March 26, 1979
	Walter Baker	President of the QPCC	Clark (21)	June 4, 1979	March 2, 1980
	Yvon Pinard	President of the QPCC	Trudeau (22)	March 3, 1980	June 29, 1984
	André Ouellet	President of the QPCC (also Minister of Labour1)	Turner (23)	June 30, 1984	November 4, 1984
	Ramon John Hnatyshyn2	Minister of State (Government House Leader)	Mulroney (24)	November 5, 1984	February 26, 1985
		President of the QPCC		February 27, 1985	June 29, 1986
	Don Mazankowski	President of the QPCC (also Deputy PM3)		June 30, 1986	April 2, 1989
	Doug Lewis (1st time)	Minister of Justice		April 3, 1989	February 22, 1990
	Harvie Andre	Minister of State		February 23, 1990	June 24, 1993
	Doug Lewis (2nd time)	Solicitor General4	Campbell (25)	June 25, 1993	November 3, 1993
	Herb Gray	Solicitor General	Chrétien (26)	November 4, 1993	April 27, 1997
	Don Boudria (1st time)	Minister of State		June 11, 1997	January 14, 2002
	Ralph Goodale	Minister of State		January 15, 2002	May 25, 2002
	Don Boudria (2nd time)	Minister of State		May 26, 2002	December 11, 2003
	Jacques Saada	Minister of State styled as LGHC and Minister responsible for Democratic Reform"[2]	Martin (27)	December 12, 2003	July 20, 2004
	Tony Valeri	Minister of State styled as LGHC[3]		July 20, 2004	January 23, 2006
	Rob Nicholson	Minister for Democratic Reform[4]	Harper (28)	February 6, 2006	January 4, 2007
	Peter Van Loan (1st time)	Minister for Democratic Reform[5]		January 4, 2007	October 29, 2008
	Jay Hill	—		October 30, 2008	August 6, 2010
	John Baird	—		August 6, 2010	May 18, 2011
	Peter Van Loan (2nd time)	—		May 18, 2011	Incumbent

1. The Turner Ministry never convened the House, so Ouellet never technically served as Government House Leader. He was also named "Minister of State for Economic and Regional Development".

2. During this period Erik Nielsen, the Conservative House Leader when the party had been in Opposition, had the position of President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada. In practice this meant that Nielsen was senior Government House Leader in all but name and that Hnatyshyn was, in practice, Nielsen's deputy despite having the title of Government House Leader. This situation ended when Hnatyshyn became President of the Privy Council on February 27, 1985.

3. From August 27, 1987 Mazankowski was also President of the Treasury Board (until March 30, 1988) and Minister responsible for Privatization and Regulatory Affairs (until January 29, 1989). From September 15, 1988 he was also Minister of Agriculture.

4. The Campbell Ministry never convened the House, so Lewis never technically served as Government House Leader.

References

1. ^ "An Act to amend the Parliament of Canada Act and the Salaries Act and to make consequential amendments to other acts". Canada Gazette, Part III, vol. 28, no. 3. June 22, 2005. http://www.gazette.gc.ca/archives/p3/2005/g3-02803.pdf. 
2. ^ "Appointments". Canada Gazette, Part I, vol. 138, no. 1. January 3, 2004. http://www.gazette.gc.ca/archives/p1/2004/2004-01-03/html/notice-avis-eng.html#i3. 
3. ^ "Appointments". Canada Gazette, Part I, vol. 138, no. 32. January 3, 2004. http://www.gazette.gc.ca/archives/p1/2004/2004-08-07/html/notice-avis-eng.html#i2. 
4. ^ "Appointments". Canada Gazette, Part I, vol. 140, no. 8. February 25, 2006. http://www.gazette.gc.ca/archives/p1/2006/2006-02-25/html/notice-avis-eng.html#i8. 
5. ^ "Appointments". Canada Gazette, Part I, vol. 141, no. 5. January 27, 2007. http://www.gazette.gc.ca/archives/p1/2007/2007-01-27/html/notice-avis-eng.html#i1.