Secretary of State for External Affairs (Canada)

Canada's Secretary of State for External Affairs was, from 1909 to 1993, the member of the Cabinet of Canada responsible for overseeing the federal government's international relations and the former Department of External Affairs. The first two Secretaries of State for External Affairs from 1909 until 1912 (Charles Murphy under Sir Wilfrid Laurier and William James Roche under Sir Robert Borden) concurrently served as Secretary of State for Canada. The two portfolios were permanently separated in 1912. The position was then held concurrently by the Prime Minister of Canada until 1946.

Noted Secretaries of State for External Affairs have included Louis St. Laurent, Lester B. Pearson, Howard Charles Green, Paul Joseph James Martin, Allan MacEachen, Mitchell Sharp, and Joe Clark.

The position was replaced by the Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1993.

The position is referenced in the passport note (Page 1) of the Canadian Passport beyond 2000 with current passports corrected with the title of Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Secretaries of State for External Affairs

Key:

  Liberal Party of Canada

  Historical conservative parties: Liberal-Conservative, Conservative (historical), Unionist, National Liberal and Conservative, Progressive Conservative

  Conservative Party of Canada

No.	Portrait	Name	Term of office		Political party	Ministry
1		Charles Murphy	May 19, 1909	October 6, 1911	Liberal	8 (Laurier)
2		William James Roche	October 10, 1911	April 1, 1912	Conservative (historical)	9 (Borden)
3		Robert Borden	April 1, 1912	October 11, 1917	Conservative (historical)
			October 12, 1917	July 9, 1920	Unionist	10 (Borden)
4		Arthur Meighen (1st time)	July 10, 1920	December 29, 1921	N. L. C.	11 (Meighen)
5		William Lyon Mackenzie King (1st time)	December 29, 1921	June 28, 1926	Liberal	12 (King)
(4)		Arthur Meighen (2nd time)	June 29, 1926	September 25, 1926	Conservative (historical)	13 (Meighen)
(5)		William Lyon Mackenzie King (2nd time)	September 25, 1926	August 7, 1930	Liberal	14 (King)
6		Richard Bedford Bennett	August 7, 1930	October 23, 1935	Conservative (historical)	15 (Bennett)
(5)		William Lyon Mackenzie King (3rd time)	October 23, 1935	September 3, 1946	Liberal	16 (King)
7		Louis St. Laurent	September 4, 1946	September 9, 1948	Liberal
8		Lester B. Pearson	September 10, 1948	November 15, 1948	Liberal
			November 15, 1948	June 20, 1957		17 (St. Laurent)
9		John Diefenbaker	June 21, 1957	September 12, 1957	Progressive Conservative	18 (Diefenbaker)
10		Sidney Earle Smith	September 13, 1957	March 17, 1959	Progressive Conservative
–		John Diefenbaker (2nd time; Acting)	March 19, 1959	June 3, 1959	Progressive Conservative
11		Howard Green	June 4, 1959	April 21, 1963	Progressive Conservative
12		Paul Joseph James Martin	April 22, 1963	April 20, 1968	Liberal	19 (Pearson)
13		Mitchell Sharp	April 20, 1968	August 7, 1974	Liberal	20 (Trudeau)
14		Allan MacEachen (1st time)	August 8, 1974	September 13, 1976	Liberal
15		Don Jamieson	September 14, 1976	June 3, 1979	Liberal
16		Flora MacDonald	June 4, 1979	March 2, 1980	Progressive Conservative	21 (Clark)
17		Mark MacGuigan	March 3, 1980	September 9, 1982	Liberal	22 (Trudeau)
(14)		Allan MacEachen (2nd time)	September 10, 1982	June 29, 1984	Liberal
18		Jean Chrétien	June 30, 1984	September 16, 1984	Liberal	23 (Turner)
19		Joe Clark	September 17, 1984	April 20, 1991	Progressive Conservative	24 (Mulroney)
20		Barbara McDougall	April 21, 1991	June 24, 1993	Progressive Conservative
21		Perrin Beatty	June 25, 1993	November 3, 1993	Progressive Conservative	25 (Campbell)

External links

• Department of Foreign Affairs: History: Introduction