List of Prime Ministers of Canada by religious affiliation

This is a list of Prime Ministers of Canada by religious affiliation. It notes party affiliation after the name.

In early Canadian history religion played an important role in politics. The Conservative Party of Canada was composed mainly of Anglicans and conservative French Canadian Catholics while the Liberal Party of Canada was backed by reform minded French Canadian Catholics and non-Anglican English Canadians. In more recent years religion has played a background role in Canadian politics. Modern Prime Ministers have been reticent about discussing their faith.

See also Religion in Canada.

Christian (22 PMs, 39 mandates)

Roman Catholic (9 PMs, 17 mandates)

#Sir John Thompson (Conservative)
#*Born a Methodist but converted to Catholicism when he married.
#Sir Wilfrid Laurier (Liberal)
#*Strongly anti-clerical.
#Louis St. Laurent (Liberal)
#Pierre Trudeau (Liberal)
#*Believer in Catholic Personalism.
#Joe Clark (Conservative)
#John Napier Turner (Liberal)
#Brian Mulroney (Conservative)
#Jean Chrétien (Liberal)
#*Strongly anti-clerical in his youth.
#Paul Martin (Liberal)
#*Came into conflict with the Vatican over his support for the Civil Marriage Act.

Anglican (4 PMs, 8 mandates)

#Sir John A. Macdonald (Conservative)
#*Raised Presbyterian, converted in 1875.
#Sir John Abbott (Conservative)
#Sir Robert Borden [Cite web |url=http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=7998 |title=Borden, Sir Robert Laird |work=Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online |publisher=Library and Archives Canada |first=Robert Craig |last=Brown |year=2004 |accessdate=2006-12-07] (Conservative)
#*Raised Presbyterian.
#Kim Campbell (Conservative)
#*Does not attend church and once stated that she was "uneasy about organized religion"

Presbyterian (3 PMs, 6 mandates)

#Sir Mackenzie Bowell (Conservative)
#*Orange Order leader.
#Arthur Meighen (Conservative)
#*Became a major fundraiser for the Salvation Army. [Cite web |url=http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=7987 |title=Meighen, Arthur |work=Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online |publisher=Library and Archives Canada |first=Larry A. |last=Glassford |year=2004 |accessdate=2006-12-07]
#William Lyon Mackenzie King (Liberal)
#*Also a believer in various forms of mysticism.

Baptist (3 PMs, 4 mandates)

#Alexander Mackenzie (Liberal)
#Sir Charles Tupper (Conservative)
#*Born a Baptist, married an Anglican and attended that church with his family.
#*On his own sometimes attended Baptist churches.
#John Diefenbaker (Conservative)

United Church of Canada (2 PM, 3 mandates)

#Richard Bedford Bennett (Conservative)
#*Was a Methodist before that denomination merged into the United Church of Canada.
#Lester B. Pearson (Liberal)
#*Was a Methodist before that denomination merged into the United Church of Canada.

Christian and Missionary Alliance (1 PM, 1 mandate)

#Stephen Harper [Cite journal |url=http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/religion/article.jsp?content=20060220_121848_121848 |title=The church of Stephen Harper |journal=Macleans |first=Colin |last=Campbell |date=February 20, 2006 |accessdate=2006-12-07 |format=Dead link|date=May 2008] (Conservative)
#*Raised in the United Church of Canada [http://www.canadianchristianity.com/cgi-bin/na.cgi?nationalupdates/010820evangelink] .
#*Harper is the first evangelical prime minister since Diefenbaker, and has been much more willing to talk openly about religion than other Prime Ministers in the last 50 years. He ends speeches with “God bless Canada,” mimicking a practice that has long been common in the United States ("God Bless America")

References