Parliamentary leader (Canada)
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In Canada, a parliamentary leader typically refers to a member of Parliament who acts as the party leader when the actual leader of the party does not sit in the House of Commons. Parliamentary leaders are typically appointed in the event that the party leader loses their seat in an election but does not resign as party leader or when a party elects a new leader that has not yet been elected to a seat in the House of Commons. It is common for a party's deputy leader or house leader to take on this role. In instances where the leader of the party with Official Opposition status does not sit in the House, the parliamentary leader will automatically assume the position of leader of the Opposition.
History
[edit]The first notable instance of a parliamentary leader being appointed occurred in 1958, when Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) leader M. J. Coldwell lost his seat in the 1958 Canadian federal election. Despite facing some pressure to do so, Coldwell did not immediately resign as leader of the party, and appointed CCF MP Hazen Argue to act as the CCF party leader in the 24th Canadian Parliament. Argue served in this role until 1960, when he was eventually selected by the CCF caucus to become the actual party leader following a leadership succession crisis.
From 2011 to 2019, the leadership of the Bloc Québécois was very unstable as the party went through 7 leaders in 9 years, with many party leaders and interim leaders not holding a seat in the House of Commons for parts of their tenure as leader. As a result, the party routinely nominated a parliamentary leader, often assigning the role to the party's House Leader.
The Liberal Party often avoided appointing a parliamentary leader as each time the Liberal leader did not hold a seat in the House, the Liberals were also in government, and were able to use their governmental privileges to quickly return their leader to Parliament if necessary. William Lyon Mackenzie King lost his seat twice in general elections while serving as prime minister, and used his executive position to quickly schedule a by-election to re-enter Parliament before or very soon after the first parliamentary session began. When Mark Carney was elected as the Liberal leader and prime minister in 2025, he did not hold a seat, but requested an early dissolution of parliament, which prevented any absence in parliament as he would go on to win a seat in the subsequent general election. However, when John Turner was elected as the Liberal leader and prime minister in 1984, he did not immediately dissolve parliament, and famously attended parliamentary sittings by observing the proceedings from a viewing gallery.[1] Turner appointed Jean Chrétien (who did have a seat in the House of Commons) as his deputy prime minister, essentially making Chrétien the Liberal parliamentary leader.[2]
Notable federal parliamentary leaders
[edit]| Parliamentary leader | Term | Party caucus | Party leader | Reason for leader's absence | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| George Foster | June 16, 1891 – November 24, 1892 | Conservative | John Abbott | Led the party from the Senate | |
| December 21, 1894 – January 15, 1896 | Mackenzie Bowell | ||||
| Daniel Duncan McKenzie | August 7, 1919 – October 20, 1919 | Liberal | William Lyon Mackenzie King | Elected leader without a seat | |
| Ernest Lapointe | October 28, 1925 – February 15, 1926 | Lost seat | |||
| John Horne Blackmore | October 14, 1935 – April 6, 1944[a] | Social Credit | William Aberhart | Did not contest election | |
| William Duncan Herridge | Failed to win a seat | ||||
| April 6, 1944 – June 11, 1945 | Solon Earl Low | Elected leader without a seat | |||
| M. J. Coldwell | September 30, 1940 – March 21, 1942[b] | Co-operative Commonwealth | J. S. Woodsworth | Illness | |
| Richard Hanson | November 12, 1941 – December 9, 1942 | Conservative | Arthur Meighen | Led the party from the Senate | |
| Failed to win a seat[c] | |||||
| Gordon Graydon | January 1, 1943 – June 10, 1945 | Progressive Conservative | John Bracken | Elected leader without a seat | |
| Hazen Argue[3] | March 31, 1958 – August 11, 1960 | Co-operative Commonwealth | M. J. Coldwell | Lost seat | |
| Herbert Herridge | August 3, 1961 – October 22, 1962 | New Democratic | Tommy Douglas | Elected leader without a seat | |
| Michael Starr | September 9, 1967 – November 6, 1967 | Progressive Conservative | Robert Stanfield | Elected leader without a seat | |
| David Lewis | June 25, 1968 – February 10, 1969 | New Democratic | Tommy Douglas | Lost seat | |
| Ed Broadbent | July 8, 1974 – July 7, 1975 | New Democratic | David Lewis | Lost seat | |
| Charles-Arthur Gauthier | May 7, 1978 – May 22, 1979 | Social Credit | Lorne Reznowski | Elected leader without a seat | |
| Fabien Roy | |||||
| Erik Nielsen | June 11, 1983 – August 29, 1983 | Progressive Conservative | Brian Mulroney | Elected leader without a seat | |
| Jean Chrétien | June 30, 1984 – September 17, 1984 | Liberal | John Turner | Elected leader without a seat | |
| Herb Gray | February 8, 1990 – June 23, 1990 | Liberal | John Turner | Resigned parliamentary leadership | |
| June 23, 1990 – December 10, 1990 | Jean Chrétien | Elected leader without a seat | |||
| Elsie Wayne | November 14, 1998 – September 11, 2000 | Progressive Conservative | Joe Clark | Elected leader without a seat | |
| Bill Blaikie | January 25, 2003 – June 28, 2004 | New Democratic | Jack Layton | Elected leader without a seat | |
| Grant Hill | January 9, 2004 – March 19, 2004 | Conservative | John Lynch-Staunton | Led as interim leader from the Senate | |
| Louis Plamondon | June 2, 2011 – December 11, 2011 | Bloc Québécois | Vivian Barbot | Appointed interim leader without seat[d] | |
| December 11, 2011 – December 16, 2013 | Daniel Paillé | Elected leader without a seat | |||
| André Bellavance | December 16, 2013 – February 25, 2014 | Bloc Québécois | vacant | Vacant leadership position | |
| Jean-François Fortin | February 26, 2014 – August 12, 2014 | Bloc Québécois | |||
| Mario Beaulieu | Elected leader without a seat | ||||
| Louis Plamondon | August 12, 2014 – October 22, 2015 | Bloc Québécois | Gilles Duceppe | Appointed without a seat | |
| Gabriel Ste-Marie | March 19, 2017 – February 26, 2018 | Bloc Québécois | Martine Ouellet | Elected leader without a seat | |
| Guy Caron[4] | October 4, 2017 – February 25, 2019 | New Democratic | Jagmeet Singh | Elected leader without a seat | |
| Mario Beaulieu | January 17, 2019 – October 21, 2019 | Bloc Québécois | Yves-François Blanchet | Elected leader without a seat | |
| Elizabeth May | November 4, 2019 – October 3, 2020 | Green | Jo-Ann Roberts | Appointed interim leader without a seat | |
| October 3, 2020 – November 14, 2021 | Annamie Paul | Elected leader without a seat | |||
| November 14, 2021 – November 19, 2022 | Amita Kuttner | Appointed interim leader without a seat | |||
| Andrew Scheer[5] | May 6, 2025 – August 18, 2025 | Conservative | Pierre Poilievre | Lost seat | |
| Don Davies | April 10, 2026 – present | New Democratic | Avi Lewis | Elected leader without a seat | |
- ↑ The federal Social Credit Party lacked an official leader until 1944, with Aberhart being seen as the movement's de facto national leader until his death in 1943, and Herridge leading the alliance of the Social Credit and New Democracy parties during the 1940 Canadian federal election.
- ↑ Coldwell had been the party's de facto parliamentary leader since September 8, 1939, when Woodsworth was effectively relieved of his duties due to his opposition to Canada's entry into World War II. Woodsworth was permanently incapacitated by a stroke in September 1940, at which point Coldwell formally became parliamentary leader.
- ↑ Meighen was a senator during his first two months as party leader, then resigned from the Senate in an unsuccessful attempt to win a seat in the House of Commons; afterwards, he did not make another attempt to enter Parliament for the remainder of his leadership.
- ↑ BQ leader Gilles Duceppe lost his seat in the 2011 federal election and resigned as party leader immediately on May 2, 2011. He was replaced by interim leader Vivian Barbot who also did not win a seat in 2011.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ Major, Darren (January 14, 2025). "Can someone be prime minister if they're not an MP?". CBC News. Retrieved May 22, 2025.
- ↑ "Twenty-Third Ministry". Government of Canada. Retrieved July 14, 2025.
- ↑ Stewart, Walter (2000). M.J.: The Life and Times of M.J. Coldwell. Toronto: Stoddart Publishing Co. Ltd. ISBN 0-7737-3232-2.
- ↑ "Jagmeet Singh names Quebec MP Guy Caron as parliamentary leader". CBC News. October 4, 2017. Archived from the original on February 28, 2018. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
- ↑ Aiello, Rachel (May 6, 2025). "Poilievre pledges to listen after election loss, Scheer tapped to represent caucus in interim". CTV News. Retrieved May 20, 2025.