Leader of The Government in The House of Commons - List of Officeholders

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.

Key:

Liberal Party of Canada Progressive Conservative Party of Canada Conservative Party of Canada

House Leader		Other office held	Term of office		Prime Minister (Ministry)
	Ian Alistair Mackenzie	Minister of Pensions and National Health	October 14, 1944	October 17, 1944	King (16)
		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	St. Laurent (17)
	Walter Edward Harris	Minister of Citizenship and Immigration	May 9, 1953	June 30, 1954
		Minister of Finance	July 1, 1954	April 12, 1957
	Howard Charles Green	Minister of Public Works	October 14, 1957	June 3, 1959	Diefenbaker (18)
		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	May 16, 1963	December 21, 1963	Pearson (19)
	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	September 12, 1968	September 23, 1970	Trudeau (20)
	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	June 4, 1979	March 2, 1980	Clark (21)
	Yvon Pinard	President of the QPCC	March 3, 1980	June 29, 1984	Trudeau (22)
	André Ouellet	President of the QPCC (also Minister of Labour)1	June 30, 1984	November 4, 1984	Turner (23)
	Ramon John Hnatyshyn2	Minister of State (Government House Leader)	November 5, 1984	February 26, 1985	Mulroney (24)
		President of the QPCC	February 27, 1985	June 29, 1986
	Don Mazankowski	President of the QPCC (also Deputy PM)3	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	June 25, 1993	November 3, 1993	Campbell (25)
	Herb Gray	Solicitor General	November 4, 1993	April 27, 1997	Chrétien (26)
	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"	December 12, 2003	July 20, 2004	Martin (27)
	Tony Valeri	Minister of State styled as LGHC	July 20, 2004	January 23, 2006
	Rob Nicholson	Minister for Democratic Reform	February 6, 2006	January 4, 2007	Harper (28)
	Peter Van Loan (1st time)	Minister for Democratic Reform	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.