List of Prime Ministers of Canada By Time in Office

List Of Prime Ministers Of Canada By Time In Office

Prime ministers of Canada do not have a fixed term of office; instead, they may stay in office as long as their government is supported by parliament under a system of responsible government. Both the number of terms served and the length of individual terms have varied considerably since Confederation. Historically, elections have been held every three to five years, although since 2006 a government act set fixed election days every four years unless parliament is dissolved earlier by the Governor General. Prime ministers can be re-elected to serve any number of consecutive mandates, and some have served up to six terms, while several others have served for less than one full term. There are also four prime ministers who served multiple non-consecutive terms in the office.

Of the prime ministers who served less than one full term, two of them, Joe Clark and Paul Martin, had their time in office cut short by the collapse of a minority parliament and the subsequent election of the opposition party. In all other cases of short tenure, a new prime minister was put in place for the last few months of their predecessor's mandate—usually to try to gain support from the electorate before an election—but were subsequently defeated by the opposition party. The preceding Prime Minister always stays in office during an election campaign, and that time is included in the total. The first day of a Prime Minister's term is counted in the total, but the last day is not. This list is accurate as of December 3, 2012.

Read more about List Of Prime Ministers Of Canada By Time In Office:  Prime Ministers, Footnotes

Famous quotes containing the words list of, list, prime, ministers, canada, time and/or office:

    Feminism is an entire world view or gestalt, not just a laundry list of women’s issues.
    Charlotte Bunch (b. 1944)

    The advice of their elders to young men is very apt to be as unreal as a list of the hundred best books.
    Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841–1935)

    Ye elms that wave on Malvern Hill
    In prime of morn and May,
    Recall ye how McClellan’s men
    Here stood at bay?
    Herman Melville (1819–1891)

    ... the black girls didn’t get these pills because their black ministers were up on the pulpit saying that birth control pills were black genocide. What I’m saying is that black men have exploited black women.... They didn’t want them to have any choice about their reproductive health. And if you can’t control your reproduction, you can’t control your life.
    Joycelyn Elders (b. 1933)

    Though the words Canada East on the map stretch over many rivers and lakes and unexplored wildernesses, the actual Canada, which might be the colored portion of the map, is but a little clearing on the banks of the river, which one of those syllables would more than cover.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    Once we have found ourselves, we must understand how from time to time to lose—and then to find—ourselves once again: assuming, that is, that we are thinkers. For a thinker it is a drawback to be bound to a single person all the time.
    Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)

    Teaching is the perpetual end and office of all things. Teaching, instruction is the main design that shines through the sky and earth.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)