List of Prime Ministers of Canada by time in office

William Lyon Mackenzie King was Canada's longest serving prime minister at 21 years, 154 days, non-consecutively.

Sir John A. Macdonald was Canada's second-longest serving prime minister at 18 years, 359 days, non-consecutively.

Pierre Trudeau was Canada's third-longest serving prime minister at 15 years, 164 days, non-consecutively.

Kim Campbell was Canada's third-shortest serving prime minister at 132 days.

John Turner was Canada's second-shortest serving prime minister at 79 days.

Sir Charles Tupper was Canada's shortest serving prime minister at 68 days.

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 April 19, 2024.

Prime ministers

      Liberal Party of Canada       Conservative Party of Canada       Historical conservative parties/Progressive Conservative Party of Canada

	Prime Minister	Incumbency	Years in power	Number of Mandates	Remarks
1	William Lyon Mackenzie King	21 years, 154 days	1921–1926, 1926–1930, 1935–1948	3 majority & 3 minority	William Lyon Mackenzie King served for three full terms in majority governments; two full terms in minority governments supported by opposition parties; and one short term under a minority government cut short by the King-Byng Affair after which he was replaced by Arthur Meighen.
2	Sir John A. Macdonald	18 years, 359 days	1867–1873, 1878–1891	6 majority	Sir John A. Macdonald served for four full terms in majority governments; his second term in a majority government was cut short by the Pacific Scandal, with Alexander Mackenzie taking over; and one term in a majority government cut short by his death, after which four others served out the end of his final term.
3	Pierre Trudeau	15 years, 164 days	1968–1979, 1980–1984	3 majority & 1 minority	Pierre Trudeau served for three full terms in majority governments and one short term in a minority government. The final months of his last term were served out by John Turner.
4	Sir Wilfrid Laurier		1896–1911	4 majority	Sir Wilfrid Laurier served for four full terms in majority governments. He served the longest uninterrupted term of any prime minister.
5	Jean Chrétien		1993–2003	3 majority	Jean Chrétien served for three full terms in majority governments. The final six months of his last term were served out by Paul Martin.
6	Stephen Harper		2006–2015	1 majority & 2 minority	Stephen Harper served for two short terms in minority governments and one full term in majority government.
7	Brian Mulroney		1984–1993	2 majority	Brian Mulroney served for two full terms in majority governments. The final months of his last term were served out by Kim Campbell.
8	Sir Robert Borden		1911–1920	2 majority	Sir Robert Borden served for two full terms in majority governments. The final year and a half of his last term were served out by Arthur Meighen.
9	Louis St. Laurent		1948–1957	2 majority	Louis St. Laurent served out the end of William Lyon Mackenzie King's last term after the latter's retirement. He then served for two full terms in majority governments.
10	John Diefenbaker		1957–1963	1 majority & 2 minority	John Diefenbaker served for one full term in a majority government and two short terms in minority governments.
11	R. B. Bennett		1930–1935	1 majority	R. B. Bennett served for one full term in a majority government.
12	Lester B. Pearson		1963–1968	2 minority	Lester B. Pearson served for two short terms in minority governments. The final months of his last term were served out by Pierre Trudeau.
13	Alexander Mackenzie		1873–1878	1 majority	Alexander Mackenzie took over from Sir John A. Macdonald's first block of terms following the Pacific Scandal. He then served for one full term in a majority government.
14	Paul Martin		2003–2006	1 minority	Paul Martin served out the end of Jean Chrétien's last term after the latter's retirement. He then served for one short term in a minority government.
15	Sir John Thompson		1892–1894	none	Sir John Thompson was the second of four prime ministers to serve out the end of Sir John A. Macdonald's last term after Macdonald's death. He was the second, and currently last prime minister of Canada to die in office. He never won an election of his own.
16	Arthur Meighen	1 year, 260 days	1920–1921, 1926	none	Arthur Meighen served out the end of Sir Robert Borden's last term after the latter's retirement. He also briefly took over from William Lyon Mackenzie King's second term following the King-Byng Affair. His party had won more seats than King in the 1925 election, but did not win a majority. King was able to keep governing with the support of the Progressives until defeated in a confidence vote. The Governor-General then appointed Meighen as prime minister, but his government was soon defeated in a confidence vote as well and lost the resultant 1926 federal electtion.
17	Sir John Abbott		1891–1892	none	Sir John Abbott was the first of four prime ministers to serve out the end of Sir John A. Macdonald's last term after Macdonald's death. Due to health reasons he did not finish the term. He never won an election of his own.
18	Sir Mackenzie Bowell		1894–1896	none	Sir Mackenzie Bowell was the third of four prime ministers to serve out the end of Sir John A. Macdonald's last term after Macdonald's death. He lost the confidence of his cabinet and resigned before the end of the term. He never won an election of his own.
19	Joe Clark		1979–1980	1 minority	Joe Clark served one short term in a minority government.
20	Justin Trudeau (incumbent)		2015–present	1 majority	Justin Trudeau is currently serving his first term leading a majority government.
21	Kim Campbell		1993	none	Kim Campbell served out the end of Brian Mulroney's last term after the latter's retirement. She never won an election of her own.
22	John Turner		1984	none	John Turner served out the end of Pierre Trudeau's last term after the latter's retirement. He never won an election of his own. He may have been one of two prime ministers who never served as a Member of Parliament or Senator during any point of his tenure as prime minister. Some sources, however, report that he was sworn in as member for Vancouver Quadra a short time before he resigned as prime minister.
23	Sir Charles Tupper		1896	none	Sir Charles Tupper was the fourth of four prime ministers to serve out the end of Sir John A. Macdonald's last term after Macdonald's death. He never won an election of his own. He was only in power during an election campaign, making him one of two prime ministers, and perhaps the only one, who never served as a Member of Parliament or Senator during any point of his tenure as prime minister.

Footnotes

^A Mackenzie King's incumbency was in three blocks: ; ; and .

^B Sir John A. Macdonald was also Premier of the Province of Canada for 250 days, giving him a total of 19 years, 244 days.

^C Macdonald's incumbency was in two blocks: and .

^D The prime ministry was vacant for ten days each in 1891 and 1894.

^E Pierre Trudeau's incumbency was in two blocks: and .

^F Meighen's incumbency was in two blocks: and days.

See also

• List of Prime Ministers of Canada
• List of Canadian political parties by time in office