Surveys have been conducted to construct historical rankings of individuals who have served as prime minister of Canada. These ranking systems are usually based on surveys of academic historians, economists and political scientists. The rankings focus on the achievements, leadership qualities, failures and faults in office.
Scholar survey results
Canadian custom is to count by the individuals who were prime minister, not by terms.[1] Since Confederation, 23 prime ministers have been "called upon" by the governor general to form 29 Canadian ministries.[1]
Legend
Blue backgrounds indicate first quartile.
Green backgrounds indicate second quartile.
Orange backgrounds indicate third quartile.
Red backgrounds indicate fourth quartile.
Note: Click the "sort" icon at the head of each column to view the rankings for each survey in numerical order.
^ a b c d e f g h iServed less than 2 years, 3 months as prime minister, while all others served for more than 4 years, 11 months. There is a strong correlation between time served in office and the poll rankings: the bottom quartile of the aggregate poll rankings are all in the bottom quartile of time served in office. Similarly, the top four prime ministers in terms of aggregate rankings are in the top four of time spent in office.
^ a b cRanking calculated before the prime minister had left office.
Sequence listed by first term as prime minister.
By approval rating
The following is a list of prime ministers of Canada by their highest and lowest approval rating during their term. The approval rating system came into effect when John Diefenbaker was prime minister (1957–1963).
The Institute for Research on Public Policy undertook a survey to rank the prime ministers who had served in the 50 years preceding 2003.[9] They ranked those nine prime ministers as follows:
Pearson
Mulroney
Pierre Trudeau
St. Laurent
Chrétien
Diefenbaker
Clark ^
Turner ^
Campbell ^
^ Served less than 10 months as prime minister, while all others served for more than 4 years, 11 months.
In October 2016, Maclean's again ranked the prime ministers, this time splitting them into two lists. The long-serving prime ministers were ranked as follows:
King
Laurier
Macdonald
Pierre Trudeau
Pearson
St. Laurent
Chrétien
Mulroney
Borden
Harper
Diefenbaker
Mackenzie
Bennett
The short-term prime ministers were ranked as follows:
^ a b"Prime Ministers of Canada". Library of the Canadian Parliament. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
^Hillmer, Norman and Granatstein, J. L. "Historians rank the BEST AND WORST Canadian Prime Ministers" Archived 2001-07-19 at the Wayback Machine. Maclean's. April 21, 1997. Accessed July 9, 2012.
^Hillmer, Norman and Azzi, Stephen. "Canada's best prime ministers", Maclean's, June 10, 2011. Accessed July 9, 2012.
^Azzi, Stephen and Hillmer, Norman. "Ranking Canada's best and worst prime ministers" Maclean's, October 7, 2016. Accessed June 22, 2017.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r"Éric Grenier's Leader Meter". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 2018-12-19. Archived from the original on 2021-01-27. Retrieved 2022-02-22.
^Korzinski, David (2024-04-24). "No Bounce: Liberals' hoped-for support surge in wake of under-40 targeted spending blitz has yet to materialize". Angus Reid Institute. Retrieved 2024-04-24.
^MacDonald, L. Ian. "The Best Prime Minister of the Last 50 Years — Pearson, by a landslide," Archived 2014-04-07 at the Wayback MachinePolicy Options, June–July 2003. Accessed April 3, 2014.
Further reading
Azzi, Stephen, and Norman Hillmer. "Evaluating prime-ministerial performance: The Canadian experience." in Understanding Prime-Ministerial Performance: Comparative Perspectives (2013): 242-263. online
Azzi, Stephen, and Norman Hillmer. "Ranking Prime Ministers: Canada in a Commonwealth Context." Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 49.1 (2021): 22-43. online
Schwanen, Daniel. "Ranking prime ministers of the last 50 years: The numbers speak." POLICY OPTIONS-MONTREAL 24.6 (2003): 18-23. online