List of prime ministers of Canada

Twenty-three people (twenty-two men and one woman) have served as prime ministers.

By constitutional convention, a prime minister holds a seat in parliament and, since the early 20th century, this has more specifically meant the House of Commons.

[1] The 23rd and current prime minister is Justin Trudeau, who assumed office on 4 November 2015.

The most recent former prime minister to die was Brian Mulroney, on 29 February 2024.

The office is not outlined in any of the documents that constitute the written portion of the Constitution of Canada; executive authority is formally vested in the sovereign and exercised on the sovereign's behalf by the governor general.

The prime ministership is part of Canada's constitutional convention tradition.

John A. Macdonald was commissioned by the Viscount Monck on 24 May 1867, to form the first government of the Canadian Confederation.

[3] Since 1920, the outgoing prime minister has only formally resigned when the new government is ready to be formed.

Some sources, including the Parliament of Canada, apply this convention as far back as 1917.

[5] Since Confederation, 23 prime ministers have been "called upon" by the governor general to form 29 Canadian ministries.