Leader of the Government in the Senate (Canada)

Leader of the Government in the Senate Leader du gouvernement au Sénat
Incumbent vacant since 4 November 2015
Style	The Honourable
Member of	Senate of Canada Cabinet of Canada (often, though not always)
Reports to	Prime Minister of Canada
Appointer	Prime Minister of Canada
Formation	1 July 1867
First holder	Alexander Campbell

The Leader of the Government in the Senate (French: Leader du gouvernement au Sénat) is a Senator who leads the Government side in the Canadian Senate and is chiefly responsible for promoting and defending the Government's program in the Upper House. The government leader's counterpart on the Opposition benches is the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate. The Leader of the Government in the Senate is selected by the Prime Minister, and comes from the party that forms the Government in the Canadian House of Commons regardless of whether or not that party commands a majority or plurality in the Senate. The position has almost always been held by a cabinet minister, except briefly in 1926, from 1958–63 and since 2013.

At present, due to current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's 2014 decision to remove senators from the Liberal Party of Canada caucus, leaving them all effectively sitting as independent senators, no Leader of the Government in the Senate has been named in the 42nd Canadian Parliament. The situation has created some uncertainty about how the Senate will function, and how government legislation will be brought to the Senate. It is currently expected that a government leader will be named by an internal decision of the Senate Liberal caucus in early 2016.

History

Early Canadian cabinets included several senators who would be answerable to the Senate for Government actions, one of whom would serve as de facto Government Leader in the Senate. In the nineteenth century, it was not considered unusual for a senator to be Prime Minister. Sir John Joseph Caldwell Abbott and Sir Mackenzie Bowell served as prime minister from the Senate. Abbott and Bowell both found it difficult to lead the Government from the Senate, however, and over time, the perceived legitimacy of the Senate declined. Today, it is rare for senators to occupy prominent positions in Cabinet. From 1935 on, it was typical for a Cabinet to have only one senator who would have the position of minister without portfolio alongside the position of Leader of the Government in the Senate.

There have been a few rare occasions when the Leader of the Government in the Senate was not included in the Cabinet by virtue of a separate ministerial appointment, such as William Benjamin Ross who served in the position in 1926, and Walter Morley Aseltine and Alfred Johnson Brooks who were not included in the Cabinets of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker from 1958-1963. In 1968, the position of Leader of the Government in the Senate became an official cabinet position in its own right with the appointment of Paul Martin, Sr. (father of Canada's future prime minister, Paul Martin). From July 2013, under prime minister Stephen Harper, the government leader in the Senate was again a non-cabinet minister.

Occasionally, senators still hold senior cabinet positions (other than the Leader of the Government in the Senate) in order to ensure regional balance in Cabinet if the governing party is unable to elect members in a particular region or province, e.g., when the Progressive Conservative Party formed the government under the leadership of Joe Clark in 1979, and when the Liberal Party formed the government under the leadership of Pierre Trudeau in 1980. However, it is usually the case that the Leader of the Government in the Senate is the sole senator serving in Cabinet.

The responsibilities of the Leader of the Government in the Senate include:

1. Planning and managing the government's legislative program in the Senate
2. Answering all questions for the government during the Senate's Question Period
3. Maintaining relations with the opposition on all matters concerning Senate activities
4. Working with the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons to ensure the effective coordination of the government's legislative programme.

The government side in the Senate is the party that forms the government in the Canadian House of Commons. This means that the government party in the Senate may have fewer seats than the Opposition, particularly when a general election results in a new party forming government.

Leaders of the Government in the Senate

Key:

  Liberal Party of Canada

  Progressive Conservative Party of Canada

  Conservative Party of Canada

Leader in the Senate		Term of office		Prime Minister (Ministry)	Party
	Alexander Campbell (1st time)	July 1, 1867	November 5, 1873	Sir John A. Macdonald (1)	Liberal-Conservative
	Luc Letellier de St-Just	November 5, 1873	December 14, 1876	Alexander Mackenzie (2)	Liberal
	Sir Richard William Scott (1st time)	December 14, 1876	October 7, 1878
	Alexander Campbell (2nd time)	October 18, 1878	January 26, 1887	Sir John A. Macdonald (3)	Conservative
	Sir John Joseph Caldwell Abbott	May 12, 1887	6 June 1891
		16 June 1891	October 30, 1893	Himself (4)
	Sir Mackenzie Bowell	October 31, 1893	December 12, 1894	Sir John Thompson (5)
		December 21, 1894	April 27, 1896	Himself (6)
		April 27, 1896	August 19, 1896	Sir Charles Tupper (7)
	Sir Oliver Mowat	August 19, 1896	November 18, 1897	Sir Wilfrid Laurier (8)	Liberal
	David Mills	November 18, 1897	February 7, 1902
	Sir Richard William Scott (2nd time)	December 14, 1902	1908
	Sir Richard John Cartwright	1909	October 6, 1911
	Sir James Alexander Lougheed	October 10, 1911	October 12, 1917	Sir Robert Borden (9/10)	Conservative
		October 12, 1917	10 July 1920		Unionist Party
		10 July 1920	December 28, 1921	Arthur Meighen (11)	Conservative
	Raoul Dandurand (1st time)	December 29, 1921	June 28, 1926	William Lyon Mackenzie King (12)	Liberal
	William Benjamin Ross	June 28, 1926	September 24, 1926	Arthur Meighen (13)	Conservative
	Raoul Dandurand (2nd time)	September 25, 1926	August 6, 1930	William Lyon Mackenzie King (14)	Liberal
	Wellington Bartley Willoughby	August 7, 1930	February 3, 1932	R. B. Bennett (15)	Conservative
	Arthur Meighen	February 3, 1932	October 22, 1935
	Raoul Dandurand (3rd time)	October 23, 1935	March 11, 1942	William Lyon Mackenzie King (16)	Liberal
	James Horace King	May 26, 1942	August 24, 1945
	Wishart McLea Robertson	August 24, 1945	November 15, 1948
		November 15, 1948	October 14, 1953	Louis St. Laurent (17)
	William Ross Macdonald (1st time)	October 14, 1953	June 20, 1957
	John Thomas Haig	October 9, 1957	May 11, 1958	John Diefenbaker (18)	Progressive Conservative
	Walter Morley Aseltine	May 12, 1958	August 31, 1962
	Alfred Johnson Brooks	August 31, 1962	April 21, 1963
	William Ross Macdonald (2nd time)	April 22, 1963	February 2, 1964	Lester B. Pearson (19)	Liberal
	John Joseph Connolly	February 3, 1964	April 20, 1968
	Paul Joseph James Martin	April 20, 1968	August 7, 1974	Pierre Trudeau (20)
	Ray Perrault (1st time)	August 8, 1974	June 3, 1979
	Jacques Flynn	June 4, 1979	March 2, 1980	Joe Clark (21)	Progressive Conservative
	Ray Perrault (2nd time)	March 3, 1980	September 29, 1982	Pierre Trudeau (22)	Liberal
	Bud Olson	September 30, 1982	June 29, 1984
	Allan MacEachen	June 30, 1984	September 16, 1984	John Turner (23)
	Dufferin Roblin	September 17, 1984	June 29, 1986	Brian Mulroney (24)	Progressive Conservative
	Lowell Murray	June 30, 1986	June 24, 1993
		June 24, 1993	November 3, 1993	Kim Campbell (25)
	Joyce Fairbairn	November 4, 1993	June 10, 1997	Jean Chrétien (26)	Liberal
	Alasdair Bernard Graham	June 11, 1997	October 3, 1999
	J. Bernard Boudreau	October 4, 1999	January 8, 2001
	Sharon Carstairs	January 9, 2001	December 11, 2003
	Jack Austin	December 12, 2003	February 6, 2006	Paul Martin (27)
	Marjory LeBreton	February 6, 2006	July 14, 2013	Stephen Harper (28)	Conservative
	Claude Carignan	August 20, 2013	November 3, 2015
	vacant	November 4, 2015	present	Justin Trudeau (29)	Liberal

Notes

References

• Parliament of Canada biography of current Leader of the Government in the Senate

See also

• Leader of the Opposition in the Senate (Canada)