List of Canadian conservative leaders

This a list of leaders and Prime Ministers of Canada after Confederation who were members of federal Conservative parties.

"Tory" Parties

This a list of leaders of the Conservative Party of Canada (historical) (1867 - 1942), Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (1942 - 2003), and Conservative Party of Canada (2003 - present) ("the Tory parties"), and of Prime Ministers of Canada after Confederation who were members of those parties.

Tory Prime Ministers of Canada

Conservative (pre-1942)

• Sir John A. Macdonald (1867 – 1873, 1878 – 1891)
• Sir John Abbott (1891 – 1892)
• John Sparrow David Thompson (1892 – 1894)
• Sir Mackenzie Bowell (1894 – 1896)
• Sir Charles Tupper (1896)
• Sir Robert Borden (1911 – 1920)
• Arthur Meighen (1920 – 1921, 1926)
• R. B. Bennett (1930 – 1935)^[a]

Progressive Conservative

• John Diefenbaker (1957 – 1963)
• Joe Clark (1979 – 1980)
• Brian Mulroney (1984 – 1993)
• Kim Campbell (1993)

Conservative Party of Canada

• Stephen Harper (2006 – Present)

Tory leaders since Confederation

Conservative (pre-1942)

• Sir John A. Macdonald (July 1, 1867 – June 6, 1891)
• Sir John Abbott (June 16, 1891 – November 24, 1892)
• Sir John Thompson (December 5, 1892 – December 12, 1894)
• Sir Mackenzie Bowell (December 21, 1894 – April 27, 1896)
• Sir Charles Tupper (May 1, 1896 – February 5, 1901)
• Sir Robert Laird Borden (February 6, 1901 – July 10, 1920)
• Arthur Meighen (July 10, 1920 – September 24, 1926)
• Hugh Guthrie (October 11, 1926 – October 12, 1927 interim)
• Richard Bedford Bennett (October 12, 1927 – July 7, 1938)
• Robert Manion (July 7, 1938 – May 14, 1940)
• Richard Hanson (May 14, 1940 – November 12, 1941 interim)
• Arthur Meighen (November 12, 1941 – December 9, 1942)^[b]

Progressive Conservative

• John Bracken (December 11, 1942 – July 20, 1948)^[c]
• George Drew (October 2, 1948 – November 29, 1956)^[d]
• John George Diefenbaker (December 14, 1956 – September 9, 1967)
• Robert Stanfield (September 9, 1967 – February 22, 1976)^[e]
• Joe Clark (February 22, 1976 – February 19, 1983)
• Erik Nielsen (February 19, 1983 – June 11, 1983 interim)
• Brian Mulroney (June 11, 1983 – June 13, 1993)
• Kim Campbell (June 13, 1993 – December 14, 1993)
• Jean Charest (December 14, 1993 – April 2, 1998)
• Elsie Wayne (April 2, 1998 – November 14, 1998 interim)
• Joe Clark (November 14, 1998 – May 31, 2003)
• Peter MacKay (May 31, 2003 – December 8, 2003)

Conservative Party of Canada

• John Lynch-Staunton (December 8, 2003 – March 20, 2004) (interim)
• Stephen Harper (March 20, 2004 – present)

Other Conservative Parties

Parties that have had representation in the House of Commons

"Reform-Alliance"

Leaders of the Reform Party of Canada

• Preston Manning (October 31, 1987 – March 25, 2000)

Leaders of the Canadian Alliance

• Deborah Grey (March 27, 2000 – July 8, 2000) (interim)
• Stockwell Day (July 8, 2000 – December 12, 2001)
• John Reynolds (December 12, 2001 – March 20, 2002) (interim)
• Stephen Harper (March 20, 2002 – December 7, 2003)

Leaders of the Social Credit Party of Canada

• John Horne Blackmore (1935 – 1944)
• Solon Earl Low (1944 – 1961)
• Robert Thompson (1961 – 1967)
• Alexander Bell Patterson (1967 – 1968) (interim)
• Réal Caouette (1971 – 1976)
• André-Gilles Fortin (1976 – 1977)
• Gilles Caouette (1977 – 1978) (interim)
• Charles-Arthur Gauthier (1978) (interim)
• Lorne Reznowski (1978 – 1979)
• Charles-Arthur Gauthier (1979) (interim)
• Fabien Roy (1979 – 1980)
• Martin Hattersley (1981 – 1983)
• Ken Sweigard (1983 – 1986) (interim)
• Harvey Lainson (1986 – 1990)
• Ken Campbell (1990 – 1993)

Parties that have had no representation in the House of Commons

Leaders of the Christian Heritage Party of Canada

• Ed Vanwoudenberg (1987 – 1991)
• Charles Cavilla (1991 – 1993)
• Heather Stilwell (1993 – 1994) (interim)
• Jean Blaquière (1994 – 1995)
• Ron Gray (1995 – 2008)
• Jim Hnatiuk (2008 – present)

Leaders of the Libertarian Party of Canada

• Sieg Pedde (1973 – 1974)
• Charles 'Chuck' Lyall (1974 – 1976)
• Ron Bailey (1976 – 1978)
• Alex Eaglesham (1978 – 1979)
• Linda Cain (1980 – 1982)
• Neil Reynolds (May 1982 – 1983)
• Victor Levis (1983 – 1987)
• Dennis Corrigan (1987 – 1990)
• Stanislaw Tyminski (1990 – 1991)
• George Dance (1991 – 1993)
• Hilliard Cox (May 1993 – 1995)
• George Dance (1995 – 1996)
• Vincent Pouliot (May 12, 1996 – April 5, 1997)
• Robert Morse (1997)
• Jean-Serge Brisson (1997 - May 18, 2008)^[f][1]
• Dennis Young (May 18, 2008 - May 2011)
• Katrina Chowne (May 2011 - present)

Leaders of the Progressive Canadian Party

• Ernie Schreiber (2004 – 2005) (interim)
• Tracy Parsons (2005 – 2007)
• Sinclair Stevens (2007 – present) (interim)

Leaders of the Western Block Party

• Doug Christie (November 30, 2005 – present)

References

Notes

• ^[a] Created Viscount Bennett following his retirement from office.
• ^[b] On this occasion, Meighen failed in his attempts to win re-election to the House of Commons, so Hanson remained Leader of the Opposition throughout Meighen's term
• ^[c] Bracken did not win election to the House of Commons until 1945, so Hanson remained Leader of the Opposition until January 1943, when he was replaced by Gordon Graydon
• ^[d] On two occasions when Drew was too ill to perform his duties, William Earl Rowe served as Leader of the Opposition
• ^[e] Michael Starr served as Leader of the Opposition until November 5, 1967, when Stanfield, who had previously been premier of Nova Scotia, won election to Parliament
• ^[f] Brisson led the party on an interim basis prior to being elected at a delegated convention in 2000.

Leaders of the Conservative Party of Canada and its antecedents Liberal-Conservative (1867–1873) Macdonald Conservative (1873–1942) Macdonald • Abbott • Thompson • Bowell • Tupper • Borden • Meighen • Bennett • Manion • Meighen Progressive Conservative (1942–2003) Bracken • Drew • Diefenbaker • Stanfield • Clark • Mulroney • Campbell • Charest • Clark • MacKay Reform (1987–2000) Manning Canadian Alliance (2000–2003) Day • Harper Conservative (2003–present) Harper

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