Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition
Chef de la loyale opposition de Sa Majesté | |
---|---|
Style | The Honourable |
Residence | Stornoway |
Term length | While leader of the largest party not in government |
Inaugural holder | Alexander Mackenzie |
Formation | March 6, 1873 |
Succession | 14th in order of precedence |
Deputy | Vacant |
Salary | $255,300 (2017)[1] |
The Leader of His Majesty's Loyal Opposition (French: chef de la loyale opposition de Sa Majesté) is the leader of Canada's Official Opposition. It is the party possessing the most seats in the House of Commons that is not the governing party or part of the governing coalition.
The former interim Leader of the Opposition was Candice Bergen, M.P. since Erin O'Toole's resignation in February 2022. Pierre Poilievre is the current Leader of the Opposition.
Leader of the Opposition | Party | Took office[2] | Left office[2] | Prime Minister | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Alexander Mackenzie 1st time |
Liberal | March 6, 1873 | November 5, 1873 | John A. Macdonald | ||
2 | John A. Macdonald | Liberal-Conservative | November 6, 1873 | October 16, 1878 | Alexander Mackenzie | ||
(1) | Alexander Mackenzie 2nd time |
Liberal | October 17, 1878 | April 27, 1880 | John A. Macdonald | ||
– | vacant | Liberal | April 28, 1880 | May 3, 1880 | |||
3 | Edward Blake | Liberal | May 4, 1880 | June 2, 1887 | |||
– | vacant | Liberal | June 3, 1887 | June 22, 1887 | |||
4 | Wilfrid Laurier 1st time |
Liberal | June 23, 1887 | July 10, 1896 | |||
John Abbott | |||||||
John Sparrow David Thompson | |||||||
Mackenzie Bowell | |||||||
Charles Tupper | |||||||
5 | Charles Tupper[NB 1] | Conservative (historical) | July 11, 1896 | February 5, 1901 | Wilfrid Laurier | ||
6 | Robert Borden | Conservative (historical) | February 6, 1901 | October 9, 1911 | |||
(4) | Wilfrid Laurier 2nd time |
Liberal | October 10, 1911 | February 17, 1919[NB 2] | Robert Borden | ||
7 | Daniel Duncan McKenzie (acting)[NB 3] | Liberal | February 17, 1919 | August 7, 1919 | |||
8 | William Lyon Mackenzie King 1st time |
Liberal | August 7, 1919 | December 28, 1921 | |||
Arthur Meighen | |||||||
9 | Arthur Meighen[NB 4] | Conservative (historical) | December 29, 1921 | June 28, 1926 | William Lyon Mackenzie King | ||
(8) | William Lyon Mackenzie King 2nd time |
Liberal | June 29, 1926 | September 24, 1926 | Arthur Meighen | ||
– | vacant[NB 5] | Conservative (historical) | September 25, 1926 | October 10, 1926 | William Lyon Mackenzie King | ||
10 | Hugh Guthrie[NB 6] | Conservative (historical) | October 11, 1926 | October 11, 1927 | |||
11 | Richard Bedford Bennett 1st time |
Conservative (historical) | October 12, 1927 | August 6, 1930 | |||
(8) | William Lyon Mackenzie King 3rd time |
Liberal | August 7, 1930 | October 22, 1935 | R. B. Bennett | ||
(11) | Richard Bedford Bennett 2nd time |
Conservative (historical) | October 23, 1935 | July 6, 1938 | William Lyon Mackenzie King | ||
12 | Robert Manion | Conservative (historical) | July 7, 1938 | May 13, 1940 | |||
13 | Richard Hanson (acting)[NB 7] | Conservative (historical), then Progressive Conservative[NB 8] |
May 14, 1940 | January 1, 1943 | |||
14 | Gordon Graydon (acting)[NB 9] | Progressive Conservative | January 1, 1943 | June 10, 1945 | |||
15 | John Bracken | Progressive Conservative | June 11, 1945 | July 20, 1948 | |||
– | vacant | Progressive Conservative | July 21, 1948 | October 1, 1948 | |||
16 | George A. Drew 1st time |
Progressive Conservative | October 2, 1948 | November 1, 1954 | |||
Louis St. Laurent | |||||||
17 | William Earl Rowe (acting)[NB 10] 1st time |
Progressive Conservative | November 1, 1954 | February 1, 1955 | |||
(16) | George A. Drew 2nd time |
Progressive Conservative | February 1, 1955 | August 1, 1956 | |||
(17) | William Earl Rowe (acting) 2nd time |
Progressive Conservative | August 1, 1956 | December 13, 1956 | |||
18 | John George Diefenbaker 1st time |
Progressive Conservative | December 14, 1956 | June 20, 1957 | |||
19 | Louis St. Laurent | Liberal | June 21, 1957 | January 15, 1958 | John Diefenbaker | ||
20 | Lester B. Pearson | Liberal | January 16, 1958 | April 21, 1963 | |||
(18) | John George Diefenbaker 2nd time |
Progressive Conservative | April 22, 1963 | September 8, 1967 | Lester B. Pearson | ||
21 | Michael Starr (acting)[NB 11] | Progressive Conservative | September 9, 1967 | November 5, 1967 | |||
22 | Robert Stanfield | Progressive Conservative | November 6, 1967 | February 21, 1976 | |||
Pierre Trudeau | |||||||
23 | Joe Clark 1st time |
Progressive Conservative | February 22, 1976 | June 3, 1979 | |||
24 | Pierre Elliott Trudeau | Liberal | June 4, 1979 | March 2, 1980 | Joe Clark | ||
(23) | Joe Clark 2nd time |
Progressive Conservative | March 3, 1980 | February 1, 1983 | Pierre Trudeau | ||
25 | Erik Nielsen (acting)[NB 12] | Progressive Conservative | February 2, 1983 | August 28, 1983 | |||
26 | Brian Mulroney | Progressive Conservative | August 29, 1983 | September 16, 1984 | |||
John Turner | |||||||
27 | John Turner | Liberal | September 17, 1984 | February 7, 1990 | Brian Mulroney | ||
28 | Herb Gray (acting)[NB 13] | Liberal | February 8, 1990 | December 20, 1990 | |||
29 | Jean Chrétien | Liberal | December 21, 1990 | October 24, 1993 | |||
Kim Campbell | |||||||
30 | Lucien Bouchard | Bloc Québécois | October 25, 1993 | January 14, 1996 | Jean Chrétien | ||
31 | Gilles Duceppe (acting)[NB 14] 1st time |
Bloc Québécois | January 15, 1996 | February 16, 1996 | |||
32 | Michel Gauthier | Bloc Québécois | February 17, 1996 | March 14, 1997 | |||
(31) | Gilles Duceppe 2nd time |
Bloc Québécois | March 15, 1997 | June 1, 1997 | |||
33 | Preston Manning | Reform | June 2, 1997 | March 26, 2000 | |||
34 | Deborah Grey (acting)[NB 15] | Canadian Alliance | March 27, 2000 | September 10, 2000 | |||
35 | Stockwell Day | Canadian Alliance | September 11, 2000 | December 11, 2001 | |||
36 | John Reynolds (acting)[NB 16] | Canadian Alliance | December 12, 2001 | May 20, 2002 | |||
37 | Stephen Harper 1st time |
Canadian Alliance | May 21, 2002 | January 8, 2004 | |||
Paul Martin | |||||||
38 | Grant Hill (acting)[NB 17] | Canadian Alliance | January 9, 2004 | February 1, 2004 | |||
(38) | Conservative | February 2, 2004[NB 18] | March 19, 2004 | ||||
(37) | Stephen Harper 2nd time |
Conservative | March 20, 2004 | February 5, 2006 | |||
39 | Bill Graham[NB 19] | Liberal | February 6, 2006 | December 1, 2006 | Stephen Harper | ||
40 | Stéphane Dion | Liberal | December 2, 2006 | December 9, 2008 | |||
41 | Michael Ignatieff[NB 20] | Liberal | December 10, 2008 | May 1, 2011 | |||
42 | Jack Layton | New Democratic | May 2, 2011 | August 22, 2011[NB 2] | |||
43 | Nycole Turmel | New Democratic | August 23, 2011[NB 21] | March 23, 2012 | |||
44 | Thomas Mulcair | New Democratic | March 24, 2012 | November 4, 2015 | |||
45 | Rona Ambrose[NB 22] | Conservative | November 5, 2015 | May 27, 2017 | Justin Trudeau | ||
46 | Andrew Scheer | Conservative | May 27, 2017 | August 24, 2020 | |||
47 | Erin O'Toole | Conservative | August 24, 2020 | February 2, 2022 | |||
48 | Candice Bergen | Conservative | February 2, 2022 | September 10, 2022 | |||
49 | Pierre Poilievre | Conservative | September 10, 2022 | Incumbent |