Surveys have been conducted in order to construct rankings that assess the success of individuals who have served as

Prime Minister of Canada The prime minister of Canada (french: premier ministre du Canada, link=no) is the head of government of Canada. Under the Westminster system, the prime minister governs with the Confidence and supply, confidence of a majority the elected Hou ...

. These historical ranking systems are usually based on surveys of academic

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

s and political scientists. The rankings focus on the achievements, leadership qualities, failures and faults in office.

Scholar survey results

;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.'' WilliamLyonMackenzieKing

Sequence listed by first term as Prime Minister. * Ranking calculated before the prime minister had left office. ^ Served 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.

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).

Highest approval rating

:1.

Jean Chrétien Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien (; born January 11, 1934) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 20th prime minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003. Born and raised in Shawinigan Falls, Quebec, Chrétien is a law graduate from Uni ...

— 66% (September 1994) :2.

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since 2 ...

— 65% (June 2016) :3.

John Diefenbaker John George Diefenbaker ( ; September 18, 1895 – August 16, 1979) was the 13th prime minister of Canada, serving from 1957 to 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative party leader between 1930 and 1979 to lead the party to an electio ...

— 64% (June 1958) :4.

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...

— 61% (March 2006) :4.

Brian Mulroney Martin Brian Mulroney ( ; born March 20, 1939) is a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993. Born in the eastern Quebec city of Baie-Comeau, Mulroney studied political sci ...

— 61% (June 1985) :6.

Paul Martin Paul Edgar Philippe Martin (born August 28, 1938), also known as Paul Martin Jr., is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 21st prime minister of Canada and the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2003 to 2006. The son o ...

— 56% (September 2004) :6.

Lester B. Pearson Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson (23 April 1897 – 27 December 1972) was a Canadian scholar, statesman, diplomat, and politician who served as the 14th prime minister of Canada from 1963 to 1968. Born in Newtonbrook, Ontario (now part of ...

— 56% (January 1966) :8.

Pierre Trudeau Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau ( , ; October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000), also referred to by his initials PET, was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada The prime mini ...

— 55% (September 1972) :9.

Kim Campbell Avril Phaedra Douglas "Kim" Campbell (born March 10, 1947) is a Canadian politician, diplomat, lawyer, and writer who served as the 19th prime minister of Canada from June 25 to November 4, 1993. Campbell is the first and so far only female p ...

— 53% (July 1993) :10. Joe Clark — 32% (November 1979)

Lowest approval rating

:1.

— 12% (November 1992) :2.

— 23% (May 2013) :3. Joe Clark — 24% (January 1980) :4.

— 25% (September 1982) :5.

— 31% (August 2019) :6.

— 34% (March 1963) :7.

— 36% (June 2000) :8.

— 41% (June 2005) :8.

— 41% (September 1965) :10.

— 48% (October 1993)

Other surveys

The Institute for Research on Public Policy undertook a survey to rank the prime ministers who had served in the 50 years preceding 2003.MacDonald, L. Ian
"The Best Prime Minister of the Last 50 Years — Pearson, by a landslide,"
''

Policy Options Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an organ ...

'', June–July 2003. Accessed April 3, 2014. 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: #Martin #Thompson #Meighen #Clark #Tupper #Abbott #Bowell #Turner #Campbell

Scholar survey results

By approval rating

Highest approval rating

Lowest approval rating

Other surveys

See also

References

Further reading