50 Fun Facts About Canadian Prime Ministers

What was Pierre Trudeau photographed doing behind Queen Elizabeth II's back at Buckingham Palace in 1977?

A pirouette was the cheeky spin Trudeau performed as leaders gathered in London for a G7 summit. Photographer Doug Ball's shot ran on front pages across Canada.

Which former justice minister from British Columbia became Canada's first female prime minister in 1993?

Kim Campbell lasted only months in the job. In that autumn's election her Progressive Conservatives fell from a majority to two seats, and she lost her own.

Which prime minister, Canada's leader throughout World War II, secretly used mediums to contact his dead mother?

Mackenzie King also claimed to have reached Leonardo da Vinci and several of his dead dogs. The séances stayed secret until after his death in 1950.

Which Kingston lawyer, the leading Father of Confederation, became Canada's first prime minister in 1867?

John A. Macdonald served 19 years in all, a total only one later prime minister has beaten, and he died in office in 1891.

Margaret Trudeau, wife of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, made headlines in 1977 by partying with which rock band?

The Rolling Stones were playing a surprise show at Toronto's El Mocambo club, billed as The Cockroaches, when she joined them. The Trudeaus separated that same year.

Which Canadian diplomat won the 1957 Nobel Peace Prize for his Suez Crisis plan and later became prime minister?

Lester B. Pearson proposed the United Nations Emergency Force that calmed the crisis. He became prime minister six years later and oversaw the adoption of the Maple Leaf flag.

Which US president sang When Irish Eyes Are Smiling on stage with Brian Mulroney at their Shamrock Summit?

Ronald Reagan joined Mulroney and both their wives for the song at a televised gala in Quebec City, a public show of how well the two leaders got along.

Which civil rights pioneer replaced Canada's first prime minister on the front of the $10 bill in 2018?

Viola Desmond, a Black businesswoman from Nova Scotia, was picked from more than 25,000 public nominations. She was the first Canadian-born woman to appear alone on a banknote.

Which Cold War leader joined Jimmy Carter as an honorary pallbearer at Pierre Trudeau's state funeral in 2000?

Fidel Castro also declared three days of national mourning in Cuba for his friend. Singer and poet Leonard Cohen was another of the honorary pallbearers.

Which former Bank of England governor became Canada's prime minister in 2025 without ever holding elected office?

Mark Carney, born in Fort Smith in the Northwest Territories, had earlier run the Bank of Canada from 2008 to 2013. He was the first non-British head of the older bank.

Which Liberal leader became Canada's first French Canadian prime minister in 1896 and governed for 15 unbroken years?

Wilfrid Laurier's run is still the longest uninterrupted term of any Canadian prime minister. He sat in the Commons for nearly 45 years, a record.

Which dictator did Canada's longest-serving prime minister travel to meet in 1937, hoping to steer him toward peace?

Adolf Hitler struck his Canadian visitor as a Wagnerian hero in whom good would win out. The prime minister went home believing the Nazi leader would bring his people a peaceful future.

Canadians too poor for gasoline in the 1930s hitched horses to their cars and named them after which prime minister?

R. B. Bennett governed from 1930 to 1935 and took the blame for the hard times. An engineless car pulled by a horse became known as a Bennett buggy.

Which prime minister from Saskatchewan passed the Canadian Bill of Rights and gave First Nations people the vote?

John Diefenbaker was born in Ontario and moved west with his family as a boy. In 1962 his government also ended racial discrimination in immigration policy.

Which emergency law did Pierre Trudeau invoke during the October Crisis of 1970, allowing arrests without trial?

The War Measures Act had never before been used in peacetime. Trudeau invoked it after Quebec separatists kidnapped a British diplomat and a provincial cabinet minister.

Which document did Pierre Trudeau add to Canada's constitution when it was brought home from Britain in 1982?

The Charter of Rights and Freedoms came with a compromise. Trudeau won over nine premiers by letting legislatures override some rights through a notwithstanding clause.

Which Beatle met Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau for 50 minutes in 1969 while on a tour for world peace?

John Lennon arrived with his wife Yoko Ono, and Trudeau became the first world leader to receive the couple. Lennon left the meeting full of praise for him.

Which profession did Justin Trudeau practise in Vancouver before returning east and entering federal politics?

A teacher of French and math at a private academy, Trudeau also worked as a substitute at public high schools in the city.

Which US-led war did Prime Minister Jean Chrétien refuse to join because it lacked United Nations approval?

The Iraq War began two days after Chrétien announced in Parliament that Canada would stay out. He gave Washington no advance warning, which soured his relations with the White House.

Which Ottawa address became the official residence of Canada's prime minister in 1951?

24 Sussex Drive needed so much repair by 2015 that Justin Trudeau, who had lived there as a boy, moved his family into Rideau Cottage instead.

Which Albertan, sworn in a day before his 40th birthday, became the youngest prime minister in Canadian history?

Joe Clark's government fell within months when Parliament voted down its first budget, which included a new tax on gasoline. A newspaper had greeted his rise with the headline Joe Who?

Prime Minister Stephen Harper stood in Parliament in 2008 to apologize to Indigenous peoples for which historic wrong?

Residential schools separated Indigenous children from their families for more than a century. Indigenous leaders were allowed onto the floor of the Commons to answer Harper in person.

Which sport is the subject of A Great Game, the history book Stephen Harper published in 2013 while prime minister?

Hockey in early twentieth-century Toronto fills the book. Harper, a Maple Leafs fan since childhood, traced how the professional game took root in the city.

Canada's first prime minister was born in 1815 in which Scottish city, before his family emigrated when he was five?

Glasgow was home only until 1820, when his father's failed business ventures pushed the family to Upper Canada, where relatives had already settled.

Which Métis leader's hanging in 1885, which Canada's first prime minister refused to stop, outraged French Canadians?

Louis Riel was convicted of treason after the North-West Rebellion. The refusal to reprieve him drove many Quebec voters away from the Conservatives and toward the Liberals.

Justin Trudeau was born on which holiday in 1971, while his father Pierre was serving as prime minister?

Christmas Day is also the birthday of his brother Alexandre, born exactly two years later. Justin was only the second child ever born to a sitting Canadian prime minister.

Which official, whose Ottawa home is Rideau Hall, formally appoints the prime minister of Canada?

The Governor General acts on behalf of the monarch, and by convention picks whoever is most likely to hold the confidence of elected MPs. No constitutional document sets out the prime minister's job.

At which royal home did Prime Minister John Thompson die in 1894, just after joining Queen Victoria's Privy Council?

Windsor Castle was where the 49-year-old suffered a fatal heart attack. Victoria staged an elaborate funeral, and a Royal Navy cruiser painted black carried his body home to Halifax.

Brian Mulroney used a little-known constitutional clause to add eight senators and force through which tax?

The Goods and Services Tax took effect on January 1, 1991, replacing a 13.5 percent tax on manufacturers that shoppers had never seen on a receipt.

Which prime minister led Canada through the First World War and brought in conscription in 1917?

Robert Borden had promised there would be no compulsory service, then reversed himself as volunteers dried up. His wartime government also gave women the vote in federal elections.

Jean Chrétien, the 18th of 19 children, proudly called himself the little guy from which Quebec hometown?

Shawinigan also gave its name to the Shawinigan handshake, the press nickname for the chokehold Chrétien put on a protester who confronted him during a 1996 walkabout.

Which constitutional deal, struck in 1987 by Brian Mulroney and all ten premiers, died unratified three years later?

The Meech Lake Accord would have recognized Quebec as a distinct society. It lapsed when the Manitoba and Newfoundland legislatures failed to approve it before the deadline.

Brian Mulroney clashed with Margaret Thatcher by leading a Commonwealth push for sanctions against which country?

South Africa was the target, then under apartheid rule. From 1985 Mulroney pressed for sanctions to win Nelson Mandela's release, while Thatcher feared for British trade.

Which Quebec lawyer was prime minister when Newfoundland joined Canada and NATO was founded in 1949?

Louis St. Laurent was so well liked that voters knew him as Uncle Louis. He was also the first prime minister to move into the official residence in Ottawa.

Which finance minister erased Canada's chronic deficit in the 1990s, then served as prime minister from 2003 to 2006?

Paul Martin shared a name with his father, a longtime cabinet minister who ran for the Liberal leadership more than once and never won it. The son had earlier run a shipping company.

Which Rhodes Scholar was prime minister for just 79 days in 1984 before losing a landslide election to Brian Mulroney?

John Turner called the election little more than a week after being sworn in. Only one prime minister, back in 1896, has had a shorter stay in office.

Which Nova Scotia doctor and Father of Confederation holds the record for the shortest term as Canadian prime minister?

Charles Tupper lasted 69 days in 1896. At 74 he was also the oldest person ever to take the job, and he outlived every other Father of Confederation.

Justin Trudeau scored an upset over Senator Patrick Brazeau in 2012 in which kind of charity contest?

A boxing match for a cancer charity brought the two together after their shared hairdresser passed on the challenge. Trudeau, the underdog, won in the third round.

Which nonsense phrase did Pierre Trudeau offer reporters in 1971 when accused of mouthing an obscenity in Parliament?

Fuddle duddle became a national catchphrase and inspired a satirical magazine and a pop single. Decades later his son Justin conceded those were not really the words he used.

Which instrument did Stephen Harper play, to a standing ovation, alongside cellist Yo-Yo Ma at a 2009 Ottawa gala?

Piano was Harper's instrument for the number at the National Arts Centre, and he also sang lead on the Beatles' With a Little Help from My Friends.

Which Hollywood star was Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau reported to be dating in 1969 and 1970?

Barbra Streisand was linked with a leader then described as a swinging young bachelor. He stayed single until 1971, when he married Margaret Sinclair.

Which city's main airport, located in the suburb of Dorval, was renamed in honour of Pierre Trudeau in 2004?

Montreal travellers still commonly call the airport Dorval, its old name. The renaming came a little over three years after Trudeau's death.

Which formal style of address do Canadian prime ministers receive on taking office and keep for life?

The Right Honourable is a style Canada also gives for life to its chief justices. In French it is le très honorable.

Which estate in Quebec's Gatineau Park is the Canadian prime minister's official summer residence and retreat?

Harrington Lake goes by a different name in French, Lac Mousseau. It is one of two official homes provided to the prime minister, the other being in Ottawa.

Which controversy over secret election funds from a businessman forced Canada's first prime minister to resign?

The Pacific Scandal broke in 1873, when it emerged that Hugh Allan had given the governing party some $360,000 while seeking a railway contract. The next government brought in secret ballots.

Which prime minister, who took office in 1891, was the first to have been born on Canadian soil?

John Abbott took over when his Scottish-born predecessor died in office, and he governed from the Senate. He was also the great-grandfather of the actor Christopher Plummer.

Stephen Harper's election wins in 2006 and 2008 both produced which type of government, ended only by his 2011 victory?

A minority government has to win support from other parties in every confidence vote. Harper's two lasted five years in all before he won more than half the seats.

Which Pierre Trudeau oil policy, introduced in 1980, was fiercely opposed by Alberta and the private sector?

The National Energy Program aimed to make Canada self-sufficient in oil, but the oil-producing West fought it until it was wound up in 1985.

In which martial art did Pierre Trudeau earn a black belt, awarded on an official visit to Japan as prime minister?

Judo was a habit Trudeau took up in his mid-thirties. The Kodokan promoted him to first-degree black belt, and an Ottawa instructor later raised him to second degree.

Which controversy over misused federal advertising money in Quebec was examined by the Gomery Commission?

The sponsorship scandal grew out of a program meant to raise the federal government's profile in Quebec. A court later struck the inquiry's findings against Jean Chrétien, ruling that its commissioner had shown bias.