Leader of the Government in the Senate (Canada)

Leader of the Government in the Senate
Ministry
Federal
Incumbent Marjory LeBreton PC
Style	The Honourable
Appointed by	Governor General of Canada
First minister	Paul Joseph James Martin
Formation	1 April 1969
Term length	At Her Majesty's pleasure

Canada
This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Canada
The Crown Sovereign (Queen Elizabeth II) Governor General of Canada (David Johnston)
Executive (Queen-in-Council) Queen's Privy Council for Canada Prime Minister (Stephen Harper) Cabinet (Twenty-Eighth Ministry) Ministries President of the Queen's Privy Council Privy Council Office Clerk of the Privy Council Government of Canada Civil Service
Legislative (Queen-in-Parliament) Parliament (Current—41st—Parliament) Senate Speaker of the Senate Government Leader in the Senate Opposition Leader in the Senate Canadian Senate divisions House of Commons Speaker of the House Government Leader in the House Opposition Leader in the House Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition Leader of the Opposition Shadow Cabinet
Elections Parliamentary constituencies Electoral system Last election (2011)
Judicial Court system Supreme Court Chief Justice (Beverley McLachlin) Constitution British North America Acts Peace, Order and Good Government Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Provinces and territories Canadian federalism Monarchy in the Canadian provinces Lieutenant governors Executive Councils Politics of the Canadian provinces Municipal government in Canada
General Regions Political culture Foreign relations Office-holders of Canada Political movements First Nations government,
Other countries Atlas Canadian politics portal

The Leader of the Government in the Senate (French: Leader du gouvernement au Sénat) is a Canadian cabinet minister 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.

History

Early Canadian cabinets included several senators who would be answerable to the Senate for government actions. 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. As time progressed, it became less common 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 and act as Government Leader in the Senate. There has only been one Leader of the Government in the Senate who was not included in the Cabinet, William Benjamin Ross who served in the position in 1926.

In 1969, 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).

Occasionally, senators still hold senior cabinet positions 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.

The current Leader of the Government in the Senate is Marjory LeBreton

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

Notes

Sources

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

See also

• Leader of the Opposition in the Senate (Canada)