Historical rankings of prime ministers of Canada

Surveys have been conducted to construct historical rankings of individuals who have served as prime minister of Canada. These ranking systems are usually based on surveys of academic historians, economists and political scientists. The rankings focus on the achievements, leadership qualities, failures and faults in office.

Expert survey results

Canadian custom is to count by the individuals who were prime minister, not by terms.^[1] Since Confederation, 24 prime ministers have been "called upon" by the governor general to form 30 Canadian ministries.^[1]

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.

Sequence^[a]	Prime Minister	Political party	Maclean's 1997^[5]	Maclean's 2011^[6]	Maclean's 2016^[7]	Aggregate ^[b]^{[original research?]}	Time in office (rank)
1	Sir John A. Macdonald	Conservative	2	2	3	03	2
2	Alexander Mackenzie	Liberal	11	13	13	13	14
3	Sir John Abbott^[c]	Conservative	17	19	20	20	18
4	Sir John Thompson^[c]	Conservative	10	14	16	15	16
5	Sir Mackenzie Bowell^[c]	Conservative	19	21	21	22	19
6	Sir Charles Tupper^[c]	Conservative	16	18	19	19	23
7	Sir Wilfrid Laurier	Liberal	3	1	2	02	4
8	Sir Robert Borden	Conservative, Unionist	7	8	9	08	9
9	Arthur Meighen^[c]	Conservative	14	16	17	17	17
10	William Lyon Mackenzie King	Liberal	1	3	1	01	1
11	R. B. Bennett	Conservative	12	12	14	14	12
12	Louis St. Laurent	Liberal	4	7	6	06	10
13	John George Diefenbaker	Progressive Conservative	13	10	12	12	11
14	Lester B. Pearson	Liberal	6	4	5	05	13
15	Pierre Elliott Trudeau	Liberal	5	5	4	04	3
16	Joe Clark^[c]	Progressive Conservative	15	17	18	18	20
17	John Turner^[c]	Liberal	18	20	22	21	22
18	Brian Mulroney	Progressive Conservative	8	9	8	09	8
19	Kim Campbell^[c]	Progressive Conservative	20	22	23	23	21
20	Jean Chrétien	Liberal	9^[d]	6	7	07	5
21	Paul Martin^[c]	Liberal	—	15	15	16	15
22	Stephen Harper	Conservative	—	11^[d]	11	11	6
23	Justin Trudeau	Liberal	—	—	10^[d]	10	7

↑ Sequence listed by first term as prime minister.
↑ Aggregate of all polls in the table using Copeland's method.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 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.
1 2 3 Ranking calculated before the prime minister had left office.

By public 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. Mark Carney — 68% (June 2025, April 2026)^[8]^[9]

2. Jean Chrétien — 66% (September 1994)^[10]

3. Justin Trudeau — 65% (September 2016)^[11]

4. John Diefenbaker — 64% (June 1958)^[10]

5. Stephen Harper — 64% (March 2006)^[10]

6. Brian Mulroney — 61% (June 1985)^[10]

7. Paul Martin — 56% (September 2004)^[10]

8. Lester B. Pearson — 56% (January 1966)^[10]

9. Pierre Trudeau — 55% (September 1972)^[10]

10. Kim Campbell — 53% (July 1993)^[10]

11. Joe Clark — 32% (November 1979)^[10]

Note: Ratings are up to date as of May 05, 2026.
Legend: Conservative Liberal Progressive Conservative

Lowest approval rating

1. Brian Mulroney — 12% (November 1992)^[10]

2. Justin Trudeau — 21% (January 2025)^[12]

3. Stephen Harper — 23% (May 2013)^[10]

4. Joe Clark — 24% (January 1980)^[10]

5. Pierre Trudeau — 25% (September 1982)^[10]

6. John Diefenbaker — 34% (March 1963)^[10]

7. Jean Chrétien — 36% (June 2000)^[10]

8. Paul Martin — 41% (June 2005)^[10]

9. Lester B. Pearson — 41% (September 1965)^[10]

10. Mark Carney — 41% (March 2025)^[13]

11. Kim Campbell — 48% (October 1993)^[10]

Note: Ratings are up to date as of May 05, 2026.
Legend: Conservative Liberal Progressive Conservative

Other surveys

Pre-2003

The Institute for Research on Public Policy undertook a survey to rank the prime ministers who had served in the 50 years preceding 2003.^[14] 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.

2016 Maclean's short vs. long-serving prime ministers

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:


Long-serving	Short-term
1. King	1. Martin
2. Laurier	2. Thompson
3. Macdonald	3. Meighen
4. Pierre Trudeau	4. Clark
5. Pearson	5. Tupper
6. St. Laurent	6. Abbott
7. Chrétien	7. Bowell
8. Mulroney	8. Turner
9. Borden	9. Campbell
10. Harper	—
11. Diefenbaker	—
12. Mackenzie	—
13. Bennett	—

Research Co. 2020s Surveys

2023

The highest percentage of respondents (38%) said Justin Trudeau was the worst prime minister since 1968, 14% said Stephen Harper, 7% said Pierre Trudeau, and 6% said Kim Campbell. For best prime minister since 1968, Pierre Trudeau received the highest percentage (18%), Stephen Harper second (16%), Brian Mulroney third (15%), and Justin Trudeau fourth (10%).^[15]

2026

Conducted on April 11–13, 2026, respondents were asked to select four individuals they considered the best and worst from a list of all 24 officeholders since Confederation.^[16]

Best prime ministers

Six prime ministers were identified by more than 20% of respondents as among the best: Pierre Trudeau (30%), Mark Carney (29%), Stephen Harper (29%), John A. Macdonald (27%), Jean Chrétien (27%), and Brian Mulroney (23%).^[16]

Older respondents more frequently selected Pierre Trudeau and Mulroney, while younger cohorts showed higher support for more recent leaders, including Carney and Justin Trudeau. Regional differences were also observed, with Macdonald leading in Ontario, Chrétien in Quebec, and Carney in Atlantic Canada.^[16]

Worst prime ministers

Justin Trudeau was selected by 47% of respondents, followed by Harper and Pierre Trudeau (23% each), Carney (21%), and Kim Campbell (20%). Justin Trudeau ranked as the most frequently selected “worst” prime minister across all age groups and regions, with higher proportions in Alberta and Ontario.^[16]

References

1 2 "Prime Ministers of Canada". Library of the Canadian Parliament. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
↑ Grenier, Éric. "Who do Canadians think was the country's best prime minister?". www.thewrit.ca. Retrieved 2025-10-25.
↑ Canseco, Mario (2023-07-21). "Pierre Best, Justin Worst as Canadians Rank Recent Prime Ministers". Research Co. Retrieved 2025-10-25.
↑ Reporter, Kevin Jiang Staff (2023-07-21). "Justin Trudeau is Canada's least-liked prime minister in 55 years, a new opinion survey finds. The favourites might surprise you". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2025-10-25.
↑ Hillmer, Norman and Granatstein, J. L. "Historians rank the BEST AND WORST Canadian Prime Ministers" Archived 2001-07-19 at the Wayback Machine. Maclean's. April 21, 1997. Accessed July 9, 2012.
↑ Hillmer, Norman and Azzi, Stephen. "Canada's best prime ministers", Maclean's, June 10, 2011. Accessed July 9, 2012.
↑ Azzi, Stephen and Hillmer, Norman. "Ranking Canada's best and worst prime ministers" Maclean's, October 7, 2016. Accessed June 22, 2017.
↑ "June 2025 Political Update". EKOS. Retrieved 2025-06-06.
↑ "Liberals ahead by 16; Approval of Carney government hits 68%". Spark* Insights. Retrieved 2026-05-05.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 "Éric Grenier's Leader Meter". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 2018-12-19. Archived from the original on 2021-01-27. Retrieved 2022-02-22.
↑ "Trudeau Tracker". Angus Reid Institute. Retrieved 2024-02-04.
↑ Coletto, David (January 9, 2025). "Post-Trudeau resignation, Conservative lead grows to 27. Freeland and Carney well ahead of others on recognizability, familiarity, and net favourable impression" (PDF). Angus Reid Institute.
↑ Coletto, David (2025-03-27). "Abacus Data Poll: Liberals take lead for the first time in years". Abacus Data. Retrieved 2025-06-06.
↑ MacDonald, L. Ian. "The Best Prime Minister of the Last 50 Years — Pearson, by a landslide," Archived 2014-04-07 at the Wayback Machine Policy Options, June–July 2003. Accessed April 3, 2014.
↑ Morneau, Ethan (2024-09-08). "Survey says: Trudeau ranked as Canada's worst prime minister since 1968". CHEK. Retrieved 2026-04-27.
1 2 3 4 Canseco, Mario (2026-04-23). "Mario Canseco: Mark Carney's first year as prime minister earns high ranking among Canadians, poll finds". Business in Vancouver. Retrieved 2026-04-27.