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Canada's Longest Serving Prime Ministers

On Friday March 14th 2025, Justin Trudeau resigned as prime minister of Canada and Mark Carney swore his oath to replace him. Trudeau has served as prime minister since November 4th 2014 and his ministry includes one majority government and two minority governments. Trudeau's resignation concludes his term after 3418 days. This ranks him 7th out of the 24 prime ministers in Canadian history, in terms of length of service.


His replacement, Mark Carney, is currently last in terms of length in office. Given he only waited 9 days before calling a general election and opted for the earliest possible election date, April 28th 2025, if he were to lose he would remain last in the rankings. It would not be enough to surpass the 68 days of Sir Charles Tupper who resigned following a cabinet revolt. An aggregation of polls, as seen on 338Canada, currently has the Carney-led Liberals ahead of the Conservatives both in popular vote and in projected seats.


The longest serving PM in Canada’s nearly 158 year long history has been William Lyon Mackenzie King. Spanning 3 separate ministries, his almost 21-and-a-half year tenure will likely not be surpassed for a long time - if ever. Mackenzie King was prime minister prior and in the latter half of the great depression and during the entire second world war, until he retired in 1948.


Although highly unlikely, there is nothing preventing the multiple previous prime ministers still alive today from running again and increasing their time in office, should they win. There are currently six prime ministers alive: Kim Campbell (1947-), Jean Chrétien(1934-), Paul Martin(1938-), Stephen Harper (1959-) , Justin Trudeau (1971-), Mark Carney(1965-).


The transition and election comes at a pivotal time. Since the change in administration in the United States early this year, the historically close relationship between two great allies has been tumultuous at best. Between multiple announced tariffs, the threat of even more, and constant rhetoric of economic annexation from the US president - Canadians are certainly vexed. Who will we choose to lead us through the next negotiations?


Takeaways


  • Trudeau’s resignation and prior prorogation killed many bills that were not passed including the capital gains inclusion increase.
  • Mark Carney’s background in economics - having been governor of the Bank of Canada and governor of the Bank of England - is a stark contrast to Trudeau’s prior experience.
  • The trade war that overshadows this transition is the #1 business issue right now for all Canadians.
  • We’ll dive deeper into the effects of the trade war over the next few months - but it’s undeniably having a very wide impact across industries, even some that may not be as directly linked.