Premier (Canada)

In Canada, a premier is the head of government of a province or territory. Though the word is merely a synonym for prime minister, it is employed for provincial prime ministers to differentiate them from the Prime Minister of Canada. There are currently 10 provincial premiers and three territorial premiers. These persons are styled The Honourable only while in office,^[1] unless they are admitted to the Queen's Privy Council for Canada, in which case they retain the title even after leaving the premiership.

The prime minister – premier distinction does not exist in French, with both federal and provincial first ministers being styled premier/première ministre.

Contents

• 
  1 Name
  


• 
  2 Role
  


• 
  3 Current premiers
  


• 
  4 Timeline
  


• 
  5 See also
  


• 
  6 References
  

Name

In a number of provinces, premiers were previously known by the title prime minister, with premier being an informal term used to apply to all prime ministers, even the Prime Minister of Canada. This practice was eventually phased out to avoid confusing the provincial leaders with the federal prime minister, as well as to indicate the distinct nature of the provincial offices. Officially, the last such case outside Quebec was that of W. A. C. Bennett, who served as Premier of British Columbia and styled himself as prime minister until leaving office in 1972. The title premier is not granted by any written law. The formal name of the government position held by the premier is President of the Executive Council or some similar term, but that formal term is rarely used.

In Canadian French, the head of government of a province or territory is called premier ministre: the French language does not have a synonym for prime minister. In Quebec, this designation is often translated to prime minister in English. The designation, however, is not exclusive. When they visit Quebec or are described by the Quebec government or many Quebec media, all the other heads of government of the other provinces are also called prime minister in the English version of the official French texts. The name of the province is always added to avoid confusion.

The terms prime minister and premier come from the United Kingdom, where there is only one prime minister/premier. Prime ministers of constituent countries in the UK are titled first minister. Collectively, Canada's federal prime minister and the premiers are collectively referred to as first ministers, another synonym of British origin.

Role

Under Canada's system of responsible government, the premier is both a member of the provincial legislative assembly and the head of the executive. The premier normally holds a seat in the legislative assembly, being elected in one of the electoral constituencies of the province. The leader of the party which commands a majority in the assembly is then legally appointed the premier by the lieutenant governor, representing the Canadian monarch in right of the province. While most often the leader of the largest party in the provincial legislature is invited to become premier, this is not always the case, the most recent occurring after the 2018 general election in New Brunswick.

Premiers advise the lieutenant governor on whom to appoint to the cabinet and they guide legislation through the legislature. Premiers thus exercise a significant amount of power within the Canadian federation, especially in regard to the federal government. In many ways they remain the most effective representatives of provincial interests to the federal government, as parliament's strong party discipline and other factors have impaired provincial representation there. This reality is acknowledged in annual "first ministers conferences" in which the federal prime minister and the 10 premiers meet to discuss provincial-federal relations. The Meech Lake Accord proposed that these meetings be constitutionally mandated, and some premiers have even proposed that these meetings become a formal branch of government, active in the legislative process (see Council of the Federation). However, only one Canadian provincial premier has ever gone on to serve as prime minister: Sir John Thompson. Canada's first and sixth prime ministers (Sir John A. Macdonald and Sir Charles Tupper) had also been co-premier and premier of British provinces that became part of Canada, but no one who has led a victorious general election campaign in a Canadian province has ever been prime minister.

Canada's three territories have premiers as well, though they are technically known as "government leaders". The Premier of Yukon is chosen in the usual fashion, but the premiers of Nunavut and Northwest Territories are selected from within the small and non-partisan elected territorial councils.

Current premiers

Main article: List of current Canadian first ministers

First minister	Jurisdiction	Order	Party		Incumbency	First mandate began	Current mandate began	Parlia- ment	Refer- ence
Provinces – Provincial premiers
Doug Ford	Ontario	26th		Progressive Conservative	7002212000000000000♠212 days	2018 election	2018 election	42nd	[2]
François Legault	Quebec	32nd		Coalition Avenir Québec	7002101000000000000♠101 days	2018 election	2018 election	42nd	[3]
Stephen McNeil	Nova Scotia	28th		Liberal	7003192300000000000♠5 years, 97 days	2013 election	2017 election	62nd	[4]
Blaine Higgs	New Brunswick	34th		Progressive Conservative	7001790000000000000♠79 days	2018 designation	2018 designation	59th	[5]
Brian Pallister	Manitoba	22nd		Progressive Conservative	7002999000000000000♠2 years, 269 days	2016 election	2016 election	41st	[6]
John Horgan	British Columbia	36th		New Democratic	7002558000000000000♠1 year, 193 days	2017 designation	2017 designation	41st	[7]
Wade MacLauchlan	Prince Edward Island	32nd		Liberal	7003143400000000000♠3 years, 338 days	2015 designation	2015 election	65th	[8]
Scott Moe	Saskatchewan	15th		Saskatchewan Party	7002359000000000000♠359 days	2018 designation	2018 designation	28th	[9]
Rachel Notley	Alberta	17th		New Democratic	7003134400000000000♠3 years, 248 days	2015 election	2015 election	29th	[10]
Dwight Ball	Newfoundland and Labrador	13th		Liberal	7003114000000000000♠3 years, 44 days	2015 election	2015 election	48th	[11]
Territories – Territorial premiers
Bob McLeod	Northwest Territories	12th		N/A (consensus government)	7003265000000000000♠7 years, 93 days	2011 election	2015 election	18th	[12]
Sandy Silver	Yukon	9th		Liberal	7002785000000000000♠2 years, 55 days	2016 election	2016 election	34th	[13]
Joe Savikataaq	Nunavut	5th		N/A (consensus government)	7002227000000000000♠227 days	2018 designation	2018 designation	5th	[14]

Timeline

See also

• Premiers of the Australian states


• 
  Governor (United States) (the head of government in the states of the United States)

References

1. 
   ^ Styles of address
   


2. 
   ^ "Office of the Premier". Government of Ontario. Archived from the original on February 9, 2013. Retrieved February 11, 2013..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
   


3. 
   ^ "Biography of the Premier". Government of Quebec. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
   


4. 
   ^ "Honourable Stephen McNeil". Government of Nova Scotia. Retrieved October 22, 2013.
   


5. 
   ^ "Premier Higgs". Government of New Brunswick. October 7, 2014. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
   


6. 
   ^ "Office of the Premier". Government of Manitoba. Retrieved May 12, 2016.
   


7. 
   ^ "Office of the Premier". Government of British Columbia. Retrieved February 11, 2013.
   


8. 
   ^ "Office of the Premier of Prince Edward Island". Government of Prince Edward Island. Retrieved February 23, 2015.
   


9. 
   ^ "Premier Scott Moe". Government of Saskatchewan. Retrieved February 2, 2018.
   


10. 
    ^ "Premier". Government of Alberta. Retrieved May 24, 2015.
    


11. 
    ^ "Office of the Premier". Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
    


12. 
    ^ "Premier Bob McLeod – Biography". Government of the Northwest Territories. Retrieved February 11, 2013.
    


13. 
    ^ "Office of the Premier". Government of Yukon. Retrieved February 11, 2013.
    


14. 
    ^ "Longtime politician Paul Quassa chosen new premier of Nunavut". CTV News, November 17, 2017.
    

v t e Politics of the provinces and territories of Canada
This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Canada
Executive (The Crown) Sovereign in the provinces BC AB SK MB ON QC NB NS PEI NL Lieutenant Governors BC AB SK MB ON QC NB NS PEI NL Commissioners YU NT NU Premiers BC AB SK MB ON QC NB NS PEI NL YU NT NU
Legislative Legislatures BC AB SK MB ON QC NB NS PEI NL YU NT NU Elections BC AB SK MB ON QC NB NS PEI NL YU NT NU
Politics of Canada Regions Political culture Foreign relations Politics portal Judiciary

v t e .mw-parser-output .navbox-canada .navbox-title,.mw-parser-output .navbox-canada th,.mw-parser-output .navbox-canada .navbox-group,.mw-parser-output .navbox-canada .navbox-abovebelow,.mw-parser-output .navbox-canada .navbox-subgroup,.mw-parser-output .navbox-canada .navbox-odd,.mw-parser-output .navbox-canada .navbox-even{background-color:white}.mw-parser-output .navbox-canada .navbox-list .collapsible .navbox-title{box-shadow:inset 1px 1px 0 #C00,inset -1px -1px 0 #C00}.mw-parser-output .navbox-canada-a{box-shadow:inset 1px 1px 0 #C00,inset -1px -1px 0 #C00}.mw-parser-output .navbox-canada-t{box-shadow:inset 0 1px 0 0 #C00}.mw-parser-output .navbox-canada-b{box-shadow:inset 0 -1px 0 0 #C00}.mw-parser-output .navbox-canada-tb{box-shadow:inset 0 1px 0 0 #C00,inset 0 -1px 0 0 #C00} Lists of Canadian first ministers
Cross-Canada	Current Women Asian-Canadians
Federal	Canada Province of Canada (historical)
Provincial	British Columbia Alberta Saskatchewan Manitoba Ontario Quebec New Brunswick Prince Edward Island Nova Scotia Newfoundland and Labrador
Territorial	Yukon Northwest Territories Nunavut
Portal:Canadian politics

This page is only for reference, If you need detailed information, please check here