Every federal government since 1925

Welcome to the first issue of Gov Scoreboard.

Gov Scoreboard charts Canadian federal data back to 1925. Each issue takes one theme and shows it three ways: a chart shaded by the party in office, the Party Scoreboard (Liberal vs Conservative / PC) and the PM Scoreboard (every Prime Minister ranked). You read the numbers. You decide what they mean.

This first theme is the background itself: who held office, and for how long.

Each calendar year goes to the party, and the majority or minority status, in office for most of that year. Red is Liberal. Blue is Conservative and Progressive Conservative.

R.B. Bennett took over from Mackenzie King on August 7, 1930. King held office for most of 1930, so it counts as Liberal and Bennett's blue starts in 1931. The same rule makes 2015 Conservative: Stephen Harper held office until November 4, so Justin Trudeau's red starts in 2016.

Diagonal stripes mark minority governments. A minority government lacks a majority in the House of Commons, so it needs votes from other parties to pass laws and stay in office. Each general election sets majority or minority status, as listed by the House. Between elections, status changes when by-elections or members crossing the floor move the governing party above or below half the seats.

The 2025 election returned a Liberal minority. Later, three by-election wins and five members crossing the floor gave the Liberals a majority, reached on April 13, 2026. So 2026 is shaded as a Liberal majority. It stays provisional until October 12, when that majority passes half the year.

Minority years total 25 of 102. The longest runs are 1962 to 1967 (Diefenbaker, then Pearson), 2004 to 2010 (Martin, then Harper) and 2020 to 2025 (Justin Trudeau, then Carney).

Arrows along the top mark major events, from the 1929 stock market crash to the 2025 US tariffs on Canada. They give context, not credit or blame.

On the Party Scoreboard, 71 of the 102 calendar years from 1925 to 2026 were Liberal: 54 majority, 17 minority. The other 31 were Conservative or PC: 23 majority, 8 minority. These counts cover only 1925 to 2026, the span of the chart and the Party Scoreboard. A different start year would give different totals.

The chart shows 16 Prime Ministers: 9 Liberal and 7 Conservative or PC. Average time as Prime Minister was 8.2 years for Liberals, 4.6 for Conservatives and PCs, and 6.6 overall. The longest-serving Liberal was Mackenzie King, at 21.4 years over three terms from 1921. Among Conservatives and PCs, it was Stephen Harper, at 9.7 years. The longest single Liberal term was King's third, at 13.1 years; the longest Conservative or PC term was Harper's, at 9.7 years.

These figures count each Prime Minister's full service, including years before 1925 (King and Arthur Meighen), with Mark Carney counted to September 29, 2026.

The PM Scoreboard ranks every term by time in office, longest first, from Meighen's first term in 1920 to Carney's. A term is one unbroken stretch as Prime Minister, from swearing-in to the next Prime Minister's swearing-in.

King, Pierre Trudeau and Meighen each served more than once, so each also gets a combined row, shaded grey: 21.4 years for King, 15.4 for Pierre Trudeau and 1.7 for Meighen. A combined row repeats terms already listed; it is not another government.

The longest single term is King's third: 13.1 years, from 1935 to 1948. The shortest are Meighen's second, in 1926, and John Turner's, in 1984, each under three months. Both show 0.2 years and share rank 22. Every row is ranked, and rows with the same rounded figure share a rank.

Carney is still in office. His row is counted to September 29, 2026, and grows for as long as he stays.

The chart rounds each term down to whole months, so King's third term reads 13y there and 13.1 years in the PM Scoreboard.

The Comments column names how each term ended. It lists only events documented by the House of Commons or Elections Canada, and the same test applies to every term. Of the 19 terms that have ended, 12 ended with an election loss (4 of them after a lost confidence vote), 6 when the Prime Minister resigned after the party chose a new leader, and 1, King's first, in the King-Byng affair of 1926.

Shading shows who was in office, not who caused a result. In the themes to come, world events, the Bank of Canada, the provinces and decisions made years earlier can all move the numbers. A rank puts numbers in order; it is not a verdict on anyone's record.

More on the method: How the charts work

Who we are: About Gov Scoreboard

Spot an error? Write to [email protected].

Sources: House of Commons, Procedure and Practice (4th ed., 2025): Chapter 2, Appendix 6, Appendix 12 and Appendix 13; House of Commons party standings; Elections Canada.

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