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Canada's Best Prime Minister: Vote On Who You Think Has Been Our Most Successful Leader

The Huffington Post Canada  |  Posted: 05/04/2012 1:51 pm Updated: 05/05/2012 10:20 am

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Best Prime Minister Canada
Vote on who you think has been Canada's best prime minister. (CP/Wikimedia)

Who has been Canada's best prime minister?

According to Brian Mulroney, it was John A. Macdonald. But we're leaving our list up to you.

Mulroney was among five former PMs honoured Thursday night in Toronto at the Public Policy Forum's annual Testimonial Dinner and Awards.

The gathering came as the Institute for Research on Public Policy released a list of Canada's best premiers since the 1970s, which gave us the idea to let you decide who our best prime minister since Confederation has been.

Vote on your favourites in the slideshow below and make sure to check back on this page to see who wins.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story indicated that the best premier's list was released by the Public Policy Forum. It was actually released by the Institute for Research on Public Policy.

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  • Vote On Canada's Best Prime Minister

    Let us know who Canada's best and worst leaders have been. (CP/<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Prime_Ministers_of_Canada" target="_hplink">Wikimedia</a>)

  • Stephen Harper

    Has served from 2006 - present. (CP)

  • Paul Martin

    Served from 2003- 2006 (CP)

  • Jean Chrétien

    Served from 1993- 2003. (CP)

  • Kim Campbell

    Served from June 25, 1993 - November 4, 1993. (CP)

  • Brian Mulroney

    Served from 1984 - 1993. (CP)

  • John Turner

    Served from June 30, 1984 - September 17, 1984. (CP)

  • Joe Clark

    Served from June 4, 1979 - March 3, 1980. (CP)

  • Pierre Trudeau

    Served from 1968 - 1979 and from 1980 - 1984. (CP)

  • Lester B. Pearson

    Served from 1963 - 1968. (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Prime_Ministers_of_Canada" target="_hplink">Wikimedia</a>)

  • John Diefenbaker

    Served from 1957 - 1963. (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Prime_Ministers_of_Canada" target="_hplink">Wikimedia</a>)

  • Louis St. Laurent

    Served from 1948 - 1957. (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Prime_Ministers_of_Canada" target="_hplink">Wikimedia</a>)

  • R. B. Bennett - 60

    Served from 1930 - 1935.(<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Prime_Ministers_of_Canada" target="_hplink">Wikimedia</a>)

  • William Lyon Mackenzie King

    Served from 1935 - 1948 and from 1926 - 1930. (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Prime_Ministers_of_Canada" target="_hplink">Wikimedia</a>)

  • Arthur Meighen

    Served from July 10, 1920 - December 29, 1921. (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Prime_Ministers_of_Canada" target="_hplink">Wikimedia</a>)

  • Sir Robert Borden

    Served from 1911 - 1920. (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Prime_Ministers_of_Canada" target="_hplink">Wikimedia</a>)

  • Sir Wilfrid Laurier

    Served from 1896 - 1911. (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Prime_Ministers_of_Canada" target="_hplink">Wikimedia</a>)

  • Sir Charles Tupper

    Served from May 1, 1896 - July 8, 1896. (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Prime_Ministers_of_Canada" target="_hplink">Wikimedia</a>)

  • Sir Mackenzie Bowell

    Served from December 21, 1894 - April 27, 1896. (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Prime_Ministers_of_Canada" target="_hplink">Wikimedia</a>)

  • Sir John Thompson

    Served from December 5, 1892 - December 12, 1894. (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Prime_Ministers_of_Canada" target="_hplink">Wikimedia</a>)

  • Sir John Abbott

    Served from June 16, 1891 - November 24, 1892. (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Prime_Ministers_of_Canada" target="_hplink">Wikimedia</a>)

  • Sir Alexander Mackenzie

    Served from 1873 - 1878. (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Prime_Ministers_of_Canada" target="_hplink">Wikimedia</a>)

  • Sir John A. Macdonald

    Served from 1867 - 1873. (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Prime_Ministers_of_Canada" target="_hplink">Wikimedia</a>)




Loading Slideshow...

  • Who Was Canada's Best Premier?

    Policy Options magazine asked 30 historians, political scientists, economists, journalists and policy advisers from across Canada to pick their top five choices for best provincial premier since 1972. Here are the answers. (CP)

  • 5. Robert Bourassa

    Bourassa served as premier of Quebec from 1970 - 1976 and then from 1985 - 1994. (CP)

  • 4. Frank McKenna

    McKenna served as premier of New Brunswick from 1987 to 1997. (CP)

  • 3. Allan Blakeney

    Blakeney served as premier of Saskatchewan from 1971 - 1982. (CP)

  • 2. William Davis

    Davis served as premier of Ontario from 1971 - 1985. (CP)

  • 1. Peter Lougheed

    Lougheed served as premier of Alberta from 1971 - 1985.<br><br> The magnitude of support for Lougheed in the survey spanned the country, with first-place votes in all regions Jury members were also asked to rate premiers according to nine questions pertaining to various aspects of leadership, such as vision and communications, fiscal and economic management, intergovernmental relations and other important files. Lougheed's ratings were higher than the others on all questions, and ranged from 4.23 on interprovincial relations to 4.77 on ability to win over voters and elections. (CP)

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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Nadine Lumley
unseatHarper circle ca
435 Fans
11:15 PM on 09/11/2012
Repost from Chris Hedges: Harper is a poster child for corporate malfeasance and corporate power, just sort of dismantling everything that’s good about Canada.

So he’s the kind of species that rises to political power and is utterly subservient to corporate interests at the expense of the citizenry.

Yeah, he’s a pretty venal figure.

http://www.straight.com/article-732826/vancouver/chris-hedges-harper-venal-us-politics-totally-rigged
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fromdnorth
OK I checked my micro-bio (didn't know I had one
1787 Fans
11:26 AM on 05/08/2012
Exactly why is Harper a choice?
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Eternityinanhour
56 Fans
07:09 AM on 06/15/2012
Um, because he's a Prime Minister of Canada, and thus should be included in a survey that ranks all the current and past Prime Ministers of Canada?
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Peter Manierka
89 and going strong
46 Fans
09:19 PM on 05/07/2012
All the dead ones are better than the dead one we have now
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Warpde
Badges? We don't need no stinking Badges.
524 Fans
07:06 PM on 05/07/2012
Unfortunately "Canada's Best Prime Minister" never made it into the office.

Tommy Douglas.
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Walter from Canada
46 Fans
11:16 AM on 05/08/2012
Have you read the theses he wrote at school?
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HUFFPOST BLOGGER
Tony Kondaks
9 Fans
03:50 PM on 05/07/2012
Paul Martin, hands down.

Canadians simply don't realize that they are the envy of the world today because of our fiscal standing. Martin, even prior to becoming Prime Minister -- as Cretien's Finance Minister -- started us down a path of 11 years of balanced/surplus budgets, resulting in a national debt that is not nearly as huge, per capita, as it is in the States.

And then when pressure was put on Harper back in '09 to keep up with the U.S. and deficit-spend our way out of the economic downturn, he was in a position to do so but only at a fraction of what the U.S. did.

Obama has added more to the debt in four years than what Bush did in 8 years. The U.S. is on the precipice of a financial disaster that they may never get out of. If that happens, the 21st century will be the Canadian Century.
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enoughcrap
2 Fans
05:06 PM on 05/07/2012
Paul Martin???? Are you serious???? Was he not part of the scam that cooked the books and balanced the federal budget by offloading it onto the provinces and caused much hardship in the maritimes, NB particularly. Would never have suggested that he was the best at anything!!!! Sorry.
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enoughcrap
2 Fans
05:10 PM on 05/07/2012
Paul Martin??? Are you serious??? Was he not involved in the scam of balancing the fed budget by off loading it onto the provinces? I really would never say that he was "the best at anything". But what do I know, I'm anglo...
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nlgirl
129 Fans
10:06 PM on 05/06/2012
If we had to name the worst PM it would be easy - definitely Harper!
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dawn kim
0 Fans
10:42 PM on 11/02/2012
That is so- true!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Taylor Jay
I don't align myself with any political party.
44 Fans
03:55 PM on 05/05/2012
Harper lowered the GST to 5 percent! He then cut every other service & raised taxes! wooo way to easy to win over Canadians.
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Walter from Canada
46 Fans
11:14 AM on 05/08/2012
Which taxes, that you have to pay, did he raise?
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NimbaCan
11 Fans
 
09:51 AM on 05/05/2012
Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau is The BEST PM Canada ever had. Without him, there would be no legal FREEDOM in this country. Thanks to him we have The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom. What a major accomplishment!

By the way, he also a mentor (trusted counselor or teacher) to Jean Chretien...

I think the Harper gov't wants to Kill that magnificent The Charter of Rights and Freedom document too...
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tkondaks
75 Fans
04:01 PM on 05/07/2012
The Charter is a horribly flawed document and what good is there doesn't seem to work so well.

Section 23 is the worst of all, a veritable entrenchment of segregation. It metes out rights based on who your parents are and what their classification is. This isn't equality; it is duality of rights and is a blemish on the whole concept of freedom.
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Eternityinanhour
56 Fans
07:14 AM on 06/15/2012
Didn't he con the Quebec Minister out of the meeting because he couldn't convince the guy to sign the charter, and thus exacerbated the alienation of Quebec?
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1canview
1092 Fans
09:48 AM on 05/05/2012
Here is some background data on Lester (Mike) Pearson.
It totally amazes me that so many don't seem to know about his time as our PM.
Here is a list of some of the things he or his party did while he was PM.

-Introduced universal healthcare.
-Introduced student loans.
-Introduced Canada Pension Plan.
-Gave Canadians a new flag.
-Introduced The Order Of Canada.
-Convened a comission on billingualism and biculturism.
-Signed US/Canada auto pact.
-Kept Canada out of Viet Nam.
-Served in WW1 as officer.
-Spent year in Canada's foreign ministry.
-Won Nobel Peace Prize for efforts in solving Suez Cricis.
-Instituted race free immigration.
-Told France's Charles DeGaulle to shove it.
-Oversaw Canada's centennial celebrations.
-Recruited Trudeau, Paul Martin, and Chretien.
-Had Canada as peacekeepers not war mongers like Harper.

And I thought Americans had short memories.
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Leftysam
82 Fans
12:12 PM on 05/05/2012
I believe that Pearson had a minority gov't and agreed to support Tommy Douglas and his party on health care and CPP and some other bills in return for their support of the gov't........great politicians both
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1canview
1092 Fans
12:37 PM on 05/05/2012
You are right and what I wrote was not to take anything away from Tommy Douglas.

I can't stand Harper but I wasn't a big fan of Trudeau's. Such an arrogant SOB who wasted a lot of the promise he seemed to have when he came on the national scene.
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tkondaks
75 Fans
04:02 PM on 05/07/2012
Was it Pearson who told De Gaulle to shove it or was it Jean Drapeau, then mayor of Montreal?
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1canview
1092 Fans
09:22 AM on 05/05/2012
Lester Pearson.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
tokenblackman
61 Fans
02:05 AM on 05/05/2012
Trudeau #1
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Gabriel Oakes
60 Fans
02:05 AM on 05/05/2012
That's not fair to Campbell- she didn't have a chance to do anything, right or wrong. Harper on the other hand hasn't apprently achieved anything good at all. I think I dislike every single policy he has ever supported. Still baffled how anyone could see him in a debate and still vote for someone who refuses to make eye contact with anybody at all (aside form the BS answers)
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
FearlessFreep
A radical leftist with a JS Woodsworth avatar.
657 Fans
12:50 AM on 05/05/2012
Thomas Mulcair (knock on wood).
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liberal microbiologist
1 Fans
12:09 AM on 05/05/2012
this country wouldn't exist without Jean Chretien or the charter he created as the workforce behind Trudeau. if Cambell had won we would have had a greek debt crisis and fallen to pieces. No Prime Minister has defended Canada from destruction as Chretein did nor was there ever a more effective parlimentarian. Chretien is the icon of what it means to be truly Canadian and proud of it. Pearson a not too distant second harper and mulrooney very distant last
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A Tired Canadian
40 Fans
09:07 AM on 05/05/2012
Chretien was good ,and really good at piling on the BS and sucked every voter in the country into believing him!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
AuntiFascist
Orwell predicted Harper
587 Fans
10:52 PM on 05/04/2012
Mackenzie King led Canada through WWII and had the foresight to recognize that our allies (US and UK) would not respect Canadian troops. With this understanding he led us into a naval and airforce focus and this saved many Canadian lives. The US and UK didn't respect but the Germans that faced us sure did. Mackenzie King loved Canada and Canadians. Our current Governments love the USA.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
opprobrious
More speech. Less Flagging.
922 Fans
12:13 AM on 05/05/2012
Except King had a little problem with Jews.
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A Tired Canadian
40 Fans
09:05 AM on 05/05/2012
And he also consulted his mother on "serious affairs of state' through a medium- she had been very dead for about 20 years.
This country has elected more "flakes" than any other democracy in the world.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
AuntiFascist
Orwell predicted Harper
587 Fans
12:48 PM on 05/05/2012
He was eccentric. No arguing that!!!
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