President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada

In the Canadian cabinet, the President of The Queen's Privy Council for Canada (French: President du Conseil privé de la Reine pour le Canada) is nominally in charge of the Privy Council Office. The President of the Privy Council also has the largely ceremonial duty of presiding over meetings of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada, a body which only convenes in full for affairs of state such as the accession of a new Sovereign or the marriage of the Prince of Wales or heir presumptive to the Throne (see Monarchy in Canada). Accordingly, the last time the President of the Privy Council had to preside over a meeting of the Privy Council was in 1981 on the occasion of The Prince of Wales' engagement to Lady Diana Spencer. It is the equivalent of the office of Lord President of the Council in the United Kingdom.

Under Prime Ministers Pierre Trudeau and Joe Clark the position was synonymous with that of Government House Leader. In 1989 the Government House Leader became a separate position and the President of the Privy Council became a largely honorary title (not unlike that of Deputy Prime Minister of Canada) given to a senior minister in addition to other portfolios. From 1993 to present, with the exception of a brief period from December 12, 2003 to July 19, 2004, it has been held by whoever holds the portfolio of Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs. In the past decade the position has generally been seen to be the closest thing to a sinecure posting within the Cabinet.

Presidents of the Privy Council

No.	Portrait	Name	Term of office		Political party	Under Prime Minister
1		Adam Johnston Fergusson Blair	July 1, 1867	December 29, 1867		Macdonald
	vacant		December 30, 1867	January 29, 1869
2		Joseph Howe	January 30, 1869	November 15, 1869
3		Edward Kenny	November 16, 1869	June 20, 1870
4		Charles Tupper	June 21, 1870	July 1, 1872
5		John O'Connor	July 2, 1872	March 3, 1873
6		Hugh McDonald (politician)	June 14, 1873	June 30, 1873
7		Lucius Seth Huntington	January 20, 1874	October 8, 1875		Mackenzie
8		Joseph Édouard Cauchon	December 7, 1875	June 7, 1877
9		Edward Blake	June 8, 1877	January 17, 1878
10		John O'Connor	October 17, 1878	January 15, 1880		Macdonald
11		Louis François Rodrigue Masson	January 16, 1880	July 31, 1880
12		Joseph-Alfred Mousseau	November 8, 1880	May 19, 1881
13		Archibald Woodbury McLelan	May 20, 1881	July 9, 1882
14		John A. Macdonald	October 17, 1883	November 27, 1889
15		Charles Carrol Colby	November 28, 1889	April 30, 1891
16		John Abbott	June 16, 1891	November 24, 1892		Abbott
17		William Bullock Ives	December 7, 1892	December 12, 1894		Thompson
18		Mackenzie Bowell	December 21, 1894	April 27, 1896		Bowell
19		Auguste Réal Angers	May 1, 1896	July 8, 1896		Tupper
20		Wilfrid Laurier	July 13, 1896	October 6, 1911		Laurier
21		Robert Laird Borden	October 10, 1911	October 12, 1917		Borden
22		Newton Wesley Rowell	October 12, 1917	July 10, 1920
23		James Alexander Calder	July 10, 1920	September 20, 1921		Meighen
24		Louis-Philippe Normand	October 4, 1921	December 28, 1921
25		William Lyon Mackenzie King	December 29, 1921	June 28, 1926		King
26		Arthur Meighen	June 29, 1926	July 12, 1926		Meighen
25		William Lyon Mackenzie King	September 25, 1926	August 6, 1930		King
27		Richard Bedford Bennett	August 7, 1930	October 22, 1935		Bennett
25		William Lyon Mackenzie King	October 23, 1935	November 14, 1948		King
28		Louis Saint-Laurent	November 15, 1948	April 24, 1957		Laurent
29		Lionel Chevrier	April 25, 1957	June 20, 1957
	vacant		June 21, 1957	December 27, 1961		Diefenbaker
30		Noël Dorion	December 28, 1961	July 5, 1962
31		John George Diefenbaker	December 21, 1962	April 22, 1963
32		Maurice Lamontagne	April 22, 1963	February 2, 1964		Pearson
33		George James McIlraith	February 3, 1964	July 6, 1965
34		Guy Favreau	July 7, 1965	April 3, 1967
35		Walter L. Gordon	April 4, 1967	March 10, 1968
*		Pierre Trudeau	March 11, 1968	April 20, 1968
*		Pierre Trudeau	April 20, 1968	May 1, 1968		P. Trudeau
*		Allan MacEachen	May 2, 1968	July 5, 1968
36		Donald Stovel Macdonald	July 6, 1968	September 23, 1970
37		Allan MacEachen	September 24, 1970	August 7, 1974
38		Mitchell Sharp	August 8, 1974	September 13, 1976
37		Allan MacEachen	September 14, 1976	June 3, 1979
39		Walter David Baker	June 4, 1979	March 2, 1980		Clark
40		Yvon Pinard	March 3, 1980	June 29, 1984		P. Trudeau
41		André Ouellet	June 30, 1984	September 6, 1984		Turner
42		Erik Nielsen	September 7, 1984	February 26, 1985		Mulroney
43		Ramon John Hnatyshyn	February 27, 1985	June 29, 1986
44		Don Mazankowski	June 30, 1986	April 20, 1991
45		Joe Clark	April 21, 1991	June 24, 1993
46		Pierre Blais	June 25, 1993	November 3, 1993		Campbell
47		Marcel Massé	November 4, 1993	January 24, 1996		Chrétien
48		Stéphane Dion	January 25, 1996	December 11, 2003
49		Denis Coderre	December 12, 2003	July 19, 2004		Martin
50		Lucienne Robillard	July 20, 2004	February 5, 2006
51		Michael Chong	February 6, 2006	November 27, 2006		Harper
52		Peter Van Loan	November 27, 2006	January 3, 2007
53		Rona Ambrose	January 4, 2007	October 30, 2008
54		Josée Verner	October 30, 2008	May 18, 2011
55		Peter Penashue	May 18, 2011	March 14, 2013
56		Denis Lebel	March 15, 2013
57		Maryam Monsef	unknown[1]			J. Trudeau

References

1. Tim Naumetz (November 9, 2015). "Youngest Cabinet minister Monsef also President of Queen's Privy Council". The Hill Times. The Privy Council Office confirmed in response to questions from The Hill Times that Ms. Monsef had been designated as President of the Queen’s Privy Council, but as of late Monday had not confirmed whether she was sworn in to the office or exactly when she will be.

External links

• Privy Council Office