Would Mark Carney be Canada’s first unelected prime minister?

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This article was published 09/03/2025 (558 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA – If Mark Carney wins the Liberal leadership race on Sunday, would he succeed Justin Trudeau as the first prime minister to be sworn in without first having been elected?

The answer is no. In a way, history would be repeating itself, since the most recent precedent dates back over four decades to the resignation of the current PM’s father.

On Feb. 29, 1984, then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau announced his intention to step down. On June 16 of that year, John Turner, at that point without a seat — so, unelected — won the Liberal Party of Canada leadership race on the second ballot, defeating Jean Chrétien.

Two weeks later, on June 30, John Turner was sworn in as prime minister, succeeding Trudeau.

On July 9, Turner dissolved Parliament and a triggered a general election set for Sept. 4. At the polls, the Liberals lost by a landslide to Brian Mulroney’s Progressive Conservatives, who won three-quarters of the seats.

House of Commons records confirm that John Turner never sat as a member of Parliament during his term as prime minister. However, he did have a previous career as a federal MP, which is not the case for Carney. Turner also won his riding of Vancouver Quadra in the 1984 and 1988 elections, while leader of the Opposition.

Mackenzie King: two times rather than one

Other famous cases include Canada’s 12th, 14th and 16th prime minister, Liberal leader Mackenzie King, Canada’s longest serving prime minister.

King lost his seat in a federal election in October 1925, like eight other ministers in his cabinet, according to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography.

However, he remained at the helm of his party, and managed to form a minority government with the support of the Progressive Party. He was elected in a byelection in February 1926.

In a general election in June 1945, King lost his seat in Prince Albert, Sask. But he remained prime minister and formed a government — as he’d done in 1921, 1925, 1926, 1935 and 1940. Like two decades earlier, he followed up his riding loss with a run elsewhere in the following months, winning a byelection in Glengarry, Ont., in August 1945.

The beginnings of the Dominion of Canada

At Confederation, Sir John A. Macdonald was appointed by the governor general to form the first constituent government on July 1, 1867. However, he was not elected to the House of Commons until a few weeks later, in an election held on Aug. 7.

Canada’s fourth prime minister, Sir John Abbott, was a senator in June 1891 when he was called upon by the viceroy to form a government following Macdonald’s death in office.

The same was true on Dec. 21, 1894. Again at the request of the governor general, Sir Mackenzie Bowell, also a senator, succeeded Sir John Thompson, who had died a week earlier.

Although a general election may be called in the next few days, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who announced his intention to resign in early January, confirmed on Thursday that he intends to hand over his post in the next few days or weeks to his successor. That person will be elected by party members, but, if it’s Carney, not yet by the people.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 9, 2025.