A total of fifteen women have served as the first minister of a Canadian government. Of these, one was prime minister of the country, ten were premiers of a province and four were premiers of a territory. The only woman first minister in Canada is Danielle Smith, 19th Premier of Alberta, who assumed office on 11 October 2022.
Women have been eligible to become premier since they first gained the right to vote, beginning in 1916 in Manitoba and extending to all jurisdictions when Quebec allowed women to vote in 1940. Women soon began to be appointed to cabinet positions, starting with Mary Ellen Smith in British Columbia in 1921, but it was not until decades later that women began to serve as leaders of a major party. Hilda Watson became the first woman to lead her party to victory in a general election in 1978. However, Watson did not win her riding so her male successor became the first Government Leader of the Yukon. The first female premier was Rita Johnston in 1991 in British Columbia. Today, every Canadian jurisdiction has had at least one female premier except for Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Saskatchewan.
The most women first ministers at any one time was six, for 277 days from 11 February to 15 November 2013. These six included the premiers of Canada's four most populated provinces, so during that time approximately 88% of Canadians had a female premier. The longest-serving female premier is Christy Clark, who served as premier of British Columbia for over six years, from 14 March 2011 to 18 July 2017.
Only three of the fifteen women first ministers won the title by defeating an incumbent first minister in a general election. The rest won the title through a party leadership race between elections or in a non-partisan vote, although several of those went on to win a general election as the incumbent premier. No woman premier in Canadian history has ever been elected to more than one mandate. Christy Clark came closest by winning the most seats in the 2017 election, which would have been her second mandate, but she was not successful in forming government as the BC Liberals were defeated in a confidence vote shortly after.[1] [2]
| Portrait | Name | Jurisdiction | Date assumed office | Date departed office | Duration | Political party | Leadership history and electoral mandates | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| British Columbia | Named as interim party leader - and therefore premier - in 1991 upon the resignation of Premier Bill Vander Zalm in the Fantasy Gardens scandal. Confirmed as party leader in the 1991 party leadership election. Her party lost power in the following general election. | |||||||||
| Northwest Territories | Chosen as the premier of the nonpartisan government after the 1991 general election for one term. | |||||||||
| Prince Edward Island | Chosen as party leader - and therefore premier - by the 1993 party leadership election upon the retirement of Premier Joe Ghiz. She then led her party to win the 1993 general election. She was the first provincial female party leader to lead a party to election or re-election. She resigned after dropping in the polls. | |||||||||
| Canada (Federal) | Chosen as party leader - and therefore prime minister - by the 1993 party leadership election upon the retirement of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Her party lost power in the following general election. | |||||||||
| Yukon | Named party leader while her party was the third party opposition in 1998. Became leader of the opposition partway through the 29th Yukon Legislature. Led her party to victory and thereby became premier in the 2000 general election. She was the first woman to defeat a sitting premier. Her party lost power in the following general election. | |||||||||
| Nunavut | Chosen as the premier of the nonpartisan government after the 2008 general election for one term. | |||||||||
| Newfoundland and Labrador | Chosen as interim party leader - and therefore premier - in 2010 upon the retirement of Premier Danny Williams after serving as his deputy premier. Her party leadership was confirmed at the 2011 party leadership election. She then led her party to victory in the 2011 general election. She resigned after dropping in the polls. | |||||||||
| British Columbia | Chosen as party leader - and therefore premier - by the 2011 party leadership election upon the retirement of Premier Gordon Campbell. Led her party to victory in the 2013 general election. She won a plurality of seats in the 2017 general election, but immediately lost a confidence vote and resigned. | |||||||||
| Alberta | Chosen as party leader - and therefore premier - by the 2011 party leadership election upon the retirement of Premier Ed Stelmach. Then led her party to victory in the 2012 general election. She resigned after dropping in the polls due to a number of damaging scandals.[3] [4] | |||||||||
| Quebec | Chosen as party leader while her party was the third party opposition by the 2007 party leadership election. Led her party to become the official opposition in the 2008 general election and later led her party to victory - and thereby became premier - in the 2012 general election. She was the first female party leader to defeat a sitting premier in a province, and the first to achieve victory without having previously inherited premiership from a previous provincial party leader. Her party lost power in the following general election. | |||||||||
| Ontario | Chosen as party leader - and therefore premier - by the 2013 party leadership election upon the retirement of Premier Dalton McGuinty. Then led her party to victory in the 2014 general election. Lost re-election in the 2018 general election. Wynne was also the first lesbian woman to serve as a premier in Canada. | |||||||||
| Alberta | Chosen as party leader while her party was the fourth party opposition by the 2014 party leadership election. Led her party to victory in the 2015 general election. Defeated in the 2019 general election and became Leader of the Opposition. | |||||||||
| Northwest Territories | Chosen as the premier of the nonpartisan government after the 2019 general election. Did not run for a second term. | |||||||||
| Manitoba | Chosen as party leader—and premier—by the 2021 party leadership election upon the retirement of Premier Brian Pallister. Her party was defeated in the 2023 Manitoba general election. | |||||||||
| Alberta | incumbent | Chosen as party leader—and premier—by the 2022 United Conservative Party leadership election upon the resignation of Jason Kenney. She was reëlected in the 2023 Alberta general election. | ||||||||
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