Many potential candidates to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau currently do not hold seats in the House of Commons, but that does not prevent them from taking office if they win the Liberal leadership contest.
Former Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney is expected to formally announce his candidacy for leadership this week, and former British Columbia Premier Christie Clark has said she is “seriously considering” running.
Businessman and former Montreal MP Frank Bayliss announced his candidacy last week.
Even if all three candidates do not currently hold seats in the House of Commons, this does not prevent them from assuming the Prime Minister’s chair if they win the party leadership.
There have been many cases in the past where the Prime Minister did not hold a seat in the House of Commons, and recent comparisons have also been made at the state level.
john turner
When John Turner first entered the House of Commons as Liberal leader in 1984, he had to sit in the visitors’ gallery.
Mr. Turner previously served as an MP and minister in the Lester B. Pearson and Pierre Trudeau governments. But after a run-in with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Turner left the position in 1976 and began working in the private sector.
It took a long time, but John Turner became the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.
Mr Turner did not hold a seat when he ran for Liberal Party leadership in 1984 and was elected. Although he was to become prime minister in June of the same year, he never sat in the House of Commons as prime minister.
Brian Mulroney’s Progressive Conservative Party would win the election just months after Turner became prime minister. Turner won his seat in that election and remained leader of the opposition until his retirement in 1990.
william ryan mackenzie king
Former Prime Minister William Ryan Mackenzie King holds the record for being Canada’s longest-serving prime minister, but he was not a member of Parliament for all of that time.
King twice lost his seat in elections in which the Liberal Party was able to form a government, and on both occasions he stood in by-elections to re-enter the House of Commons.
Although the Conservatives won the most seats in the 1925 election, King was able to form a minority government with support from the Progressive Party.
One of the seats the Conservatives won in this election was the one won by Martin Luther King Jr. in North York. A few months later, the then-premier ran in Saskatchewan’s by-election on Prince Albert’s behalf and won.
King lost his seat in his last election as prime minister in 1945. To regain his seat in the House of Commons, he will have to stand again in a by-election as the incumbent prime minister.

Recent local examples
The two current prime ministers were required to win seats in their respective parliaments after becoming prime minister.
National League Premier Andrew Furey won the Liberal Party leadership in August 2020. He will become Prime Minister later that month..
However, Mr Furey was not an MLA at the time and had no intention of holding a seat in Parliament until he took office. He was elected in a by-election in October of the same year..
Also Daniel Smith He will become premier of Alberta in October 2022. After winning the leadership of the United Conservative Party. she had to I will challenge the by-election in about a month. To become an MLA.
chancellor of the senate
At the beginning of the federation, Canada had two prime ministers elected from the upper house of parliament.
Quebec senator John Abbott became prime minister after the death of John A. Macdonald in 1891. He was given the role of one of the senior members of the Conservative Party at the time, but his term lasted only about a year. year.
Similarly, another Quebec senator, Mackenzie Vowell, became prime minister in 1894, when Abbott’s successor, John Thompson, also died in office. Bowell served as Prime Minister until his resignation in 1896.