1st Canadian Ministry

1st Canadian Ministry
1er conseil des ministres du Canada

1st Cabinet of Canada
Date formedJuly 1, 1867
Date dissolvedNovember 5, 1873
People and organizations
MonarchVictoria
Governor GeneralViscount Monck
Baron Lisgar
Marquess of Dufferin
Prime MinisterJohn A. Macdonald
Prime Minister's historyPremiership of John A. Macdonald
No. of ministers19
Member partyConservative; Liberal-Conservative
Status in legislature
Opposition partyLiberal
History
Elections1867, 1872
Legislature terms
Budget1867
Incoming formationCanadian Confederation
Outgoing formationPacific Scandal
Predecessor16th Ministry of the Province of Canada
7th Ministry of New Brunswick
7th Ministry of Nova Scotia
Successor2nd Canadian Ministry

The first Canadian ministry, or the first Macdonald ministry of Canada, was the inaugural government of the Dominion of Canada led by Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald. It governed Canada from the ministry's, and the nation's, formation upon Canadian Confederation on July 1, 1867 until the ministry resignation on November 5, 1873 over the Pacific Scandal.

The ministry inherited much of the administrative institution, and senior figures, from the final ministry of the United Province of Canada, the Great Coalition of 1864, which was also headed by MacDonald. As the master coalition builder who secured the nation's confederation, MacDonald continued to included in his cabinet moderate Reformers he had co-opted under his Liberal-Conservative banner. Of the thirteen original members, more than half of them have stood for elections formally as Reformers or Liberals in the past. William Pearce Howland, Adam Johnston Fergusson Blair, and William McDougall in particular entered the Great Coalition previously as Reformers and secured their place in MacDonald's new cabinet specifically as Ontario Reformers, and were expelled from the Reform convention only days prior for remaining in the coalition.[1]

The ministry took office on the day the nation was formed, and secured its first electoral mandate within three months during the 1867 general election, with candidates carrying the Conservative or Liberal-Conservative banners winning a majority of the seats in the first parliament. It won just shy of a majority in the 1872 general election, with the opposition Liberals only five seats behind.

After five years in opposition, Macdonald would return in 1878 to head the third Canadian ministry, dominating Canadian politics for another decade.

Ministers

References

  1. ^ Reform party of Upper Canada (28 June 1867). Proceedings of the Reform convention, held at Toronto on the 27th and 28th June, 1867. Toronto: Globe Printing Company. p. 68.
  • Government of Canada. "First Ministry". Guide to Canadian Ministries since Confederation. Privy Council Office. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 1 July 2010.

Succession

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