Deputy Prime Minister of Canada of service of Allan J. MacEachen. Before then, Trudeau had given the title of "Senior Minister" to a member of his cabinet. The last to occupy that position was Paul Hellyer. Joe Clark's government did not have a deputy prime minister. Similarly, Prime Minister Stephen Harper did not designate a deputy prime minister, meaning Canada's most recent deputy prime minister was Anne McLellan, who in 2006, was also the first deputy prime minister to lose her seat in the House of Commons. Harper gave special status in the line of authority to members of his cabinet: under an order-in-council issued
Deputy Prime Minister of Canada prime minister from the political damage that Question Period can inflict on a leader", further citing the experience of Erik Nielsen during the Sinclair Stevens scandal. Unlike the Vice President of the United States, the deputy prime minister does not automatically assume the office of prime minister if the incumbent of the latter office dies or resigns. Although he or she would become the acting prime minister on a temporary caretaker basis to ensure continuity of government function during the immediate period of transition, the deputy prime minister does not automatically become the new permanent prime minister: constitutional convention actually