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
Prime Minister of Canada was limited by the constitution to five years and, though the governor general may still, on the advice of the prime minister, dissolve parliament and issue the writs of election prior to the date mandated by the "Canada Elections Act"; the King–Byng Affair was the only time since Confederation that the governor general deemed it necessary to refuse his prime minister's request for a general vote. As of 2007, with an amendment to the "Elections Act", Section 56.1(2) was changed to limit the term of a majority government to four years, with election day being set as the third Monday