List of Prime Ministers of Canada by military service

This is a list of the Prime Ministers of Canada and their military service

The Prime Minister is not Commander-in-Chief of the Canadian Forces, rather the role is held by the Queen of Canada and is held on behalf of the monarch by the Governor General of Canada.

Prime Minister	Service	Rank	Active Service
Sir John A. Macdonald	Sedentary Militia	Private	Kingston during Upper Canada Rebellion 1837; Minister of Militia and Defence 1860-1867
Alexander Mackenzie	Canadian Militia	Major	None; member of militia in Lambton, Ontario (1866–1874)
Sir John Joseph Caldwell Abbott	Canadian Militia	commanding officer (Lieutenant Colonel?)	None; officer of 11th Argenteuil Battalion militia in Montreal area (1866-1874?)
Sir John Sparrow David Thompson	none	none	none
Sir Mackenzie Bowell	Canadian Militia	Lieutenant Colonel	Canadian militia posted along the border during the American Civil War; member of 49th (Hastings) Battalion of Rifles militia unit in North Hastings, Ontario (1867–1872); Minister of Militia and Defence 1892 and 1896 (acting)
Sir Charles Tupper	none	none	none
Sir Wilfrid Laurier	none	none	none
Sir Robert Laird Borden	none	none	none
Arthur Meighen	none	none	none
William Lyon Mackenzie King	none	none	none
Richard Bedford Bennett	none	none	none
Louis St. Laurent	none	none	none
John Diefenbaker	Canadian Expeditionary Force (Permanent Active Militia)	Lieutenant	Served during World War I (1916–1917) in Britain as member of 196th Battalion (Western Universities), CEF
Lester Bowles Pearson	Canadian Expeditionary Force (Permanent Active Militia)	Lieutenant	Served during World War I in Greece and Egypt as member of Canadian Army Medical Corps and later in the Royal Flying Corps as Pilot (1915–1918) in Britain
Pierre Trudeau	Canadian Army Home Service / Canadian Army Reserve	Officer cadet	None; Served in Canadian Officers' Training Corps from 1943 to 1945 in Montreal during World War II, but never deployed overseas
Joe Clark	none	none	none
John Napier Turner	none	none	none
Brian Mulroney	none	none	none
Kim Campbell	none	none	none; Minister of National Defence 1993
Jean Chrétien	none	none	none
Paul Martin	none	none	none
Stephen Harper	none	none	none
Justin Trudeau	none	none	none

Only seven Prime Ministers have served in the military:

• Four Prime Ministers served in volunteer militia units (see Canadian Militia) attached to the British Army in Canada in later part of the 19th century
• One Prime Minister (Trudeau) was a cadet (not a full member) of the volunteer Canadian Army during World War II
• Only Diefenbaker and Pearson served as officers and overseas (during World War I)
• Seven Prime Ministers were members of the Army (none in the Navy or Air Force)
• One Prime Minister (Pearson) served in a non-Canadian military unit, the Royal Flying Corps (later RAF) during World War I

Two Prime Ministers have been Minister of Militia and Defence (Macdonald and Bowell) and one as Minister of National Defence (Campbell).

Sources