Has a provincial premier ever gone on to become Prime Minister of Canada?

[alphaboi867]

Other than John McDonald has a provincial premier ever gone on to become Prime Minister of Canada? In the US it’s pretty common for a state governor to go on to become President. What about Australia; has a state premier ever become Prime Minister?

[Grey]

Not that I can think of. Remember that the PM is the leader of the party most capable of forming a majority. That means they would had to have been in federal politics for a period of time long enough to win a leadership convention and then an election. The premiers have the same obstacles but at the provincial level.

[Cunctator]

@alphaboi867

What about Australia; has a state premier ever become Prime Minister?

George Reid was a pre-federation colonial Premier of New South Wales in the 1890s. He went on to become Prime Minister in August 1904.

Joseph Lyons was Labor Premier of Tasmania in the 1920s. He became Prime Minister (leading the United Australia Party) in January 1932.

[Gorsnak]

Sir Charles Tupper was premier of Nova Scotia from 1864-1867 (pre-confederation), and Prime Minister of Canada for two months in 1896.

It’s actually extremely rare in Canadian politics for a politician prominent in provincial politics to move into the federal arena. Tommy Douglas was premier of Saskatchewan and later became the leader of the federal CCF party, and due to a couple minority governments actually wielded some power. Then there’s Bob Rae, about whom the less said the better. I can actually think of more federal cabinet ministers who’ve moved to provincial politics and become premier - Lucien Bouchard, Jean Charest, Brian Tobin, Frank McKenna, and those are all quite recent.

[Northern_Piper]

John Thomson was briefly Premier of Nova Scotia (May to July 1882), but he preferred to go to the bench than try to put together a working majority following an uncertain election.

The legislation was put in place in 1881 and 1882, but by that time Holmes had lost so much credit both with his colleagues and with the party that on the eve of new elections in May 1882 he was forced to resign. Thompson had to step in and become premier.

It was the last thing he wanted. He was fed up with politics and only the full pressure of the party, provincial and federal, kept him in. Thompson took his government to the polls in June 1882, and was defeated. It was not a bad defeat; immediately after the election he believed he could patch a government together, with the help of some of the more versatile and high-minded members of the opposition. He had the respect of both sides of the house, and the attempt might have succeeded, had it not been for one fatal handicap: an opening on the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia that everyone believed was waiting for him. In fact, the appointment was promised to him as a reward for taking the party through the election. There was no way that Thompson could form a coalition government without a firm commitment that he would stay in office. Since he could not make it, the coalition collapsed and he resigned, in July 1882. He was appointed at once, by Sir John A. Macdonald, to the Supreme Court.

Sir John A. Macdonald later lured Thomson off the bench and into federal politics as federal Minister of Justice. After Macdonald’s death in office, Sir John Abbott became Prime Minister, but since he was in the Senate, Thomson became the de facto leader of the government in the Commons. When Abbott retired due to ill health, Thomson became Prime Minister in 1893.

He died of a massive heart attack in 1894 at a garden party at Windsor Castle, shortly after being sworn to the Imperial Privy Council.