Leader of the Official Opposition
The Leader of the Official Opposition is an integral member of the House of Commons. He or she usually leads off Question Period and hopes voters see them as a prime minister-in-waiting.
How did the formal role come about in Canada?
The first Parliament elected in 1867 after Confederation had no recognized opposition leader. Alexander Mackenzie was the first, for the Liberals in 1873.
Canada’s Parliament was the first in the Commonwealth to legally recognize the opposition leader’s role. This came in 1905, when Robert Borden of the
Conservatives received a salary equal to cabinet ministers in Sir Wilfrid Laurier’s Liberal government.
Yet no specific law states that the Official Opposition must be the party with the second-most seats. Like most of Canada’s parliamentary rules, it goes as an unwritten custom.
Source: House of Commons Procedure and Practice
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