List of premiers of Manitoba


The Canadian province of Manitoba was created in 1870. Manitoba has a unicameral Westminster-style parliamentary government, in which the Premier is the leader of the party that controls the most seats in the Legislative Assembly. The Premier is Manitoba's head of government, and the Queen of Canada is its head of state and is represented by the Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba. The Premier picks a cabinet from the elected members to form the Executive Council of Manitoba, and then presides over that body.
Members are first elected to the legislature during general elections. General elections must be conducted every four years from the date of the last election, but the premier may ask for early dissolution of the Legislative Assembly. An election may also happen if the governing party loses the confidence of the legislature by the defeat of a supply bill or tabling of a confidence motion.
Manitoba has had twenty-one Premiers since the province was formed, of which six were non-partisan, six were Progressive Conservatives, four were Liberals, and four were New Democrats. However, during the early years of the province and until 1874, leading ministers were not titled "Premier". Furthermore, they were officially non-partisan and were chosen by elected members of the Legislative Assembly from among themselves before the province began to use a party system in 1888. This article only covers the time since the province was created in 1870. Before that, the territory was part of the District of Assiniboia in Rupert's Land, and was loosely controlled by the Hudson's Bay Company.

Premiers of Manitoba

Living former premiers

, four former premiers of Manitoba are alive, the oldest being Edward Schreyer. The most recent former premier to die was Howard Pawley on December 30, 2015.
NameTermDate of birth
Edward Schreyer1969-1977
Gary Filmon1988-1999
Gary Doer1999-2009
Greg Selinger2009-2016