Provincial Premiers

A Premier is the head of government of a province. There are currently ten provincial premiers and three territorial Commissioners in Canada.

Where French is an official language, the head of government is called Premier Ministre in French, as the French language does not use a separate term to distinguish the national Prime Minister from a provincial premier.

Canada's federal prime minister and premiers are collectively referred to as first ministers, a synonym of British origin.

In practice, a provincial premier plays a public leadership role similar to that of a state governor in the United States, but constitutionally, the premier is not a chief executive but a member of the legislature. The premier is usually the leader of the largest political party in the provincial legislature, although there are historical exceptions. The premier is appointed by the lieutenant-governor, who represents both the the Crown and the federal government. The lieutenant-governor is guided by unwritten constitutional rules that only rarely require a judgement call on whom to appoint as premier.

Premiers appoint a provincial cabinet and guide legislation through the provincial legislature, of which they are a sitting member.

Premiers hold a fair bit of power within the Canadian federation, especially in regard to the federal government. In many ways they remain the most effective representatives of provincial interests to the federal government, as Parliament's strong party discipline and other factors have impaired provincial representation there.

List of Current Premiers
Newfoundland and Labrador - DANNY WILLIAMS- CONSERVATIVE
Nova Scotia- Rodney MacDonald - Conservative
New Brunswick- Bernard Lord- Conservative
Prince Edward Island - Patrick Binns -Conservative
Quebec- Jean Charest- Liberal
Ontario - Dalton McGuinty- Liberal
Manitoba - Gary Doer- NDP
Saskatchewan - Brad Wall - Saskatchewan Party
Alberta - Ed Stelmach - Conservative
British Columbia -Gordon Campbell-Liberal

Territorial Commissioners
Yukon - Dennis Fentie - Yukon Party
Northwest Territories- Joe Handley
Nunavut - Paul Okalik- no party system