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A once-common occurrence that has become rare

by Maurice Y. Michaud (he/him)

Isidore Proulx (1840–1904)
© Photo — Public domain

A total of 985 parliamentarians in Canada have died while in office. Given that there have been 14,695 so far, that represents a rather astonishing 6.70% of those who have been elected in the 160 years covered by PoliCan. But what’s more intriguing is that, although there are more seats to fill today and, therefore, more people are being elected, only 99 of those deaths have occurred since 1975. Put differently, 89.95% of all the deaths in office have occurred before 1975.

Another striking comparison:

  • In the 10 years from 1865 to 1874 inclusively, when there were about 534 seats in all legislatures, there were 39 deaths in office, giving an annual average of 3.9.
     
  • In the 25 years from 2000 to 2024 inclusively, when there were about 1,100 seats in all legislatures, there were 41 deaths in office, giving an annual average of 1.6. There could have been 97 had the annual average remained as it was in that decade of the 19th century.
And for the record:
  • The first person to die in office was Vital Hébert in 1867 (New Brunswick)
    or John Leamon in 1866 (if including Newfoundland).
     
  • The last person to die in office was Nello Altomare in 2025 (Manitoba).
     
  • Indicative of Canada’s political stability since 1865, only two persons have been assasinated while in office:
    1. Thomas D’Arcy McGee in 1868 (Canada), the second or third to die in office depending on Newfoundland’s inclusion, and
    2. Pierre Laporte in 1970 (Québec).
So, because deaths in office have averaged 1.9 per year for the last 51 years — indeed, a lifetime! — you probably never would have guessed until now that there had been so many because they occurred much more frequently before we were old enough to pay attention or were even alive!
 

Statistics and names

The first interactive table below leading to the name of those who have died in office clearly shows the marked decline from the 1975 to 1999 date range. However, the second table, other than echoing that post-1975 decline, does not seem to have a particular pattern of its own with respect to age at death.

As demonstrated elsewhere in PoliCan, we are in a phase where the age of the persons sitting in our legislatures is above average, so that nullifies the thesis that maybe politicians were older in the past. So perhaps the only plausible explanation is that we live longer today, for according to Statistics Canada, life expectancy of men at birth has gone from 58.8 years in 1920–22 to 79.3 years in 2009–2011, while that of women in those same time brackets has gone from 60.6 to 83.6 years. But of course, demographers and statisticians might have a more sophisticated explanation.

Deaths in office, 1865–2025
F: Federal    P: Provincial    T: Territorial
Years BC AB SK MB ON QC NB NS PE NL YT NT NU NW Total
F P F P F P F P F P F P F P F P F P F P F T F T F T F T F P
1865—1874 – 1 – – – – 1 – 6 7-1 3 5-1 4 6 3 3 – – – 2 – – – – – – – – 17 24-2
1875—1899 4 13 – – – – 1 10 27 29 29 17 5 9 3 6 1 8 – 8 – – – – – – – 1 70 101
1900—1924 2 6 2 12 – 5 2 8 36 32 22 27 6 10 4 13 3 12 – 9 – – – – – – – 1 77 135
1925—1949 2 18 4 16 4 16 4 14 25 37 28 28 7 18 5 9 2 10 – 5 – – – – – – – – 81 171
1950—1974 2 13 2 17 2 9 5 20 26 29 12 27 3 19 2 9 2 8 – 3 – – 1 1 – – – – 57 155
1975—1999 1 5 2 6 1 3 1 4 4 6 6 7 – – – 3 1 4 – 1 – 2 – – – – – – 16 41
2000—2024 2 1 2 1 – 6 1 2 5 3 1 2 – 2 – 4 – – 1 4 – 2 – – – 2 – – 12 29
2025—2025 – – – – – – – 1 – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – 1
Total 13 57 12 52 7 39 15 59 129 143 101 113 25 64 17 47 9 42 1 32 – 4 1 1 – 2 – 2 330 657
* F+P (Total) = 987 —1 (George-Étienne Cartier → CA & QC) —1 (Sandfield Macdonald → CA & ON) = 985
* Up until about 1872-74 (depending on the jurisdiction), a parliamentarian could sit in his provincial legislature and the Commons.

Greyed out cells indicate the absence of the jurisdiction.
There is a clear decrease in the frequency of deaths in office after 1975.
Deaths in office by age and gender, 1865–2025
Years Age Total
18–29 30–39 40–49 50–59 60–69 70++
M F X T M F X T M F X T M F X T M F X T M F X T M F X T
1865—1874 1 — — 1 11 — — 11 11 — — 11 10 — — 10 6 — — 6 — — — — 39 — — 39
1875—1899 2 — — 2 22 — — 22 46 — — 46 53 — — 53 38 — — 38 10 — — 10 171 — — 171
1900—1924 — — — — 7 — — 7 45 — — 45 71 — — 71 65 — — 65 24 — — 24 212 — — 212
1925—1949 — — — — 4 — — 4 35 — — 35 82 — — 82 98 — — 98 33 — — 33 252 — — 252
1950—1974 1 — — 1 3 — — 3 32 — — 32 66 1 — 67 73 2 — 75 33 1 — 34 208 4 — 212
1975—1999 — — — — 5 — — 5 8 2 — 10 16 4 — 20 16 — — 16 6 — — 6 51 6 — 57
2000—2024 — — — — 1 1 — 2 6 — — 6 14 3 — 17 12 1 — 13 3 — — 3 36 5 — 41
2025—2025 — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — 1 — — 1 — — — — 1 — — 1
Total 4 — — 4 53 1 — 54 183 2 — 185 312 8 — 320 309 3 — 312 109 1 — 110 970 15 — 985

© 2005, 2025 :: PoliCan.ca (Maurice Y. Michaud)
Pub.: 12 Oct 2025 20:08
Rev.: 14 Oct 2025 14:54 (but data presented dynamically)

© 2005-2025 :: PoliCan.ca
Given that electoral results are by their very nature public information, such data presented in PoliCan are considered to be in the public domain. However, unless indicated otherwise, all other elements — the concept of consolidating these data into a single format, the detailed research on each election, legislature and candidate, the organization and searchability of the data, the programming allowing the entry and maintenance of the data, as well as the analyses, explanatory articles and opinions found in this website — are the intellectual property of Maurice Y. Michaud.