The finalists for the Maclean’s Parliamentarians of the Year Awards

For 12 years, Maclean’s has asked MPs in Ottawa to take a few minutes to recognize the extraordinary work of their colleagues in every corner of the chamber. They fill out a survey with eight categories, writing in the name of the MP who, in their opinion, most deserves special recognition. We enlist an independent, Ottawa-based polling firm—Springbrook Strategies—that crunches the data. To ensure that parties with the most seats cannot dominate the list of winners, MPs benefit when they receive support from outside their own party.

This year’s lifetime achievement award winner is Jean Augustine, a Liberal MP from 1993-2006 who was the first African-Canadian woman elected to the House of Commons, and the first Black woman appointed to cabinet.

These are this year’s finalists in every category (listed in alphabetical order), including the best overall Parliamentarian of the Year, as chosen by 142 participating MPs. Most years, the winners are announced at an evening gala just a short walk from the Hill (sometimes delayed by parliamentary votes). This year, the winners will be named at a virtual ceremony hosted by CPAC’s Peter Van Dusen and in association with Gold Sponsor CWTA and Silver Sponsors BDC and CPAC on Jan. 12. Following the ceremony, the full list of winners will be released on macleans.ca.

Hardest working

Chrystia Freeland (Liberal)
Garnett Genuis (Conservative)
Michelle Rempel Garner (Conservative)

Best orator

Sean Fraser (Liberal)
Pierre Poilievre (Conservative)
Alain Therrien (Bloc Québécois)

Most collegial

Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe (Bloc Québécois)
Marilyn Gladu (Conservative)
Christine Normandin (Bloc Québécois)

Most knowledgeable

Charlie Angus (NDP)
Kevin Lamoureux (Liberal)
Elizabeth May (Green)

Best represents constituents

Elizabeth May (Green)
Louis Plamondon (Bloc Québécois)
Shannon Stubbs (Conservative)

Rising star

Jenica Atwin (Green)
Raquel Dancho (Conservative)
Sean Fraser (Liberal)

Best mentor

Charlie Angus (NDP)
Wayne Easter (Liberal)
Louis Plamondon (Bloc Québécois)

Parliamentarian of the Year

Chrystia Freeland (Liberal)
Elizabeth May (Green)
Pierre Poilievre (Conservative)

Past winners

The Parliamentarians of the Year awards have evolved since the inaugural gala in 2006. Scroll down to see every winner, in every category, since the beginning.

Parliamentarian of the Year

2006: Ralph Goodale2007: Bill Blaikie2009: Jason Kenney2010: John Baird2011: Bob Rae2012: Elizabeth May2013: Peter Stoffer2014: Irwin Cotler2016: Tom Mulcair2017: Garnett Genuis2018: Nathan Cullen

Hardest working

2006: Paul Szabo2007: Paul Szabo2009: Paul Szabo2010: Ted Menzies2011: Jason Kenney2012: Kirsty Duncan2013: Elizabeth May2014: Jason Kenney2016: Rona Ambrose2017: Kevin Lamoureux2018: Chrystia Freeland

Most collegial

2006: Peter Stoffer2007: Peter Stoffer2009: Peter Stoffer2010: Peter Stoffer2011: Peter Stoffer2012: Peter Stoffer2013: Rodger Cuzner2014: Peter Stoffer2016: Marilyn Gladu2017: Rodger Cuzner2018: Monique Pauze

Rising star

2009: Megan Leslie2010: Kelly Block2011: Chris Alexander2012: Michelle Rempel2013: Chris Alexander2014: Michelle Rempel2016: Gerard Deltell2017: Joel Lightbound2018: Richard Martel

Best represents constituents

2007: Charlie Angus2009: Bill Casey2010: Robert Bouchard2011: Michael Chong2012: Niki Ashton2013: Ted Hsu2014: Brent Rathgeber2016: Larry Bagnell2017: Shannon Stubbs2018: Georgina Jolibois

Best mentor

2017: Judy Sgro2018: Judy Sgro

Best orator

2007: Michael Ignatieff2009: Bob Rae2010: Bob Rae2011: John Baird2012: Bob Rae2013: John Baird2014: Elizabeth May2016: Nathan Cullen2017: Nathan Cullen2018: Gerard Deltell

Most knowledgeable

2006: Stephen Harper/Bill Blaikie2007: Joe Comartin2009: Joe Comartin2010: Gilles Duceppe2011: Joe Comartin2012: Stephen Harper2013: Jason Kenney2014: Nathan Cullen2016: Kevin Lamoureux2017: Helene Laverdiere2018: Pierre Poilievre

Lifetime achievement award

2011: Jack Layton2012: Preston Manning2013: Peter Milliken2014: Flora MacDonald2016*: Lloyd Axworthy2016: Ed Broadbent2017: Monique Begin2018: Paul Dewar2019*: Ethel Blondin-Andrew

Best civic outreach (discontinued after 2018)

2017: Scott Reid2018: Terry Beech

EDITOR’S NOTE: Lloyd Axworthy and Ethel Blondin-Andrew both received their awards at special "Welcome to the Hill" events in 2016 and 2019, respectively.