| 20th Parliament of Canada | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Minority parliament | |||
| 6 September 1945 – 30 April 1949 | |||
.svg) | |||
| Parliament leaders | |||
| Prime Minister | William Lyon Mackenzie King 23 October 1935 – 15 November 1948 | ||
| Louis St. Laurent 15 November 1948 – 21 June 1957 | |||
| Cabinets | 16th Canadian Ministry 17th Canadian Ministry | ||
| Leader of the Opposition | John Bracken 11 June 1945 – 20 July 1948 | ||
| George A. Drew 2 October 1948 – 1 November 1954 | |||
| Party caucuses | |||
| Government | Liberal Party | ||
| Opposition | Progressive Conservative Party | ||
| Crossbench | Co-operative Commonwealth Federation | ||
| Social Credit Party | |||
| Bloc populaire | |||
| Labor-Progressive Party | |||
| House of Commons | |||
 Seating arrangements of the House of Commons | |||
| Speaker of the Commons | Gaspard Fauteux 6 September 1945 – 14 September 1949 | ||
| Government House Leader | Ian Alistair Mackenzie 14 October 1944 – 30 April 1948 | ||
| Alphonse Fournier 1 May 1948 – 9 May 1953 | |||
| Members | 245 MP seats List of members | ||
| Senate | |||
| Speaker of the Senate | James Horace King 24 August 1945 – 2 August 1949 | ||
| Government Senate Leader | Wishart McLea Robertson 24 August 1945 – 14 October 1953 | ||
| Opposition Senate Leader | Charles Colquhoun Ballantyne 16 January 1942 – 11 September 1945 | ||
| John Thomas Haig 12 September 1945 – 20 June 1957 | |||
| Sovereign | |||
| Monarch | George VI 11 December 1936 – 6 February 1952 | ||
| Governor General | Alexander Cambridge 21 June 1940 – 12 April 1946 | ||
| Harold Alexander 12 April 1946 – 28 January 1952 | |||
| Sessions | |||
| 1st session 6 September 1945 – 18 December 1945 | |||
| 2nd session 14 March 1946 – 31 August 1946 | |||
| 3rd session 30 January 1947 – 17 July 1947 | |||
| 4th session 5 December 1947 – 30 June 1948 | |||
| 5th session 29 January 1949 – 30 April 1949 | |||
| |||
The 20th Canadian Parliament was in session from 6 September 1945, until 30 April 1949. The membership was set by the 1945 federal election on 11 June 1945, and it changed only somewhat due to resignations and by-elections until it was dissolved prior to the 1949 election.
It was controlled by a Liberal Party minority first under Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King and the 16th Canadian Ministry, and later a majority under Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent and the 17th Canadian Ministry. The Official Opposition was the newly named Progressive Conservative Party, led first by John Bracken and later by George Drew.
The Speaker was Gaspard Fauteux. See also List of Canadian electoral districts 1933-1947 for a list of the ridings in this parliament.
In this parliament, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, led by M. J. Coldwell, overtook the Social Credit as third largest party.
There were five sessions of the 20th Parliament.