Honourable, Right Honourable

On this page

• The Honourable
• The Right Honourable
• Abbreviations
• Additional information

The Honourable

The title the Honourable is used before the names of members of the Canadian Privy Council, lieutenant-governors and certain other officials.

• The Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell was appointed Ontario’s 29th Lieutenant Governor in 2014.

Depending on the position of the person in question, this title may be accorded for life or only for the person’s term of office.

Members of Parliament are called Honourable if they are or have been members of the Privy Council.

However, ordinary members of Parliament are not called Honourable, except as a group, or when referring to each other as “My honourable friend” or “the Honourable member from…” This use is not always capitalized, as can be seen in these two quotes from Hansard:

• “Some Hon. Members: Hear, hear!”
• “The Speaker: Is there unanimous consent that the hon. member table this document?
  Some hon. members: Agreed.
  Some hon. members: No.”

The Right Honourable

The title the Right Honourable applies for life to the governor general, prime minister and chief justice of Canada.

• The Right Honourable Roméo LeBlanc, a former governor general, passed away in 2009.

Abbreviations

The abbreviations for Honourable and Right Honourable are Hon. and Rt. Hon., respectively. When used to address someone in correspondence, these short forms must be preceded by the (which is capitalized in the example below because it is the first word in a line in a mailing address).

• The Rt. Hon. Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada

For more information on honorary titles for dignitaries in Canada and abroad, see the page “Styles of address” on the Canadian Heritage website (opens in new tab).

Additional information

Terminology records

• TERMIUM Plus^® record “Honourable” (opens in new tab)
• TERMIUM Plus^® record “Right Honourable” (opens in new tab)

Other resources

• Styles of address (opens in new tab) (Canadian Heritage)
• The Prime Minister of Canada’s website (opens in new tab)
• Table of titles to be used in Canada (opens in new tab)