It’s a first for the Prime Minister in his six years in power; Stephen Harper has created a succession list of who will assume his duties in the event of disaster.

Thirty seven people have been itemized on the Order of Council which was adopted by Cabinet on October 17th.

At the top of the list is Senator Marjory Le Breton, a long time Conservative from Nepean, Ontario.

Le Breton has been described by some as ‘red tory’ and is progressive on several issues including abortion.

She is the leader of the government in the Senate and is also the vice-chair of the cabinet committee on priorities and planning.

The Senator is followed on the list by Ministers Jason Kenney, Diane Finley and Peter McKay.

University of Windsor Political Scientist Dr. Cheryl Collier says it’s not a bad idea for the Prime Minister to have a back-up plan.

“I can’t remember a Prime Minister that hasn’t delineated a second in command or someone we could assume was second in command of the government,” says Collier.

“The list does seem odd to be so long, I can’t imagine an opportunity where you would go through the list and get to number 37,” she adds.

Collier says many of those at the top don’t appear to have any leadership ambitions.

By looking at Le Breton at the top of the list, she believes he may be trying to quell the talk of some potential successors.

“In long-running governments people typically start to challenge the Prime Minister for power and I don’t think he wants to see that inside the party,” she speculates.

Here is the complete list, in order, in the event the Prime Minister is incapacitated:

The Honourable Marjory LeBreton,

The Honourable Jason Kenney,

The Honourable Diane Finley,

The Honourable Peter Gordon MacKay,

The Honourable Tony Clement,

The Honourable Christian Paradis,

The Honourable Robert Douglas Nicholson

The Honourable Vic Toews

The Honourable Rona Ambrose

The Honourable John Baird

The Honourable James Michael Flaherty

The Honourable Peter Van Loan

The Honourable Gerry Ritz

The Honourable James Moore

The Honourable Denis Lebel

The Honourable Leona Aglukkaq

The Honourable Keith Ashfield

The Honourable Peter Kent

The Honourable Lisa Raitt

The Honourable Gail Shea

The Honourable John Duncan

The Honourable Julian Fantino

The Honourable Steven Blaney

The Honourable Edward Fast

The Honourable Joe Oliver

The Honourable Peter Penashue

The Honourable Bernard Valcourt

The Honourable Gordon O’Connor

The Honourable Maxime Bernier

The Honourable Diane Ablonczy

The Honourable Lynne Yelich

The Honourable Steven John Fletcher

The Honourable Gary Goodyear

The Honourable Ted Menzies

The Honourable Tim Uppal

The Honourable Alice Wong

The Honourable Bal Gosal