Political System:

In 1867 the Constitution of Canada

United three British colonies:

the Province of Canada (comprising Upper Canada, which is now Ontario, and Lower Canada, which is
now Quebec)
Nova Scotia
New Brunswick.

Constitutional monarchy reigning United Kingdom (currently Elizabeth II head of state) Represented by:

- A governor general at the federal level: grants royal assent to bills passed in Parliament, he summons and
dissolves Parliament, reads the speech from the throne, signs certain state documents and presides over
certain swearing-in ceremonies.
- 10 lieutenant governors (one per province)
- The three territories have a commissioner representing the Queen. (Ceremonial role)

In the past, only British amend the Constitution.

In 1982, Canada patriated its Constitution, which means it adopted mechanisms to amend it itself. Despite these
changes, Canada remains a constitutional monarchy

The Federal Government

The federal parliament has power over many areas of the country. Some of these areas are international trade,
taxation, national defense, shipping, currency, banking, citizenship, and criminal law. There are three main
branches to the federal government, and each one of these branches has special components.

Executive Legislative Judiciary

- Queen - House of Commons - Supreme Court of
- Prime Minister - Senate Canada
- Cabinet

Executive: the power to run the country and carry out the laws. Cabinet, the head is the prime minister. Following
parliamentary tradition, he is the leader of the party that obtained the most seats in the House of Commons.

Legislative: the power to make laws: the House of Commons (308). Senate(105) also have the power to draw up or
pass bills however this is not so common. Its members also represent the regions of Canada and they are supposed
to ensure that the rights of the less populous provinces do not get trampled on.

Judicial: deciding who has broken the law, and what penalties they should receive.

- Canadas system of government - inspired - British parliamentary - rooted in tradition.

The Opposition:

- According to tradition, the party with the second most seats becomes the Official Opposition. Its head
becomes the leader of the Opposition.
- To have official party status in the Commons and obtain funding for research, a party must win at least 12
seats.

Majority - minority?

- Tradition dictates that the party winning the most seats forms the government. If a party ends up with more
than half the seats in the House of Commons, a majority government forms and has control over the House.

- But if the party winning the most seats still has fewer than half the total seats, it is likely to form a minority
government. This status means that the opposition parties, with their greater number of seats, can block bills
from passing. The Opposition can also bring down the government on major matters like the budget.

- To govern, the party in power must have the support of the House. When there is a minority government, the
Opposition can try to topple it by tabling a non-confidence motion. If the motion wins the majority of votes
from members, the government then falls.

- When the government is brought down, the House of Commons is dissolved and an election called.

- A minority party can unite with another party in the House of Commons to obtain an absolute majority. In
such cases, the alliance may be temporary like the Liberal Party and the New Democratic Party in 2005. It may
also be a formal alliance whereby the party that agrees to unite obtains positions within the government.

Who may vote? All Canadian citizens aged 18 or older are eligible to vote (even inmates thanks to a Supreme
Court decision rendered on October 31, 2002). Only some public office holders, like the chief and assistant chief
electoral officers, are ineligible.

Who may run? All Canadian citizens aged 18 or over may run in an election unless they are convicted of a crime
under the Canada Elections Act or detained in a penitentiary. May represent a party or run as independents or
without any designation.

MPs (Members of Parliament) are elected for a five-year term. However, when the government has a majority of
seats in the Commons, the prime minister traditionally calls a general election in the fourth year of his term of
office.

RESUME:

Canada is a constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II the queen of Canada as the head of state, with her
role delegated to the governor general, who is appointed "on the advice of the prime minister" by the reigning
monarch[1] for an unlimited period of time (recent tradition is to keep it at 5 year terms).

Canada has three levels of government: federal, provincial/territorial and municipal. Each of the provinces have
their own parliament (or legislative assembly, or national assembly in Quebec).

The federal government has three branches: the judicial, legislative and executive. Unlike the American system,
there is no strict separation of powers (will explain soon).

The Legislative branch is composed of a bicameral parliament with the "Queen in Council" on top. The lower house
is called the House of Commons. It has 308 members of Parliament who are each elected to represent an electoral
district (colloquially known as 'Ridings') by a plurality of votes of all residents who are eligible to vote in that
district in a first past the post system. Canada is a multi-party democracy with three major parties (Conservative,
Liberal, New Democrats) and a couple of minor or regional parties (including the Quebec separatists) and some
independents. The Commons typically introduce legislation, debate it and pass it on to the upper house if a bill is
approved in three separate votes.

The upper house is known as The Senate and is composed of 105 members appointed by the Queen on the advice
of the prime minister for life (mandatory retirement at age 75). The Senate typically does not introduce legislation,
they get to debate legislation that gets passed from the Commons and vote on it once. Due to the inherently
undemocratic nature of the Senate, it is largely powerless. It is considered the house of "Sober second thought".
i.e. its members are not restricted by the short term needs of electoral politics. It's members also represent the
regions of Canada and they are supposed to ensure that the rights of the less populous provinces do not get
trampled on. Senate reform is a frequent discussion in Canadian politics... However reform is usually stalled and
delayed because there isn't a clear consensus of what the role of the Senate should be (and also because it may
involve the members of the Senate - a very cushy position! - voting themselves out of a job).

After a bill is passed by the Senate it gets signed by the monarch and receives Royal Ascent (becomes a law of the
land). The Queen's representative is constitutionally entitled to veto legislation - this power is traditionally not
used.

The executive branch is ran by the Cabinet, which is lead by the prime minister. The prime minister in Canadian
political tradition is the leader of the largest party. If the largest party does not command a majority of members it
is known as a Minority Government. A majority of the house is required to pass legislation. The leader of the
second largest faction becomes the "Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition". This role carries many
responsibilities and also prestige. The job of opposition leader is to appoint critics to shadow the governing
cabinet, who will challenge the government's agenda in Parliament.

The prime minister serves at "Her Majesty's Pleasure" meaning that the terms are not fixed and the government
may fall whenever it loses the confidence of the house, unable to pass a budget or the Speech from the Throne (an
annual speech delivered by the governor general and written by the cabinet, outlining the coming year's legislative
agenda of the government) gets voted down. Parliament must be dissolved by the end of the 5th year after a new
Parliament sat. Recently, legislation fixing election dates to once every four years has passed. Of course the prime
minister can always ask to call a snap election by requesting the governor general to dissolve parliament.

The Canadian political system is very leader centric. Party leaders have near dictatorial powers over party policy
and legislative agenda. While officially a party's candidate in a Riding is selected by the party's electoral district
association, it's very common for party leaders to strategically parachute star candidates into a riding. You would
often hear a party leader criticized for their powers... however this has been a longstanding feature of Canadian
politics.

The laws governing Canada fall within the framework of "The Constitution of Canada". It's a largely unwritten
constitution that is derived from English Common Law. In recent times the cornerstone of the Constitution is the
Charter of Rights and Freedoms, outlining principle freedoms and liberties that Canadians are guaranteed, as well
as codifying bilingualism and governing certain aspects of the relationship between Canada and its provinces and
territories, as well as with First Nations (natives).

Constitutionalism in Canada is still a controversial point, as Canada's second largest province (Quebec) never
ratified it and would still maintain that it is invalid... making hard constitutional reforms very difficult.

Below the federal government, there are the ten provinces and three territories. Each has its own unicameral
legislature and a lieutenant governor fulfills a role similar to that of the governor general. While the federal
government is responsible for things like immigration, defense, foreign policy and trade... the provinces govern
things like education, healthcare, transportation, etc.