In recent months the government of Stephen Harper misinformed Canadians that it was undemocratic for the opposition parties to form a coalition to topple the governing Conservatives and form their own government. Regardless of how one feels about the politics involved the simple fact is that it was a legitimate move within a Westminster Parliamentary system to do so. Because of this, this has been written to outline the more important tenets of how the Canadian government really works, or rather, is supposed to work.

The Canadian government is a constitutional monarchy operating as a parliamentary democracy which is bicameral and federated. The Head of State is the monarch of Canada, currently Queen Elizabeth II, represented by the Governor General of Canada. The Head of Government is the Prime Minister, usually the leader of the party with the largest number of seats within the House of Commons, however, the Prime Minister may also be the leader selected to represent the largest bloc of votes within the House. The Governor General is the de facto Head of Government but since the King-Byng Affair of 1926, there has not been a Governor General who has questioned the “advice” of a Prime Minister.

The Federal Government is divided into several branches. Two houses of governance are the House of Commons, where the elected representatives of given constituencies sit and pass legislation and the Senate, a body of appointed Senators who hold their seats until the age of 75, designed to be a “sober chamber of second thought”. The power of legislation essentially rests with the House of Commons, who reserve the right to conduct votes of non-confidence (thus forcing an election) and to put forward and approve independently any “money bills” (those bills which pertain to any form of finance or budgetary matter) these are automatically approved by the Senate. The Senate is able to put forward bills and to postpone the voting of any “money bill” for 6 months.

The ministries are another important part of the Federal Government. The Prime Minister’s Office being the most important in that it is the head of the executive arm. From this other portfolios are made and ministries created to deal with matters essential to the governance of Canada which fall to Federal mandate under the Constitution.

The Judiciary and Royal Canadian Mounted Police, although technically a part of the Federal Government are in fact independent of the Government so that they may effectively fulfill their mandates as enforcers of justice and the law. The Supreme court however is appointed by the Prime Minister, as are the members of the Senate.

Canada has a representative by majority vote constituency system. Through which the nation is divided into constituencies which vote for a Member of Parliament to represent them, the system - colloquially known as the “first past the post” model - is designed such that whomever has the most votes individually is elected to office (rather than some subset making the “majority”). This has raised issues and there is a movement for the “representation by population” model. From these elected officials a government is formed, normally a government is formed by one party if it has a majority (154 or more seats), or it can be formed by a minority (that party which holds the most seats within the house and holds the support of the house), or by a coalition which constitutes either a majority or minority of any number of parties with or without the support of the House.

The government can serve for as long as 5 years at which point the Prime Minister must call an election. However at any point during that term the House may force an election or toppling of government with replacement by another party through a vote of non-confidence. This 5 year mandate has only been exceeded once by Prime Minister Robert Borden who maintained governance, until the conclusion of hostilities (during World War II), as it was deemed Canada was under threat during that period.

 Print This   Email This   Share/Save