Canadian Parliament

I

Introduction

Canadian Parliament, national legislature of Canada. Parliament consists of three elements: the House of Commons; the Senate; and the governor-general, who serves as the representative of Queen Elizabeth II, Canada’s head of state. Parliament encompasses the executive and the legislative branches of the Canadian federal government. The prime minister and cabinet ministers together constitute the executive branch, but are also in the legislature as members of Parliament.

Parliament makes laws and controls the federal budget. The government, as the prime minister and the Cabinet are generally known, introduces budgets and most of the bills that become law. All budgets and bills must be approved by both Commons and the Senate and receive royal assent from the governor-general in order to become law. Parliament cannot pass laws that concern issues outside the authority of the federal government or that infringe on the rights protected by the Constitution of Canada.

One of Parliament’s primary duties is to maintain responsible government by holding the prime minister and Cabinet accountable to the voters. The government can only remain in office as long as it has the support of a majority of the members of Commons.

The structure of the Canadian Parliament derives from both British and American models. As in Britain, from which Canada gained significant but not complete independence in 1867, Canada has a parliamentary form of government accompanied by a constitutional monarchy. Canada has a federal system similar to that of the United States; the federal government has a division of responsibilities between the national, the ten provincial, and the three territorial governments.

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II

Powers of Parliament

The British North America Act of 1867, later renamed the Constitution Act of 1867, laid out the powers of Parliament and of the provincial legislatures. Parliament has the power to pass laws for the “peace, order, and good government of Canada,” except for matters assigned to the provincial legislatures. According to the act, Parliament had exclusive power over taxation, national defense, citizenship, banking, criminal law, Indians and Indian lands, trade and commerce, and fisheries. The Constitution Act of 1867 also listed 16 specific areas of provincial responsibility, including education and municipal institutions. Parliament shares jurisdiction with the provinces on issues such as immigration, agriculture, and social policy. Provincial powers have grown, and there is a significant overlap and interlocking of activities between the federal and provincial governments in Canada.

Parliament cannot pass laws that infringe on the freedoms set down in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, adopted as part of the constitution in 1982. The charter protects rights of free speech, free expression, and free assembly; guarantees the right to participate in democratic elections and to have a fair and prompt trial; and acknowledges the rights of minority groups. However, all of the charter rights are “subject to such reasonable limits as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.” Canada’s judiciary, including the Supreme Court of Canada, determines whether Parliament has overstepped its bounds, in relation to either provincial powers or to charter rights.

III

Constitutional Conventions

The Canadian constitution provides important guidelines for the operation of Parliament, but it does not address all key issues about how it functions. Many of the rules governing how Parliament works are the result of long-standing political practices known as unwritten constitutional conventions. These conventions ensure that the Canadian government is accountable to the voters. For example, the Constitution Act of 1867 grants great power to the governor-general as the British sovereign’s representative, but because the governor-general is appointed and not elected, constitutional conventions have made the governor-general’s role largely symbolic. The governor-general almost always acts on the advice of the prime minister and the Cabinet. Another constitutional convention is that the House of Commons, as an elected body, plays a much more significant role than the Senate, whose members are appointed.

Members of Parliament are aligned with political parties, voluntary associations of people who share similar opinions on public questions. Parties are barely mentioned in the constitution, but they play a crucial role in Parliament. The prime minister and cabinet ministers are members of the political party that wins the most votes in an election, often called the government party. The party that wins the second-most votes is designated the official opposition and is expected to challenge the government’s policies and proposals. Other parties are free to vote with the government party or with the opposition at any time. Competitive, disciplined parties provide most of the ideas and direction for Parliament. Since 1921 there have always been at least three and sometimes as many as five parties represented in the House of Commons.

IV

Responsible Government

One of the main tenets of the Canadian constitution is responsible government, or holding the government accountable to the people of Canada. Specifically, the prime minister and cabinet ministers are accountable to the House of Commons and must maintain the support of a majority of its members. Central to the concept of responsible government are the principles of ministerial responsibility. These principles were derived from the parliamentary experience of Britain and were adopted in Canada when the country was founded. There are two parts to the doctrine of ministerial responsibility: collective and individual.

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