Canada

B

3

Senate

The members of the Senate are appointed, nominally by the governor-general but in effect by the prime minister. Once appointed, a senator may stay in office until age 75. Appointment to the Senate is considered an honor and is frequently granted for political service in the national or provincial government. To be appointed, a senator must own a certain amount of property, be over the age of 30, and reside in the province he or she represents.

Senators are appointed on the principle of regional representation. There is a total of 105, but four more or eight more can be added under exceptional circumstances as long as they are drawn equally from Québec, Ontario, the Maritimes, and the western provinces.

The Canadian Senate is more closely related in function to the British House of Lords than to the United States Senate. It has the power to initiate legislation, except for finance bills, but mainly acts as the chamber of “sober second thought,” scrutinizing the legislation initiated in the House of Commons. It has the right to amend or delay passage of bills passed by Commons. It also has the power to veto bills but rarely exercises it. Another important function of the Senate is the Special Senate Committee, through which social and economic issues important to the country are thoroughly investigated, often leading to changes in government policy.

B

4

House of Commons

Members of Commons are directly elected by the Canadian voters. There is no uniform interval between national, or general, elections, but by law they must be held at least once every five years. Each province and territory is divided into ridings, and each riding elects one member. The total number of seats is reapportioned periodically on the basis of the national census. Currently the House of Commons has 308 members. If a seat becomes vacant between general elections a by-election is held in that riding to fill the open seat.

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To qualify for election to the House of Commons, a candidate must be a Canadian citizen and at least 18 years of age. But, unless he or she runs as an independent, a candidate must go through a nomination process at the party level first. A candidate or member does not have to live in the riding he or she represents, but most do.

In practice, the House of Commons is the key legislative branch, the place where most important bills are introduced; all money bills must originate in Commons. The prime minister and most of the Cabinet are members of Commons. Tradition decrees that if a government loses the support of a majority of Commons, it must surrender power or call a general election. Therefore, members of the party in power rarely vote against government policies. Dissent within the party is expressed in private meetings or party caucuses, but the party usually presents a solid front in Parliament.

All political parties in the House of Commons that do not support the government are known collectively as the opposition. The minority party with the most seats in Commons is known as the Official Opposition and has special privileges. The leader of the Official Opposition is one of the most important and visible figures in the House of Commons. In the Canadian parliamentary system it is the duty of the opposition to oppose the party in power. Government programs and bills submitted to Parliament are subject to close scrutiny and criticism by members of the opposition. The prime minister and his Cabinet must be ready at all times to explain and defend the government’s program or actions to the opposition.

C

Judiciary

The legal system in Canada is derived from English common law, except in Québec, which has a civil-law system based on the French civil law, which has been the basis of French law since 1804. The federal judiciary is headed by the Supreme Court of Canada, made up of a chief justice and eight associate judges, three of whom must come from Québec. It sits in Ottawa and is the final Canadian court of appeal for all civil, criminal, and constitutional cases. The next highest tribunal, the Federal Court of Canada, is divided into a Trial Division and an Appeal Division. It hears a variety of cases, including those involving claims against the federal government. Provincial courts are established by the provincial legislatures and, although the names of the courts are not uniform, each province has a similar three-part court system. Judges of the Supreme Court and the Federal Court and almost all judges of the higher provincial courts are appointed by the federal government.

D

Provincial Government

Canada comprises ten provinces, each with a separate legislature and administration. The government of each province is similar in structure and function to that of the national government. The monarch is represented in each province by a lieutenant governor, who is appointed by the governor-general on the recommendation of the prime minister. The functions of the lieutenant governor, like those of the governor-general, are primarily ceremonial. Each province has a unicameral, or single-chamber, legislature, called the legislative or provincial assembly. It is elected at least once every five years but may be dissolved at any time. The provincial legislature functions in much the same way as the House of Commons.

The head of the provincial government is the premier, who is appointed by the lieutenant governor after his or her party wins a general election. The premier’s role is similar to that of the prime minister in Ottawa. He or she must be able to control a majority in the legislature. The premier appoints an executive council, or Cabinet, whose members must be members of the legislative assembly and serve as heads of provincial departments. They function in provincial affairs as cabinet members do in national affairs.

The Yukon Territory and the Northwest Territories are administered by Ottawa through the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. The chief executives are commissioners, appointed by the federal government and assisted by local councils. The commissioner for the Northwest Territories resides at Yellowknife, and the commissioner for the Yukon at Whitehorse. The Yukon Territory has an elected legislative council. The council for the Northwest Territories is composed of both elected and appointed members; the majority are elected. In both territories the commissioner and council have legislative powers similar to those of provincial governments. A few areas of government, such as natural resources, are still controlled by Ottawa. The commissioner of each territory acts according to instructions from the federal Cabinet or the minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.

A third territory, Nunavut, was created in 1999 out of the Northwest Territories and encompasses about 2 million sq km (about 772,000 sq mi) of the eastern Arctic. Nunavut has its own government, similar to the other territories. This is the only large jurisdiction in North America with a majority of indigenous people, and in effect it constitutes indigenous self-government.

E

Political Parties

The strongest national political parties in Canada during the 20th century were the Progressive Conservative Party and the Liberal Party. The third party with a tradition of national support was the New Democratic Party (NDP). The Progressive Conservatives generally favored an unfettered market, fiscal responsibility, and limits on state power. The Liberals are generally associated with the center of the political spectrum, which means that they advocate greater government involvement in the economy; they have also been traditionally seen as the party most open to immigration.

The smaller NDP, which emerged from Canadian labor and protest movements, supports programs to increase social and economic equality. The NDP claims to represent ordinary people. Although never achieving national power, the NDP has from time to time held the balance of power and used it to support the Liberals; it has also led the provincial government at various times in British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, and Saskatchewan.

In the 1993 election only the Liberals maintained their political base, while the Progressive Conservatives and the NDP waned in significance. Two new parties arose that cut into their traditional support. The Bloc Québécois (BQ) was formed to protect Québec interests and promote Québec sovereignty. It acts to a large extent as the federal arm of the provincial separatist party, the Parti Québécois. The BQ has no support outside Québec and no desire to form the federal government. To its own surprise, the collapse of the Progressive Conservatives and NDP in 1993 left the Bloc Québécois for a time in the position of the official opposition in Canadian Parliament. Its original leader, Lucien Bouchard, left the party to become the premier of Québec. The BQ will cease to exist if Québec gains independence; it will likewise decline if serious interest in Québec separatism disappears.

In contrast, the Canadian Alliance, the successor to the Reform Party and originally an expression of western dissatisfaction with federal control, came to express right-wing conservative ideals. It supported reducing taxes and governmental functions and opposed concessions to Québec. In the 1997 election it increased its standing in the west, replacing the Bloc Québécois as the official opposition in Parliament. Led by Stockwell Day, the Canadian Alliance gained an even larger share of seats in the 2000 election and retained its position as the official opposition. However, the party failed to attract many voters from central or eastern Canada.

In 2003 the Progressive Conservatives and the Canadian Alliance merged to form a new party known as the Conservative Party. Led by Stephen Harper, the Conservative Party became the official opposition in Parliament. A small group of former Progressive Conservatives rejected the merger and formed a breakaway political party known as the Progressive Canadian party. In elections held in early 2006 the Conservative Party won the most seats in Parliament and formed a minority government, with the Liberals becoming the official opposition party.

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