by Paul Lines

Created on: November 06, 2011   Last Updated: November 07, 2011

Canada, as with any other developed country has a system of government that is based upon parliamentary democracy. Due to its connection to the common-wealth, Canada’s government structure has evolved in a similar manner to that of the UK, not least because it also is a constitutional monarchy, whereby the reigning UK monarch formally has executive authority.

It was the ‘Constitution Act 1867’, which first outlined the structure of Canada’s government system. This act set the format for their being one parliament for the country that was formed of three distinct but interrelated parts, these being ‘the Crown, the Senate and the House of Commons’, the latter two of which are often referred to as the upper and lower houses. It is these three bodies that are mainly responsible for the enacting of Canadian laws, although as the country is a centralised state, as with the UK, this responsibility is also shared with ten regional governments, each of which has limited ability to develop and apply laws which relate to their own particular territorial area. However, such enactment capability is only permissible within the boundaries of the national or federal legislature framework and is restricted by the constitution to areas such as education, municipal government and other matters of local importance.

The parliamentary structure of Canada’s government follows the ‘Westminster’ style of government. Members of the ‘House of Commons’ or lower house, are elected by the general public through the regular process of general elections. In the main, members of parliament are usually representatives from a selection of political parties, each of which during the election process will vie to return the greatest number of MP’s to the lower house, thus enabling the party to form the government of the day. For political purposes Canada is divided by what is known as electoral districts or ridings, with a designated number of MP’s being elected to represent these areas. Currently, there are a total of 418 member places in Canada’s parliament, of which 308 are for MP’s who form the House of Commons and 110 senators who form the upper house or senate, with some of the latter occasionally remaining vacant.

In terms of the lower house, Canada has copied the Westminster style of ‘first past the post’, which it could be argued that perhaps this process does not give a fair representation

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>