Politics of Canada

Canada is a monarchy, a Commonwealth state with a parliamentary federal system and a strong democratic tradition. Many of the country's legislative practices derive from the unwritten practices and precedents set by the United Kingdom's Westminster Parliament. However, Canada presents some variations. Party discipline in Canada is higher than in the UK, and many of the votes are considered confidence votes, which tends to diminish the role of non-cabinet members of Parliament, called backbenchers. Backbenchers are ((mutos)) who can still influence parliamentary committees, such as the Public Accounts Committee or the National Defense Committee.

The political system operating in Canada is the Westminster system, which was established in the British Parliament through the Constitutional Act of 1867 (also known as the British North America Act), but the federal model and the division of powers were established by Canadian politicians. After the First World War the citizens of the autonomous domains began to develop a strong sense of identity, and in the Balfour Declaration of 1926 the British government expressed its desire to guarantee full autonomy to these domains. In 1931 the British Parliament approved the Westminster Statute, through which the autonomy of Canada and other domains was recognized. Canadian politicians were not able to reach consensus on the constitutional reform process until 1982. Changes to the Constitution would require the approval of the British Parliament. The judicial committee of the Privy Council in the United Kingdom was the deciding body in legal matters until 1949.

Executive branch

King of Canada and Governor General

Charles III, King of Canada

King Carlos III is the sovereign of the country, and therefore is the king. The government acts in his name. The term "The Crown" is widely used to represent the power of the monarchy. Government ministers are ministers of the Crown. In the judicial processes are the prosecutors of the Crown, who act on behalf of the monarchy.

Since the monarch does not reside in Canada, he appoints a Governor General who represents Canada and exercises his powers. The person who exercises this role is selected at the proposal of the prime minister. This is a "proposal" without options, in the sense that it would cause a major political crisis if the prime minister's proposal were not accepted by the king. The monarchy follows the advice of the ministers and is not responsible for the decisions of the government. There is no set limit to the governor-general's office, but the practice in recent decades has been for the governor-general to be replaced every five years.

Rideau Hall, the residence of the Governor General of Canada.

Cabinet

The prime minister appoints the governor general with the acceptance of the monarch, in order to guarantee a stable government this person should always be the one who has the confidence of the House of Commons. In practice, the prime minister is usually the leader of the strongest political party in the House of Commons, which normally holds a majority of the seats in the lower house and forms a majority government. On occasion no party has achieved a majority in the House of Commons and one party, usually the strongest, has formed a minority government. The Prime Minister remains in office until he resigns or is removed by the Governor General. So the party that was in government, before the election, can try to continue to govern if they want, even if they have fewer seats than another party. Party coalitions are very rare at the federal level; Canada has had only one coalition government: Robert Borden's Union Government during World War I.

Political parties are private organizations, and are not mentioned in the Constitution. The prime minister and most of his cabinet members are members of parliament, so they are accountable to parliament for their actions. Any Canadian can be elected and many prime ministers have risen to that position after being elected as party leaders without having previously been MPs. The prime minister chooses the ministers and forms a cabinet. Cabinet members remain in office at the will of the prime minister. If the House of Commons passes a vote of no confidence in the government, the prime minister and his cabinet are expected to resign or dissolve Parliament so that a general election can be held. To avoid no-confidence motions, party discipline has been a constant in the Canadian parliament, in which party members, especially members of the ruling party, are required to vote along the party line or face the consequences. if they do not act in such a way (expulsion from the party). In practice, the only case in which a vote of no confidence is required is when the budgets cannot be approved. If a government cannot get a budget approved, it is common for a vote of confidence to be carried out. The exception would be if the Prime Minister or the government stated that if a bill were not passed they would regard this as a matter of confidence.

When a member of the ruling party votes according to their conscience, this vote is highly conditioned by the fact that a vote against the party line (especially in votes of confidence) can lead to expulsion from their party. That expulsion would entail the loss of funds for the election and a search for another candidate by the party. However, in the 2004 elections an independent member of Parliament (Chuck Cadman) was elected. Most of the independents were elected when they were under a party and then decided to leave or were expelled. After the Conservative Party of Canada was formed, some members of the Progressive Conservative Party and the Canadian Alliance became independents.

When a prime minister resigns, the governor-general can urge another party to form a government, if that party has the necessary seats. This occurred with the King-Byng affair in 1926. In practice it is unlikely that a new, distinct alliance will be created.

Parliament

House of Parliament.

The Parliament of Canada comprises the monarchy, the House of Commons (by election) and a Senate (by appointment). The Governor-General appoints the senators on the recommendation of the Prime Minister according to the formula that distributes the seats by provinces. In practice, the legislative power is controlled by the party that has the majority of seats in the House of Commons, which is elected by the 308 constituencies for a term that cannot exceed five years. Strong party discipline and a first-past-the-post electoral system have given control of the House of Commons to a single party since 1970. The 5-year term was only extended in 1916. The Prime Minister You can ask the Governor-General to dissolve Parliament and hold new elections at any time. That request was turned down only once, during the minority government of 1926. By custom, prime ministers normally hold new elections after four years in power.

Provincial governments

Each province is governed by a Lieutenant Governor, a Prime Minister, and a single legislative chamber. Provincial governments operate under a parliamentary system similar to that of the federal government, with the prime minister chosen in the same way as the prime minister of Canada. The lieutenant governor, recommended by the prime minister and later appointed by the governor general, represents the Crown in each province. A lieutenant governor, like the governor general, has real power only in emergency situations.

Residual powers—that is, those powers not specified in the Constitution—reside with the federal government; the objective of this forecast was to avoid the division that led to the American Civil War. In 1895, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council legislated that the federal government could exercise its residual power only in time of war. As a consequence, the responsibility for new government functions such as labor laws or the welfare state had to accommodate the powers established in the British North America Act. Many of these functions ended up being assigned to the provinces, so that Canada today is a highly decentralized federation. The decentralization of functions has been implemented to satisfy some provincial aspirations, such as the case of Quebec. All provinces are entitled to assume the powers that only Quebec is now exercising, and the provinces of Alberta and Ontario have expressed interest in assuming these powers.

Heads of state

• S.M. Victoria I (Hannover House, 1837-1901)
• S.M. Eduardo VII (House of Saxony-Coburg-Gotha, 1901-1910)
• S.M. Jorge V (Windsor House, 1910-1936)
• S.M. Eduardo VIII (Casa de Windsor, 1936)
• S.M. Jorge VI (House of Windsor, 1936-1952)
• S.M. Isabel II (House of Windsor, 1952-2022)
• S.M. Carlos III (House of Windsor, 2022-present)

Heads of government

Prime Ministers

• Sir John A. MacDonald (Conserver, 1867-1886)
• Sir Alexander MacKenzie (Liberal, 1886-1891)
• Sir John J.C. Abbott (Conserver, 1891-1892)
• Sir John S. Thompson (Conserver, 1892-1894)
• Sir Mackenzie Bowell (Conserver, 1894-1895)
• Sir Charles Tupper (Conserver, 1895)
• Sir Wilfrid Laurier (Liberal, 1895-1910)
• Sir Robert Borden (Conserver, 1910-1919)
• Arthur Meighen (Conserver, 1919-1921)
• William Lyon Mackenzie King (Liberal, 1921-1943)
• Richard B. Bennett (Conserver, 1943-1948)
• Louis St. Laurent (Liberal, 1948-1957)
• John George Diefenbaker (Conserver, 1957-1963)
• Lester B. Pearson (Liberal, 1963-1968)
• Pierre Elliott Trudeau (Liberal, 1968-1983)
• Joe Clark (Conserver, 1983-1984)
• John Napier Turner (Liberal, 1984)
• Brian Mulroney (Conserver, 1984-1993)
• Kim Campbell, 1993
• Jean Chrétien (Liberal, 1993-2004)
• Paul Martin (Liberal, 2004-2006)
• Stephen Harper (Conserver; 2006-2015)
• Justin Trudeau (Liberal; 2015-)