Transcript Parliament and the Government

Parliament and the
Government
Government
Canada’s system of governance is based
on the parliamentary system in Britain.
 The belief that governments must be
elected by the people in order to make
laws and govern is very important.
 When Canada became a nation there were
four founding colonies: Nova Scotia, New
Brunswick, Canada’s East and Canada’s
West.

Government
These founding colonies agreed to a system of
Confederation – which is a system that divides
powers between national government and the
provinces.
 This federal system has responsibilities for
making laws, regulations, policies and decisions
and are shared between the federal gov’t and
the provincial gov’t. The specific responsibilities
are stated in Canada’s constitution.

The Key Players
Queen (the head of government but is
represented by the Governor General at the
federal level and lieutenant governor at the
provincial level)
 An elected House of Commons
 An appointed Senate
 In a parliamentary system of government, voters
give the power to make new laws and
regulations to elected MPs. At bth the federal
and provincial levels, the elected chambers are
organized the same way.

Use your notes and previous handouts to
record the role and responsibilities of the
Queen, The Senate, the Governor General
and the Lieutenant Governor General into
the organizer provided.
 Our government is based on the
Constitution and the rule of law.

Federal Government

1)
2)
3)
There are three branches in our federal
government system.
Executive branch
Legislative branch
Judicial branch
Executive Branch – PM + Cabinet
Prime Minister (PM)- Stephen Harper
 PM is head of Canada’s government
 PM must be elected as a leader of his or
her political party
 AND the PM must then be elected as a
member of Parliament or MP.
 The leader of the political party that wins
the most seats (election of MPs) in the
House of Commons becomes the PM

The Cabinet includes people with
responsibility for different departments
and agencies.
 Members of the Cabinet are called Cabinet
Ministers
 The PM chooses cabinet ministers and
assigns portfolios or department.
 The Cabinet and the PM carry out the dayto-day business of the government and
they propose most of the ideas that
become laws.

Legislative: House of Commons +
Senate
The House of Commons is the major law-making
body of the government
 Members of the HoC (MPs) debate, study, and
vote on bills which becomes laws if passed.
 Each elected MP represents voters of one riding
or district.
 An MP’s to key responsibilities :
a) represent their constituents (voters)
b) create effective legislation (or law)

Senators are appointed by regional divisions
within the country
 Seats in the Senate are represented regionally
and equally:
- 24 for Ontario
- 24 for Quebec
- 24 for the Maritime provinces
- 24 for the Western provinces
- 6 for Newfoundland and Labrador (joined
confederation in 1949 and is not assigned to any
region)
- 1 for each of the Yukon, NWT, and Nunavut

Judicial Branch: courts
(Supreme Court of
Canada, federal and provincial courts)
Settle disputes between individuals, between
individuals and the government and between the
different levels of governement.
 Includes all of Canada’s courts of law
 All members come from the legal profession
 The Supreme Court is the highest court in the
country and has the final say in all legal
questions in the country.

Legislative Branch
Power:
Make, change or remove laws and regulations
Who:
Federal
Provincial
Parliament
Queen (LG)
Queen (GG)
Elected house
(legislature- MPPs)
Elected members (MPs) lower house
(House of Commons)
Appointed upper house (senate)
Executive Branch
Power:
Carries out laws and regulations
Who:
Federal
The Queen (GG)
PM
Cabinet members
civil servants
Provincial
Queen (LG)
Premier
Prov cabinet
members
civil servants
Judicial Branch
Power: Interprets the laws
(the power to find a person innocent or guilty)
power is invested in our court system
Supreme Court – all decisions are FINAL
Who:
Federal & provincial
judicial branch
judges
attorney general
lawyers
juries
A good way to understand how power is
divided into three branches is to think of
your relationship with a teacher in a
classroom.
A. In this scenario, the class is to be working on an
assigned activity that is due the next day.
However, very little on-task work is being
accomplished. For the most part, students are
socializing, walking around the class, distracting
one another, and are generally unfocused. Your
teacher announces, "For the remainder of this
class, there will be no more talking or moving
freely between desks in the classroom."

Your teacher has exercised his/her
legislative power. He/she has made a
rule: "There will be no talking or moving
about in the classroom."

B. The class is quiet and working on task
for a few minutes, until one student
decides to challenge the new rule (not
you of course) by turning to the pupils
behind him/her and loudly engaging in
conversation about an upcoming social
event. After one or two unheeded
warnings, the teacher tells the student,
"Change your location to an isolated
corner of the room away from other
students."

This time your teacher has exercised
his/her executive power. He/she has
carried out the rule: No talking - move the
student who is a distraction.

C. After another short period of time,
there is some talking that occurs in the
area around your desk. The teacher tells
you to stop talking, to which you reply, "I
wasn't talking. It was Jason." Now, what
does your teacher have to do? With an
entire class looking on, he/she has to
decide whether the disturbance was
caused by Jason or by you.

Your teacher is exercising his/her judicial
power. He/she has to judge the guilt or
innocence of you and/or Jason.
13) Role of each person in the
Federal Government
A)Speaker of the house
-Keeping order in debates
-Makes decisions on the day-to-day
running of the HOC
-MPs elect one of their own to serve as
speaker
b) Prime Minister
-Leader of the political party that has the
most seats in Parliament
-most powerful person in Parliament
C) Cabinet of Ministers
-ministers are selected by the PM
- Chosen from MPs of the PMs own political
party
- Senators have served in the cabinet
- PM and the cabinet direct government
policy
D) Leader of the Official Opposition
-usually the leader of the 2nd largest party in
the gov’t
Responsible for presenting clear alternatives
to gov’t policy and for suggesting
amendments to the gov’ts legislative
agenda
E) Shadow Cabinet
-
-
Selected by leader of opposition
The SC job is to ‘shadow’ the cabinet by
criticizing gov’t policy and for suggesting
amendments to the gov’ts legislative
agenda
F) MPs
- Rep electoral districts in the legislature
- Elected to serve constituents
- Follow the instructions when voting on
bills of their political party leader
- MP of the opposition – their role is to
provide constructive
criticism of gov’t
policy
14) Provincial Legislature Key Roles

A)



Consists of the Queen who is
represented by the Lieutenant Governor
and the elected legislature.
Speaker of the house
keeping order in debates
-makes decisions on the day-to-day
running of the legislature
-member of the legislature who is
elected by his or her peers
B) Premier (Kathleen Wynne)
 -the leader of the political party that has the
most seats in the legislature
 -most powerful person in the legislature
C) Cabinet of Ministers
 -ministers are selected by the premier to be
responsible for different areas of public policy
 -chosen from members of the legislature of the
premier’s own party (but can be chosen from
other members of the legislature)
 -the premier and the cabinet direct gov’t policy
D) Leader of the Opposition
 usually the leader of the 2nd largest party in the
legislature
 -responsible for criticizing and putting forward
an alternative to gov’t policy
E) Shadow Cabinet
 -the leader of the official opposition selects the
shadow cabinet
 -‘shadow’ the cabinet by criticizing gov’t policy
 -member of the shadow cabinet take on the
same areas of responsibility as members of the
cabinet





F) Members of the Legislative Assembly
(Members of the Provincial ParliamentON) (MPP’s)
-elected to serve the voters in their constituency
(almost always members of a political party)
-usually follow the instructions of their party
leader when they vote in the legislature
-some sit on gov’t benches (belong to or support
the political party that forms the gov’t
-others are members of the opposition parties
(provide constructive criticism of gov’t policy, to
present policy alternaties, and to suggest
amendments to the gov’ts legislative agenda
15) According to the Charter of Rights and
Freedoms requires that the Federal gov’t
meets at least once a year.
16) to debate policy and make laws
17) to communicate its plans to parliament and
the public
18)
3 readings
1st (no debate/discussion)
2nd (debate) then to a committee
(changed/improved)
3rd (vote)
Senate