- What is the structure of Canada's government?
The Parliament is composed of a lower house (House of Commons), with
295 members currently, and an upper house (the Senate) with 112 members.
Each members of the House of Commons (called Members of Parliament or
MPs) represents one electoral district, informally called a riding.
MPs are elected for a term running until the Parliament is dissolved.
Parliament must be dissolved after a maximum of 5 years since the
last general election. When an MP dies or resigns, a replacement may
be elected through a by-election in that riding.
The last general election took place on October 25, 1993. The Liberal
Party formed a majority government, and its leader (Jean Chretien) became
the head of the government (Prime Minister). The prime minister and his
Cabinet Ministers are collectively responsible to the House of Commons.
Unlike in the USA, the same person can take the position of prime minister
for an unlimited number of times.
Senators are appointed by the prime minister and occupy their position
until retirement age of 75. The Senate works about the same way as the
British Chamber of Lords. Senators appointed by Progressive Conservative
governments currently form the majority in the Senate.
Canada's head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, represented in Canada by the
Governor General (Ramon Hnatyshyn since January 29, 1990). The governor
general is appointed by the Queen on the advice of the Prime Minister.
While the Prime Minister is not the Head of State, he holds most of the
executive power.
- What are the federal political parties in Canada?
Parties must hold 12 seats in the House of Commons to be an official
party. Official parties are granted certain privileges: guaranteed time
during the question period, extra funding for research and operational
staff, etc. Currently, only the Liberal Party of Canada, the Bloc
Quebecois, and the Reform Party are official parties.
Liberal Party
The Liberals are the current party in power in Parliament, led by the
Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Jean Chretien. This is one of the
original two major parties dating from before Confederation. Historically
it has been slightly left-of-centre. It is pro-business and, lately,
less pro-American than the PCs. In this century it has controlled
Quebec's seats in Parliament almost exclusively, with the exception of
John Diefenbaker's second term, the Brian Mulroney era, and the recent
booming of the Bloc Quebecois. It is nominally against the FTA (Free
Trade Agreement) and NAFTA (North American FTA), but does not
plan to cancel either deal. The party is nicknamed the Grits, from an old
expression denoting purity: "no sand, clear grit all the way through".
Bloc Quebecois (BQ)
Formed by former Mulroney right-hand man Lucien Bouchard, this group
grew from disenchanted Quebec PC MPs following the failure of the Meech
Lake round of constitutional amendments in 1990. With looser party
discipline than the other parties, its platform is to advance the
policies of Quebec in Parliament, and to eventually help lead Quebec
out of Confederation. A few of its members had come to Parliament via
by-elections since 1990. In the last general election the BQ ran
candidates only in Quebec, where it got 54 out of 75 seats. As the
party with the second-most seats, it will likely be "Her Majesty's
Loyal Opposition in Parliament". A controversy is going on in Canada
as whether a separatist party can assume the role of official opposition.
Reform Party (RP)
This party was also formed just a few years ago, by the charismatic
Preston Manning, son of a former Alberta premier. Its base is
primarily in Alberta. It has preached a hard line with respect to
Quebec, and has not made an attempt to form local associations there.
Represented by only 1 MP before the latest general election, the party
now holds 52 seats, all but one of these in the western provinces.
The Reform Party has placed itself to the right of the PCs. During
its election campaign, the party had to defend itself against repeated
complaints that it was racist and sexist.
Progressive Conservative Party (PC)
This party was formed in 1942 when the Conservative Party (the other
major pre-Confederation party) absorbed the smaller Progressive Party.
The party spans the spectrum from centre to near right-wing. It has
historically been pro-business, and currently is very much pro Free
Trade, including FTA and NAFTA. It formed a majority government until
the last general election, first under the Right Honourable Brian
Mulroney and then under its current leader the Right Honourable Kim
Campbell (the first female Prime Minister of Canada). But the party
now holds only 2 seats -- the worst defeat ever in Canadian federal
politics. Kim Campbell did not get a seat. Like the Conservative Party
in Britain, the PCs are nicknamed the Tories.
New Democratic Party (NDP)
Formed in 1933 in Saskatchewan as the Co-operative Commonwealth
Federation (CCF), the party began as representative of Prairie farming
interests. The name change came in 1961 when Ontario-based labour
organizations joined the party. A member of Socialist International,
it is a social democrat party in the European mould, and has retained
its connections with the Canadian labour movement. It is against FTA
(which it claims it would abrogate) and NAFTA. The party has held
either the third- or the fourth-most seats in every Parliament since
its creation, and has been most powerful when supporting a minority
goverment (such as Pierre Trudeau's from 1972 to 1974). It has had
success at the provincial level, being currently in power in BC,
Saskatchewan, and Ontario, and formerly in Manitoba. At the federal
level it lost its official party designation in the last election,
keeping only 9 of its previous 40-odd seats. The current leader,
Audrey McLaughlin, was the first female leader of a major political
party in Canada.
OTHER PARTIES:
There are a considerable number of minor parties that typically field
candidates in various ridings. These include:
National Party: Formed in 1992 by writer Mel Hurtig, this party did not
get any member into the House of Commons. It was certainly the most
serious among the the minor parties in the last election. The party is
avowedly nationalistic and against foreign ownership.
Rhinoceros Party: Founded in Quebec[year?], this party is noted for
making outrageous campaign promises, such as moving half the Rockies
one metre to the west as a make-work project and, as an energy-saving
idea, putting larger wheels on the back of all cars, so that they will
always be going downhill. It is currently in the middle of a contentious
leadership fight between its Quebec and BC chapters.
Green Party of Canada: With an environmentally-conscious platform.
As of August 1993, the party leader was Chris Lea.
(adapted from Stewart Clamen)
- What about the provincial governments?
Each provincial government is organized very much like the federal one,
except that there are no provincial Senates. Some of the terminology
is different between the federal and provincial levels, or from one
province to another:
| Prime Minister | Premier or Prime Minister |
| Governor General | Lieutenant-Governor |
| Parliament | Provincial Parliament, Legislative Assembly, or (in Quebec) National Assembly |
(Mark Brader)
The PCs, Liberals, and NDP have provincial wings as well. Quebec is
special in that neither of its two major provincial parties has a
national affiliation. Here are the most recent elections and the
parties in power in the provincial legislatures:
PC : Alberta (1989), Manitoba (1990)
Lib: Newfoundland (1989), P.E.I. (1989), New Brunswick (1991), Nova Scotia (1993)
PLQ: Quebec (1989)
NDP: Ontario (1990), British Columbia (1991), Saskatchewan (1991)
(Canadian Global Almanac 1993)
[But what other provinces held elections in late 1992 or in 1993?]
The ruling party in Quebec is the Parti Liberal du Quebec (PLQ)
(leader: Robert Bourassa, Premier), which, in spite of its name, has
not been affiliated with the Liberal Party of Canada since the late
1960s. The Opposition party is the seperatist ("sovereignist")
Parti Quebecois (PQ) (leader: Jacques Parizeau), which was founded
in 1967[?] by the very popular Rene Levesque. In late 1988 the Quebec
National Assembly (i.e. the provincial legislature) invoked the
"Notwithstanding clause" (see 3.4) to maintain the prohibition against
bilingual store signs; this caused the resignation from the Cabinet of
a number of prominent anglophones, nd drove many anglo-Quebecers from
their traditional PLQ allegiance. To fill the void, the Equality Party
(EP) was created soon after to defend English interests and was able to
win four west-end Montreal seats in the subsequent election. Since then
however, rifts in the EP have seen one of its MNAs defect to the PQ
and its founder leave the party, dimming its prospects for survival.
(Stewart Clamen)
[ need description of Social Credit party ]
- Does Canada have something similar to the US Bill of Rights?
Similar, but less powerful.
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was adopted as part of the
Constitution Act of 1982. It provides very much the same sort of
guarantees that the Bill of Rights does in the US, and in general
has the same power of precedence over other laws.
However, the force of the Charter is limited by two things. One is
a clause saying that the rights and freedoms that it guarantees are
subject to "such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be
demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society". In practice
what this means is that rights and freedoms mean only as much as the
Supreme Court says they do; and, of course, this is exactly the
situation in the USA, even though there is no such clause there.
The second and more important limitation is the so-called "notwithstanding
clause". This clause allows any ordinary law to take precedence over
the Charter, for a period of up to five years (renewable indefinitely),
*simply by stating that it does so*. Thus the Charter does not provide
any "checks and balances" against the prospect of a tyrannical government
in solid control of Parliament. It was apparently assumed by the authors
of the Constitution Act that to abuse this override power would be
political suicide for a government and therefore none would ever do it.
(Mark Brader)
- Why do Canadians want to change their constitution?
The constitution was patriated from Great Britain in 1982. Since
that time, Canada can now modify its own constitution without the
consent of the British parliament. While all the other provinces
expressed approval of the 1982 constitution by signing it, Quebec,
led by an separatist government, did not. Provincial approval
was not actually required under the old constitution, so the new one
is in effect in Quebec, just the same as elsewhere, but the situation
was an unhappy one.
In an attempt to gain Quebec's approval of the constitution, Brian
Mulroney initiated talks among the 10 premiers that led to a new
constitutional agreement in 1987 (the Meech Lake Agreement). Because
of the nature of the changes, under the constitution this agreement
required ratification by each province. The ratification deadline
was in June 1990, and the agreement died when Manitoba and
Newfoundland did not ratify it.
A new agreement was then sought, and many problems arose. Quebec
wanted to be recognized as a "distinct society" (read next question),
natives wanted their own independent government, and the small
provinces wanted to reform the useless Senate. A draft agreement
called the Charlottetown Accord was reached, a single package
reflecting all these and many other concerns. Again it would have
required ratification by all provinces. A non-binding national
referendum was held, and the vote was strong enough
against the accord to allow it to die at that point. The
constitutional problems have been put on hold since then, so that
the governments can devote more attention to the economy.
- What does "Distinct Society" mean for Quebec?
Two failed attempts at amending the Canadian constitution, the Meech
Lake accord of 1987 and the Charlottetown accord of 1991, each would
have added a clause to the effect that Quebec constitutes a "Distinct
Society" within Canada. The CIBC, a major Canadian bank, distributed
an article in 1992 containing the following commentary:
"Perhaps no one issue has been so hotly debated among Canadians as the
issue of 'distinct society' status for Quebec. Supporters of the
concept note that it is simply an affirmation of the obvious. Since the
passage of the Quebec Act in 1774, the Roman Catholic religion, the
French system of civil law and the French language have characterized
Quebec society. This reality has been consistently recognized in law.
Legislation governing Canada both before and since Confederation, has
granted distinctive rights to Quebec. By the mid-19th century, language
had grown into the one issue considered essential to protect those
rights. And by 1867, language and culture had become so important that
they were prominent factors in the creation of the British North
America Act, which united the colonies of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia
and New Brunswick.
Opponents of a distinct society constitutional clause fear it will give
special powers to the Quebec government. They believe that, as a
result, Quebec law would not be subject to the guarantees of the
Charter of Rights and Freedoms [see 3.4]. Similarly, they fear that
distinct society status will give Quebec greater powers than other
provinces.
In considering the issue of provincial equality, it is important to
remember that in many respects, Canadian provinces are far from equal
in relation to one another. They are not uniform, for instance, in
terms of customs, rights or services. Parents in Ontario are able to
send their children to either public or separate school systems [see
5.4]. This is not true for all provinces. Similarly, while access to
our national health care system is universal, the service that each
province offers its citizens are not identical. Thus, while equality
is a goal of many Canadians, significant differences exist among
provinces - differences shaped by the historical, regional and cultural
realities that defined each province at the time it joined the Canadian
federation.
In recognition of this fact, the federal government's proposals
recommend that the distinct reality of Quebec society be acknowledged.
This distinct society includes Quebec's civil law tradition, its
language and its unique culture. In addition, the proposals recommend
that it is the responsibility of all governments to preserve Canada's
linguistic majorities and minorities and that Quebec has a special
responsibility to preserve its own distinct culture.
Some in Quebec see these recommendations as giving to Quebec less than
the Meech Lake Accord offered. On the other hand, some opponents of the
distinct society provision, as it was described in the Meech Lake
document, think that this new proposal addresses many of their concerns."
"The Constitutional Debate: A Straight Talking Guide for Canadians."
Inserted in Maclean's, July 6, 1992 by CIBC. A complete copy of the
document (in English or French) can be obtained by writing to:
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
Corporate Communications and Public Affairs
Commerce Court Postal Station
Toronto, Ontario
M5L 1A2
- Is it true that it is illegal to post an English-language sign in Quebec?
This was true for most commercial signs, but not any more.
In 1977, the Parti Quebecois government in Quebec passed the "Charter
of the French Language", which among other things changed some of the
rules affecting education, business, and public advertising in Quebec.
With respect to signs, the Charter specified that all commercial signs
in the province (except those on family-owned and operated businesses
employing fewer than 5 people) must be in French only. This provision
was challenged by two test cases in Quebec. The first claimed that
businesses had the right to post in any language(s) they want. The
second claimed the right to include languages in addition to French.
(Stewart Clamen)
The Quebec Superior Court, the Quebec Court of Appeal, and the Supreme
Court of Canada all ruled that it was a reasonable limit on free speech
to require the use of French on signs, but not reasonable to prohibit
other languages. However, there is a so-called "notwithstanding
clause" in the Charter [see 3.4] which allows a legislature to exclude
a law from certain provisions of the Charter, and the Quebec government
used this clause to maintain the ban on languages other than French.
This clause requires the law to be renewed every five years, and the
Quebec government has decided not to do so. (Tom Box)
A business, either owned by an individual or a corporation, can now
post signs in any language it wishes as long as a French version is
also present and clearly predominant. (Pierre Breton)
- What is the "official Opposition"?
The official Opposition is the party that has the largest number of
seats in the House of Commons other than the party in power. Its
leader gets the title of Leader of the Opposition. He or she gets
extra pay (the same amount as a Cabinet minister) and an official
residence (named Stornoway), and sits directly opposite the Prime
Minister in the House of Commons. The status of official Opposition
carries with it certain privileges, such as leading off in the daily
question period, and having the first chance to reply in debates on
government bills and motions.
There's also an official Opposition in each provincial legislature.
A party can decline to form the official Opposition. This happened in
1921, when the Liberals finished first, the Progressives second, and
the Conservatives third. The Progressives were a new Western-based
protest party, and they decided not to become the official opposition,
so that status went to the Tories. I really don't know why they did
this. Third parties were a new phenomenon in Canadian politics at that
time -- Parliament had just had Liberals, Conservatives, and a few
independents before then.
This was the first time since Confederation that a party other than the
Grits and Tories has finished second, and the only time up to 1993.
The Prime Minister can hold office without being a Member of Parliament,
though convention requires him to find a seat in Parliament within a
reasonable period of time. But the Leader of the Opposition (hereafter
LO) must actually be an MP. Since there have been several times when
the opposition party leader did not have a seat in Parliament, each time
its parliamentary caucus had to choose somebody else as a temporary LO.
I'm not sure when the position of LO was first given legal
definition (it's now mentioned in the Parliament of Canada Act,
and perhaps in other statutes as well). At the time of Confederation,
there was not the well-defined party structure that exists today,
and there was no clear LO when Parliament first met. George
Brown would likely have been the LO, but he had been defeated
in his riding. It was John A. Macdonald's government who assigned the
seating in the House, and they gave the LO's seat (opposite the PM) to
Sandfield Macdonald. (S. Macdonald was also the first Premier of
Ontario. At that time, one could sit in both the federal Parliament
and a provincial Legislature.)
After the election for the 2nd Parliament in 1872, the Liberal
caucus met and designated Alexander Mackenzie as their leader
(at a meeting in early 1873). I will therefore start my list with
him. I have also included the party affiliation (L = Liberal,
C = Conservative or Progressive Conservative, BQ = Bloc
Quebecois), and whether or not the LO was a Privy Councillor.
As was discussed here previously, many LOs have been Privy
Councillors, usually because of their past service in the Cabinet,
but the LO is not necessarily a member of the Privy Council.
| Name | Party | Date | Privy Council |
Alexander Mackenzie | L | 1873 | no(?) |
| John A. Macdonald | C | 1873-78 | yes |
| Alexander Mackenzie | L | 1878-80 | yes |
| Edward Blake | L | 1880-87 | yes |
| Wilfrid Laurier | L | 1887-96 | yes |
| Charles Tupper | C | 1896-1900 | yes |
| Robert Borden | C | 1901-11 | no |
| Wilfrid Laurier | L | 1911-19 | yes |
| D. D. McKenzie | L | 1919 | no |
| Mackenzie King | L | 1919-21 | yes |
| Arthur Meighen | C | 1921-26 | yes |
| Mackenzie King | L | 1926 | yes |
| Hugh Guthrie | C | 1926-27 | yes |
| R. B. Bennett | C | 1927-30 | yes |
| Mackenzie King | L | 1930-35 | yes |
| R. B. Bennett | C | 1935-38 | yes |
| Robert Manion | C | 1938-40 | yes |
| Richard Hanson | C-PC | 1940-43 | yes |
| Gordon Graydon | PC | 1943-45 | no |
| John Bracken | PC | 1945-48 | no |
| George Drew | PC | 1948-56 | no/yes |
| John Diefenbaker | PC | 1956-57 | no |
| Louis St-Laurent | L | 1957-58 | yes |
| Lester Pearson | L | 1958-63 | yes |
| John Diefenbaker | PC | 1963-67 | yes |
| Michael Starr | PC | 1967 | yes |
| Robert Stanfield | PC | 1967-76 | yes |
| Joe Clark | PC | 1976-79 | no |
| Pierre Trudeau | L | 1979-80 | yes |
| Joe Clark | PC | 1980-83 | yes |
| Erik Nielsen | PC | 1983 | yes |
| Brian Mulroney | PC | 1983-84 | no/yes |
| John Turner | L | 1984-90 | yes |
| Herb Gray | L | 1990 | yes |
| Jean Chretien | L | 1990-93 | yes |
| Lucien Bouchard | BQ | 1993- | yes |
I've tried to make this accurate, but I don't claim this is an
authoritative list, and corrections are welcome.
(Tom Box)
- Who were Canada's Prime Ministers?
C: Conservative
PC: Progressive Conservative
L: Liberal
| NAME | BORN | PARTY | PERIOD | NOTE |
| Sir John A. MacDonald | Scotland | C | Jul 1867-Nov 1873 | |
| Alexander Mackenzie | Scotland | L | Nov 1873-Oct 1878 | |
| Sir John A. MacDonald | | | Oct 1878-Jun 1891 | |
| Sir John J.C. Cabot | [???] | C | Jun 1891-Nov 1892 | |
| Sir John S. Thompson | Nova Scotia | C | Dec 1892-Dec 1894 | |
| Sir Mackenzie Bowell | [???] | C | Dec 1894-Apr 1896 | |
| Sir Charles Tupper | Nova Scotia | C | May 1896-Jul 1896 | |
| Sir Wilfrid Laurier | Quebec | L | Jul 1896-Oct 1911 | |
| Sir Robert L. Borden | Nova Scotia | C | Oct 1911-Jul 1920 | |
| Arthur Meighen | Ontario | C | Jul 1920-Dec 1921 | |
| W. L. Mackenzie King | Ontario | L | Dec 1921-Jul 1926 | |
| Arthur Meighen | | | Jul 1926-Sep 1926 | |
| W. L. Mackenzie King | | | Sep 1926-Aug 1930 | |
| Richard B. Bennett | [???] | C | Aug 1930-Oct 1935 | |
| W. L. Mackenzie King | | | Oct 1935-Nov 1948 | |
| Louis St. Laurent | Quebec | L | Nov 1948-Jun 1957 | |
| John G. Diefenbaker | Ontario | PC | Jun 1957-Apr 1963 | Grew up in Sask. |
| Lester B. Pearson | Ontario | L | Apr 1963-Apr 1968 | Nobel Peace Prize |
| Pierre E. Trudeau | Quebec | L | Apr 1968-Jun 1979 | |
| C. Joe Clark | Alberta | PC | Jun 1979-Mar 1980 | Youngest PM (39) |
| Pierre E. Trudeau | | | Mar 1980-Jun 1984 | |
| John N. Turner | England | L | Jun 1984-Sep 1984 | |
| M. Brian Mulroney | Quebec | PC | Sep 1984-Jun 1993 | |
| Kim Campbell | BC | PC | Jun 1993-Nov 1993 | First Female PM |
| Jean Chretien | Quebec | L | Nov 1993- | |
