Canada policy

Governor General

• representative of the head of state in the kingdom, Queen of Canada.
• appointed by the Crown on the recommendation of the Prime Minister for a term of 5 years.
• commander of the Canadian military.
• asks the head of the dominant party in the House of Commons to form a government and become its chairman, that is, the prime minister.

Prime Minister

• head of federal government
• selects candidates for positions in the Government (executive branch) and the Senate (upper house), ambassadors, chairmen of state companies, chief judges of the Supreme Court of Canada; Subsequently submits all their candidatures for approval and appointment to the Governor-General
• advises the Crown or her representative on the date of future general elections

Senators

• sitting until the age of 75
• 105 people
• have the power to reject a bill passed by the House of Commons

Deputies

• elected by voting for one candidate in one round
• 308 people, or about one deputy per 75,000 voters

The political system in Canada has been in force from the entry into force of the British North America Act of 1867.

Head of State: Queen Elizabeth II

Governor General: Julie Louise Payette

Chief Justice: Beverly McLucklin

Prime Minister: Justin Trudeau

Secretary of the Treasury: Jim Flaherty

Foreign Secretary: John Byrd

Secretary of Defense: Peter Mackay

Minister of Industry: Christian Paradis

Minister of Health : Leona Agglukak

Provincial Lieutenant Governors and Prime Ministers

Elizabeth II, as Queen of Canada, has executive power, which she usually exercises through her Governor General . The government acts on her behalf. The term Crown is used to denote monarchical power. The ministers of the government are the ministers of the Crown. Criminal prosecution is carried out by the Crown prosecutors on behalf of the monarchy.

Since the queen does not reside in Canada, she appoints the Governor General to represent her and fulfill her powers. A person is appointed on the advice of the Prime Minister . In practice, the Queen does not reject the Prime Minister’s proposals. The monarch is not responsible for the decisions of his government. The Governor-General has no limit to his mandate, but as a rule, this post is updated every five years.

The Prime Minister is appointed by the Governor General, but in order to ensure the stability of the government, the House of Commons should always give confidence to this person. In practice, this post is held by the head of a political party that has a majority of deputies in the lower house.

Government and public administration activities

Since Canada is a monarchy, in the absence of the Queen, the Governor General is responsible for the executive branch. Over the years, his role has changed and bears the imprint of unwritten agreements, which led to the fact that many of his powers and prerogatives went into the category of "sleeping". Today his role is apolitical; The Governor-General relies on the Secretariat of the Governor-General to fulfill his mandate and fulfill his duties as head of state and with regard to the constitution, ceremonial and other traditional responsibilities .

The Queen’s Privy Council for Canada was created by constitutional act 1867 to assist the Governor General and to notify him when administering the government. This is the main executive body after the Crown. The Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs is traditionally the Chairman of the Privy Council. In addition to candidates for ministerial posts, the Prime Minister may recommend the appointment of other persons as Privy Councilors, for example, former members of the government or even people with an honorary title. “The Privy Council could [...] be an important, but politically bulky [...] body with members who constantly disagree with each other when it would be active. He simply and effectively got out of this unfortunate situation, only very rarely collecting all his members . ”

Thus, the Privy Council last time gathered all its members in 1981 to officially agree to the royal marriage of Prince Charles of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer . Following the announcement of the betrothal of the Prince to the Duchess of Cornwall, Camille Parker Bowles , in 2005 the Minister of Justice of Canada announced that the Privy Council would not convene because this marriage would not affect offspring and therefore would not change the order of succession of the Crown of Canada. According to David Brown, managing the Office of the Privy Council in 1981, if the Privy Council rejected the marriage in 1981, there would be a split between the royal offspring and other members of the Commonwealth . Consequently, no descendant of the Prince of Wales would be recognized as the rightful heir to the Throne. This situation would force Canada to create its own monarchy or change its state regime to a republican one.

The government consists of a ministerial cabinet, the executive body of the Privy Council, managed by the Prime Minister. In his duties, the latter is supported by the Office of the Privy Council. At its head is the Head of the Office of the Privy Council, the highest official and apolitical official of the Government of Canada. As secretary of government, the head of the Privy Council’s office plays a central role in governing the state, and his duties include impartially advising and assisting the prime minister and government and administering the state administration .

The Government of Canada is also assisted by the State Treasury, a government committee composed of the Chairman of the State Treasury and ministers. The State Treasury is responsible for integrity and ethics, financial management, personnel and administration, and controls and approves payments and most decrees on the board . Like the Office of the Privy Council, the State Treasury plays a central role in governing the state, but is a political body whose members are elected. The State Treasury may deposit funds directly to the Parliament.

Although each ministry is solely responsible for its own portfolio, the three ministries play a central role in managing public finances and thus carry out the work of the State Treasury and other ministries. The Ministry of Finance is responsible for all issues related to public finance and not related to the powers of the State Treasury, for example, approval of the federal budget and the country's economic and financial policies. The Canada Revenue Agency is responsible for overseeing the implementation of fiscal law. As for the Ministry of Public Works and Government Services, it is a universal services body designed to help ministries implement their programs. The head of this ministry is traditionally the Unconditional Acceptance of Canada, responsible for issuing and accepting all payments made and received by the government and for preparing and publishing the state budget.

There are other bodies in the central government and control of the state, but they directly depend on the Parliament and are independent of the government. These are, for example, the Office of the Commissioner for Ethics, the Service of the Chief Auditor and the Commissariat for Official Languages.

28th Council of Ministers

The Conservative Party of Canada won the 2006 Canadian federal election , and the 28th Council of Ministers, with Stephen Harper as Prime Minister, was sworn in on February 6, 2006 .

The legislative branch of government consists of the Crown and two houses of Parliament : the House of Commons and the Senate . The House of Commons has 308 seats occupied by deputies elected by their supporters. The 105 Senate seats are senators appointed by the Queen.

In the case of elections, the population speaks out when electing candidates and political parties whose ideas and programs are different and global. The referendum, on the other hand, invites citizens to speak more about a particular problem than about the system of appointment of the current government.

The Canadian Constitution defines the powers of provincial legislatures and the federal parliament. Thus, competencies are transferred to various levels of government.

In Quebec : the election consists in the election of deputies who will represent the population in the National Assembly. The laws governing the collective and individual rights of Quebecers are put to the vote there by deputies, and then approved by the Lieutenant Governor. The National Assembly thus becomes the place of public debate and represents the very essence of the legislative branch. It comes from numerous political traditions, the main of which is the British parliamentary tradition. In addition to elections, the Electoral Law provides for another form of popular consultation - a referendum. This is a consultation on an important issue or on an important social orientation. Two times, in referenda in 1980 and 1995, Quebecers participated in one vote on the project of the Society for the Independence of the Administration of the Quebec Party. In Quebec, the referendum is especially often used by municipalities who want to know the opinion of permanent residents on specific projects (urban development plan, development or investment project). Unlike Switzerland, where a referendum is common practice, this questionnaire form in Quebec is not used regularly by the government.

The President of the House of Commons is responsible for managing the parliamentary affairs of the House. He monitors the manner of work in the Chamber, the impartial interpretation of the rules and the protection of the rights and privileges of all deputies. Sitting in the center of the House, together with the auxiliary secretaries, assistant secretaries and lawyers, the Secretary of the House of Commons reports to the Chairperson and impartially interprets the Chairperson and MPs parliamentary rules, customs and patterns. He is also responsible for registering the decisions and debates of the Chamber in the Parliamentary Report and for publishing them in the official newspaper . A military sergeant assists the Secretary of the House of Commons as commandant of parliamentary buildings, particularly in such protocol functions as the general ceremonial at the beginning and end of each meeting, the security and maintenance of parliamentary buildings.

The Senate functions in much the same way as the House of Commons. However, since this is the upper house of Parliament, it is more authoritative. As a member of the internal service of the royal house, the assistant with the black rod acts as the personal minister of the Queen and parliamentary herald to summon the deputies to the Throne speech and to the royal sanction ceremony. He is responsible for protocol, service and administrative details during events of a national scale, such as the opening of legislatures, the nomination of the Governor General, a state funeral and the reception by the Governor General of foreign officials and officials.

In the performance of their duties, parliamentarians can use the Library of Parliament, which has objective services of legal, budget information and costing.

Regarding ministerial responsibility, members of the Government should report on the activities of their ministry during daily working oral questions and answers in the House of Commons. Such a time comes when all members of the government, as far as possible, are in the House to answer questions from the Official Opposition and other opposition parties.

A similar period exists in the Senate, where members of the Opposition ask questions to the leader of the government in the Senate .

At the opening of each parliamentary session (twice a year), the Governor-General in the Council delivers a Throne speech in the throne room, which at the same time is the Senate chamber. This speech outlines the main boundaries of government intervention during the parliamentary session. This speech is subsequently put to a vote by deputies and usually receives a vote of confidence . This vote can actually lead to the resignation of the government if the vote is negative. In this case, the Governor-General in the Council must dissolve the House of Commons and declare general elections. If the vote is positive, the government can nevertheless apply its instructions.

In addition, legislative work carried out in the House, various senate and ward committees, serve to thoroughly study issues. These committees allow deputies and senators to meet and talk (in form) with experts or with groups of citizens about the issue under discussion. The committees then submit their reports to the House and Senate for further study. With the exception of the budget vote, the approval of both legislative chambers is required in order for the Governor-General to authorize the creation, amendment or repeal of any law.

The legislative assembly of each province consists of deputies elected by majority vote for one candidate in one round in each of the provincial constituencies (different from federal districts, with the exception of Ontario , where provincial districts coincide with federal ones since 1999 ). All provincial legislative assemblies are built on a unicameral system.

The provincial democratic and parliamentary system is defined by default in Constitutional Act 1867, following the example of the federal parliament. However, each legislative assembly can create its own provincial constitution. Today, only the province of British Columbia has a provincial constitution. However, there are quasi-constitutional acts in Quebec, such as the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms and the Charter of the French Language.

Federation Functioning

The constitution guarantees the separation of legislative powers between Parliament and provincial legislatures. Each of the levels has the highest power within its powers, although both levels of government have equal powers in matters related to immigration and agriculture. There is often much debate in the Supreme Court to uphold this division of jurisdiction. Over the years, however, it turned out that provinces have significantly greater powers than the federal government, to the extent that provinces can indirectly influence the operation of certain federal powers within the borders of their territory. For example, the issue of regulation of cargo turnover and trade (federal competence) and the issue of licenses for the right to engage in commercial activities or employment (provincial competence). In this example, free market principles promoted by federal government structures can be nullified by provincial politics.

The Department of Intergovernmental Affairs is the body of the Office of the Privy Council responsible for parliamentary affairs relating to relations between the federation, provinces and territories, such as fiscal federalism, the development of the federation, and Canadian unity.

With the goal of developing a federation, the provinces together with the territories in 2003 created the Federation Council. Although this organization is non-institutional, it allows provinces and territories to join forces and work in cooperation on all issues falling within their legislative jurisdiction, especially facilitating inter-provincial trade. In addition, it allows provinces and territories to create a common front when they have to bargain with the federal government, in particular, on the question of the equation and development of projects that require cooperation with the federal government.

Quebecers in Canadian Politics

Canadian Prime Ministers have been deputies from Quebec since 1968, with the exception of about three short-term governments, in one of which the prime minister was a minority. These prime ministers led liberal and progressively conservative governments.

В настоящее время премьер-министр должен свободно говорить на двух официальных языках (его уровень французского должен быть как минимум функциональным). Это обязательство незаписано, но политические партии всегда отдают предпочтение лицам, говорящим на двух языках. Как и в Бельгии , в Канаде очень значителен языковой вопрос. Раньше франкоканадская личность идентифицировала себя по римско-католической религии, теперь она более основывается на языке. Ради общественного покоя двуязычие объявлено на федеральном уровне и в Нью-Брансуике . Глава правительства обязан проложить путь, быть примером для подражания.

Кроме того, традиция требует, чтобы по крайней мере трое из девяти судей Верховного суда были квебекцами. Также обеспечивается, чтобы Суд был достаточно опытен в континентальной системе права , используемой только в Квебеке .

Отделение одной провинции

В результате послания федерального правительства Верховному суду , он постановил, что любая провинция (например, Квебек ), желающая объявить своё отделение от Канады, должна отвечать двум критериям:

1. Получить чёткий ответ, то есть т. н. «чётко выраженное» большинство;
2. На чётко сформулированный вопрос, то есть на референдуме .

Fulfillment of these two conditions would, however, not lead to an automatic separation of the province, but rather to the obligation of the federal government to negotiate with this province. In the event that the two parties do not agree on the details of the secession, the Supreme Court indicates that the province remains part of Canada.

The Supreme Court in making this decision is based solely on Canadian law.

The federal government subsequently passed a law clarifying the particularities of the branch. This law, nicknamed the “ Referendum Clarity Act,” is very controversial. He clarifies that the definition of the wording of the referendum question is determined at the beginning of the polling campaign, but that the result is clearly expressed, that is, the majority obtained with a one-to-one margin “yes” remains for consideration by the federal government after the referendum. At the time of the adoption of this law, he was unanimously condemned by all parties of the National Assembly of Quebec . He is still criticized by leaders of the Quebec separatist movements , who indicate that he is anti-democratic. However, in other regions of Canada, he was welcomed.

Federal Parties: Canada has a bipartisan system . In fact, only two parties usually gain enough votes to gain power: these are the Conservative Party of Canada and the Liberal Party of Canada . In 2011, for the first time in Canadian history, the New Democratic Party , which became the official opposition, took second place in the election. The other two parties (the Quebec Bloc and the Green Party of Canada ) are currently not so influential as to form a ruling minority and thus achieve a balance of power.

Parties represented in the House of Commons:

• Conservative Party of Canada (elected as ruling majority May 2, 2011 )
  • Leader: Stephen Harper
• New Democratic Party of Canada
  • Leader: Thomas Malkar
• Liberal Party of Canada
  • Leader: Justin Trudeau
• Quebec block
  • Leader: Mario Beaulieu
• Green Party of Canada
  • Leader: Elizabeth May

Lobbyists

Part of the Canadian political system is lobbying. As in the USA, Canadian lobbyists are required to register, which involves the disclosure and publication of a significant amount of information. The lobbying activities at the federal level are regulated by the 1989 Lobbying Act and the Lobbying Code of Conduct ^[1] . The number of lobbyists in Canada is quite large. As of March 2014, 5178 registered lobbyists were operating at the federal level ^[2] . At the regional level, there are registered lobbyists, whose activities are regulated by legal acts of the provinces. They are also many. For example, in Ontario in March 2014, 1,663 lobbyists were registered ^[3] .

• Bauer j . Le système politique canadien. — Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1998. — 127 p. ISBN 2-13-048932-X (French)
• Bernard A. Les institutions politiques au Québec et au Canada. — Québec: Boréal, 1995. — 122 p. ISBN 2-89052-625-9 (fr.)
• Bernard A. Vie politique au Canada. - Sainte-Foy: Presses de l'Université du Québec, 2005 .-- T. XIV. 466 p. ISBN 2-7605-1370-X (French)
• Pierre M. , Blais A. Dynamiques partisanes et réalignements électoraux au Canada: 1867-2004. — Paris: L'Harmattan, 2005.- 301 p. ISBN 2-7475-9312-6 (fr.)

• Canada in the political atlas: parliament and government , constitutional order , judicial system