The Canadian Government
...ection is being held to replace the dismissed government. Arguably, the most important role in the Canadian government is the Prime Minister. The current Prime Minister is Paul Martin. He has three main roles in the government. He is the head of government, national leader, and party leader. The Prime Minister’s duties include: providing leadership and direction to the government, organize the Cabinet and recommending individuals to the appointment of key positions. The PM is responsible for appointing the Cabinet ministers and taking responsibility for their actions. The PM and his Cabinet are known as the “executive” branch of the parliament. The Cabinet is a group of MP’s selected by the PM to look after special ministries. These ministers are usually in charge when a new bill is being proposed in their special ministry. They make policies for the government and for the country. As the government party leader, the PM must organize his party and act as fundraiser for his political party. The PM spends most of his time when not traveling in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). Most major decisions are made in the PMO. Another major part of the government is the House of Commons. The House of Commons consists of 308 seats, 1 for each riding in Canada. Those seats are filled up with MP’s elected from each riding. MP stands for “member of Parliament”. The House of Commons is where MPs debate issues and vote on laws and bills. Ontario and Quebec have the most seats in the House, due to the “representation by population” theory. The larger the population in a province, the more seats in the House they have. Therefore, Prince Edward Island gets the least amount of seats due to its small population, and Ontario gets a large number of seats due to its large population. This is a critical flaw. For example, if British Columbia wants to build a national highway across Canada, their MP’s would vote “yes”. Even if the majority of the provinces voted in favour of this national highway, if Ontario and Quebec refused, BC would have lost the vote. The purpose of debates in the House of Commons is to make laws that serve the common interest. The House of Commons can also vote against Cabinet bills if it is a minority government. If defeated, the Cabinet and PM have had a vote of non-confidence against them and must resign. Another important part of government is the Senate. Their goal is to also protect the interests of the provinces. This is another case of “representation by populati...