Election and Government Review

Elections

• Every Canadian over the age of 18 can vote• Prime Minister can call an election any time within

5 years of getting elected• Canada is divided into 308 parts, called ridings and

each part votes for a Member of Parliament who will represent them in the House of Commons

• The candidate in the riding who gets the most votes becomes the Member of Parliament for that riding

Political Parties• Canada has 5 main political parties• A party is formed by people with the same

beliefs• Each party chooses its own leader• Each party nominates 308 candidates to run in

one of the ridings• Candidates compete for their party against the

other candidates in their riding

The Government

• The party that has the most candidates elected becomes the government and their leader becomes the Prime Minister

• The Prime Minister will pick who they want to be in their Cabinet and what their Cabinet will look like

The Opposition

• The party with the second most candidates elected becomes the opposition

• The leader of this party is called the Official Opposition

• They will pick who they want to be in their shadow cabinet

• The shadow cabinet matches up with the PM’s Cabinet and debates with them in the House of Commons

Election 2011

Minority Government

• If a party wins less than 50% of the seats it is called a minority government

3 Main Parts of the Government

• Executive Branch – decides government policy and makes laws

• Legislative Branch – passes laws and makes laws

• Judicial Branch – enforces laws and judges them

• The executive & legislative branch make the rules, the judicial branch enforces the rules

Executive Branch

4 Main Parts• Governor General - just for show, not

important• Prime Minister• Cabinet• Privy Council/Bureaucrats – does what the PM

and the cabinet tells them to do

Prime Minister & Cabinet

• The most important parts of the executive branch

• They decide what the government will do and can create new laws

• Cabinet is made of 30-40 people from the House of Commons; each have a special area to watch, e.g. Defense, Foreign Affairs, Business, etc.

• Prime Minister watches over the cabinet and makes sure they are doing a good job, if they are not he will replace them

Legislative Branch

• 3 Main Parts• Governor General – just for show• House of Commons – the main part of

Canada’s government• Senate – not that important

House of Commons

• In charge of discussing new laws and debating about government policy

• Made up of 308 Members of Parliament• The Prime Minister and Cabinet are part of the

House of Commons

PASSING A BILL/LAW

A Bill• Propose – to suggest or put forward• A bill is a proposed law• It is not a law until it has been voted on and

accepted by the House of Commons• Anyone can propose a bill but normally the

Cabinet, after talking with the PM, makes a bill• A bill put forward by someone not in the

Cabinet is called A Private Member’s Bill

Part 1: House of Commons

• Whoever is proposing the bill writes the bill on an order paper, which puts it on the agenda for the next meeting

• Whoever proposed the bill, will then read it at the next meeting, this is called the first reading, there is no debate,

• The first reading is done to give information to the Members of Parliament

2nd Reading and Debate

• At the second reading there is a debate; anyone can speak, but unless you are the minister who proposed the bill, or the opposition critic, you can only speak once.

• Speakers have a time limit of normally around twenty minutes.

• The Speaker of the House is oversees the debate and makes sure everyone follows the rules

Committee

• After the debate there is a vote, if the bill passes it goes to a house committee.

• At the committee the legislation is cleared up and changed to make it as efficient as possible.

• At the third reading, the bill can be debated again, but normally it is just voted

• A bill needs more than 50% to be accepted• After the third reading the bill is sent to the

Senate.

The Third Reading

Types of Votes

• There are two types of votes and the party leader decides how the party members vote

• Loyalty – everyone must vote as the party leader tells them to, if they don’t they could be punished or kicked out of the party

• Free Votes – Members of Parliament can vote however they like

Part 2: The Senate

• The Senate follows the same procedures as the House of Commons

• The Senate rarely, if ever, rejects a bill, but it can and does change the bills contents

Part 3: The Governor General

• The Governor General does not have any real effect on passing a bill, but he gives the bill Royal assent, changing it from a bill into a full blown Law.

Important People in Passing a Bill• Speaker of the House – the referee of the

House of Commons, makes sure everyone follows the rules

• Party Whip – makes sure all of the MPs are at the vote and voting the right way, each party has a party whip who is also a MP

• Opposition Critic – a senior MP of a party that is not the government, in charge of debating bills passed by the government

Order in Council

• Not all bills need to go through the House of Commons

• The Cabinet can pass an order-in-council and create or change a law

• They are not used very often and often only are used in an emergency

Review

Step 1: Bill is ProposedStep 2: First Reading

Step 3: Second ReadingStep 4: Committee Stage

Step 5: Third ReadingStep 6: Senate ReviewStep 7: Royal Assent