How Canadian Government Is Organized

The Basics We’ve Already Covered: How Canadian Government Is Organized The Basics We’ve Already Covered: ·     Canada is an indirect democracy  representative government Citizens freely choose representatives to govern them

What Kind of Representative Democracy Are We? How Canadian Government Is Organized What Kind of Representative Democracy Are We? Canada is both a constitutional monarchy and also a parliamentary democracy. We are now a country with a constitution, and no longer a dominion or colony of Britain. o       In a purely ceremonial way, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is the head of state and commander-in-chief of our army o       It is said that the Queen “reigns but does not rule”   

The Queen’s Representative How Canadian Government Is Organized The Queen’s Representative The Queen is represented in Canada by the Governor General, her Excellency the Right Honorable Michaëlle Jean

What’s a Constitutional Monarchy? How Canadian Government Is Organized What’s a Constitutional Monarchy? We are a monarchy in the sense that we have a Queen, though she is not in charge of our governing. Since 1982, we have had a constitution which defines how exactly our country is run. The first part of the Canadian Constitution (signed in 1982) is the Charter of Rights and Freedoms

What’s a Parliamentary Democracy? How Canadian Government Is Organized What’s a Parliamentary Democracy? A parliamentary democracy is a representative democracy which has the power to make its own laws. Parliament comes from the French word “parler” (to talk) It has a Head of state (Queen Elizabeth, in our case) It has special Senior members who make up Cabinets (which have more authority) It has opposition parties It has one elected body (the MPs in the House of Commons) and one appointed group (senators in the senate)

Three Levels of Government: Federal How Canadian Government Is Organized Three Levels of Government: Federal Canada is structured so that the power balance between federal and provincial levels to make laws is more or less equal Federal law-making for all of Canada happens on Parliament Hill in Ottawa

How Canadian Government Is Organized Top Elected Official The head elected official is the Prime Minister. Right now our prime minister is Stephen Harper (Conservative party) Harper is the 22nd Prime Minister of Canada

Three Levels of Government: Federal How Canadian Government Is Organized Three Levels of Government: Federal Because we are in Lanark country, our Member of Parliament in Ottawa is Scott Reid (Conservative Party), whose office many of you walk by on Lake Avenue each day on your way to school

Three Levels of Government: Provincial How Canadian Government Is Organized Three Levels of Government: Provincial ·     the Lieutenant Governor of each province is appointed by the Governor General to represent the Queen at a provincial level. ·     A legislature is a group which makes laws. The Provincial legislature has: o       MPPs (members of provincial parliament) o       MLAs (members of legislative assembly) Each provincial legislature has a Premier: s/he is head of provincial government and also leader of a majority party

Provincial Leadership in Ontario How Canadian Government Is Organized Provincial Leadership in Ontario Our Lieutenant Governor is David C. Onley. Our Provincial Premier is Dalton McGuinty (Liberal Party)

Ontario’s Seat of Government How Canadian Government Is Organized Ontario’s Seat of Government The provincial legislature sits in this building in Queen’s Park, Toronto(the capital city of the province is Toronto, while the capital city of the whole country is Ottawa) Because we are in Lanark country, our MPP is Randy Hillier (Conservative Party.) As stated before, the premier of the whole province of Ontario is Dalton McGuinty (Liberal Party)

Three Levels of Government: Municipal How Canadian Government Is Organized Three Levels of Government: Municipal The head of a municipal government is the mayor. Town (or City) Council represents the people of a given community. Carleton Place has seven people elected to town council, including our mayor. Municipal government can pass laws that relate to what goes on in the town or city

Carleton Place’s Municipal Government How Canadian Government Is Organized Carleton Place’s Municipal Government Our mayor is Paul Dulmage In this picture he is standing in front of town hall, where municipal business takes place His email is paul@dulmage.ca

How Canadian Government Is Organized Know Your Leaders Because we live in the Information Age, it is very easy for us to find out a great deal about our leaders using the Internet. To know both sides, it is important not to just read people’s official websites, which are designed to make them look good: Stephen Harper’s official website http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/default.asp Dalton McGuinty’s official website: http://www.premier.gov.on.ca/home/default.asp?lang=EN Scott Reid’s official website: http://www.scottreid.ca/ Randy Hillier’s official website: http://www.randyhillier.com/site/ Carleton Place town council website: http://carletonplace.ca/Local_Gov/viewPage.aro?pageid=237