Canadian Parliament.

Canadian Parliament. I INTRODUCTION Canadian Parliament, national legislature of Canada. Parliament consists of three elements: the House of Commons; the Senate; and the governor-general, who serves as the representative of Queen Elizabeth II, Canada's head of state. Parliament encompasses the executive and the legislative branches of the Canadian federal government. The prime minister and cabinet ministers together constitute the executive branch, but are also in the legislature as members of Parliament. Parliament makes laws and controls the federal budget. The government, as the prime minister and the Cabinet are generally known, introduces budgets and most of the bills that become law. All budgets and bills must be approved by both Commons and the Senate and receive royal assent from the governor-general in order to become law. Parliament cannot pass laws that concern issues outside the authority of the federal government or that infringe on the rights protected by the Constitution of Canada. One of Parliament's primary duties is to maintain responsible government by holding the prime minister and Cabinet accountable to the voters. The government can only remain in office as long as it has the support of a majority of the members of Commons. The structure of the Canadian Parliament derives from both British and American models. As in Britain, from which Canada gained significant but not complete independence in 1867, Canada has a parliamentary form of government accompanied by a constitutional monarchy. Canada has a federal system similar to that of the United States; the federal government has a division of responsibilities between the national, the ten provincial, and the three territorial governments. II POWERS OF PARLIAMENT The British North America Act of 1867, later renamed the Constitution Act of 1867, laid out the powers of Parliament and of the provincial legislatures. Parliament has the power to pass laws for the "peace, order, and good government of Canada," except for matters assigned to the provincial legislatures. According to the act, Parliament had exclusive power over taxation, national defense, citizenship, banking, criminal law, Indians and Indian lands, trade and commerce, and fisheries. The Constitution Act of 1867 also listed 16 specific areas of provincial responsibility, including education and municipal institutions. Parliament shares jurisdiction with the provinces on issues such as immigration, agriculture, and social policy. Provincial powers have grown, and there is a significant overlap and interlocking of activities between the federal and provincial governments in Canada. Parliament cannot pass laws that infringe on the freedoms set down in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, adopted as part of the constitution in 1982. The charter protects rights of free speech, free expression, and free assembly; guarantees the right to participate in democratic elections and to have a fair and prompt trial; and acknowledges the rights of minority groups. However, all of the charter rights are "subject to such reasonable limits as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society." Canada's judiciary, including the Supreme Court of Canada, determines whether Parliament has overstepped its bounds, in relation to either provincial powers or to charter rights. III CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTIONS The Canadian constitution provides important guidelines for the operation of Parliament, but it does not address all key issues about how it functions. Many of the rules governing how Parliament works are the result of long-standing political practices known as unwritten constitutional conventions. These conventions ensure that the Canadian government is accountable to the voters. For example, the Constitution Act of 1867 grants great power to the governor-general as the British sovereign's representative, but because the governor-general is appointed and not elected, constitutional conventions have made the governor-general's role largely symbolic. The governor-general almost always acts on the advice of the prime minister and the Cabinet. Another constitutional convention is that the House of Commons, as an elected body, plays a much more significant role than the Senate, whose members are appointed. Members of Parliament are aligned with political parties, voluntary associations of people who share similar opinions on public questions. Parties are barely mentioned in the constitution, but they play a crucial role in Parliament. The prime minister and cabinet ministers are members of the political party that wins the most votes in an election, often called the government party. The party that wins the second-most votes is designated the official opposition and is expected to challenge the government's policies and proposals. Other parties are free to vote with the government party or with the opposition at any time. Competitive, disciplined parties provide most of the ideas and direction for Parliament. Since 1921 there have always been at least three and sometimes as many as five parties represented in the House of Commons. IV RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT One of the main tenets of the Canadian constitution is responsible government, or holding the government accountable to the people of Canada. Specifically, the prime minister and cabinet ministers are accountable to the House of Commons and must maintain the support of a majority of its members. Central to the concept of responsible government are the principles of ministerial responsibility. These principles were derived from the parliamentary experience of Britain and were adopted in Canada when the country was founded. There are two parts to the doctrine of ministerial responsibility: collective and individual. A Collective Ministerial Responsibility Collective ministerial responsibility, based almost entirely on constitutional convention, involves three principles--the confidence rule, cabinet solidarity, and cabinet confidentiality. These principles help ensure that the prime minister and all cabinet ministers pursue a policy consistent with the priorities of their party, which won the support of the majority of the voters. The prime minister forms the Cabinet by appointing members of Parliament as ministers to direct federal government departments. As the government, the prime minister and cabinet ministers propose laws and budgets that become the basis for public policy. The prime minister and Cabinet have both the power to make laws and to implement them. Since authority and power are concentrated in the government, the Canadian system seeks to hold it continuously accountable through the confidence rule. The confidence rule requires the prime minister and the Cabinet to maintain the confidence, or support, of the House of Commons. It gives Parliament a tool to keep the prime minister and the Cabinet accountable to all voters. The House of Commons can withdraw its support by voting down a significant government proposal or by approving a specific motion of "no confidence" in the government. There are occasions during each parliamentary session when each opposition party is allowed to introduce motions of "no confidence" in the government. MPs (the abbreviation for member of Parliament that identifies members of Commons) can present such a motion in response to the Speech from the Throne, which outlines the government's legislative program. Members of Commons can also present a motion in response to the Budget Speech, which reviews the government's economic record, taxation, and expenditure plans, and to Supply Motions, which concern budgets for individual departments. If a majority of MPs support a no-confidence motion, the government must resign. Also, if Parliament rejects a significant government proposal, the government is expected to resign and request the governor-general to call an election. Such a situation occurred in 1979: Prime Minister Joe Clark resigned when Parliament voted down a gasoline tax increase proposed by his government. However, there is uncertainty and controversy about which defeats on proposed laws and items of spending oblige governments to resign. The consensus among political authorities appears to be that governments are free to decide whether a defeat is serious enough to compel the government to resign. Most often governments have not resigned. When the government party holds a majority of seats in Commons and party discipline prevails, government proposals are rarely defeated. The second convention regarding collective ministerial responsibility is cabinet solidarity, which ensures that the government presents a unified stance when facing the opposition in Parliament. Cabinet ministers can disagree in the privacy of the Cabinet, but once a decision is made, they must loyally support and defend the government's position or resign. Individual cabinet ministers must not announce new policy or changes in policy without the Cabinet's approval. They must carry out cabinet-approved policies with respect to their own departments, whether or not they agree with such policies. Finally, they are expected to vote with the government always. The prime minister enforces cabinet solidarity. He or she can ask ministers to resign or can ask the governor-general remove them if they refuse. The third convention relating to collective ministerial responsibility is cabinet confidentiality. Ministers swear an oath to protect cabinet secrecy. Documents used to support cabinet decision-making are highly confidential, and any public servant who discloses cabinet secrets can be imprisoned. Canadian law protects Parliament's and the public's right to know about the processes that lead to many decisions by the federal and provincial governments, but it does not apply to materials submitted to the Cabinet. Cabinet secrecy is defended as necessary to promote the frank exchange of opinions among ministers and to preserve the confidentiality of advice. B Individual Ministerial Responsibility Each cabinet minister has individual ministerial responsibility, or is obliged to answer for the performance of the department he or she leads. Important departments include Human Resources Development, Foreign Affairs, Finance, Justice, and Health. The doctrine of individual ministerial responsibility has legal, administrative, and political components. Legally, each minister is responsible for all official actions by his or her department. Cabinet ministers also assume the administrative responsibility to direct and guide their departments. The cabinet minister is the official spokesperson for his or her department and must explain and defend departmental actions. Each minister has the political responsibility to answer to Commons for the performance of his or her department. Cabinet ministers must introduce all government bills (proposed laws) that relate to their departments, and the ministers must appear in Parliament to defend them. The House of Commons holds daily question periods, during which the ministers must be prepared to answer the opposition parties' attacks on government policies and actions, as well as explain and defend their department's actions. In theory, if a minister fails to explain adequately significant mistakes made by his or her department, Commons can force the minister to resign from the Cabinet. In practice, however, Commons no longer forces ministers to resign when unwanted developments take place in their departments. Instead, the prime minister decides the fate of such ministers and only demands that a minister resign if he or she is a liability to the government. The real penalty for poor ministerial performance has become a lasting vulnerability to attacks from opposition parties. Such attacks can cost not only the minister his or her seat in Parliament at election time, but can also reflect badly on the minister's entire party and result in it losing additional seats. C Debates About Ministerial Responsibility Some critics charge that ministerial responsibility has become a myth. They point to the fact that governments are seldom defeated on votes of no confidence and that cabinet ministers rarely resign for mistakes made in their departments. Critics insist that Parliament is no longer able to hold ministers accountable because power is concentrated in the hands of the prime minister. With a majority of MPs in the prime minister's party, which insists on strict discipline, Parliament rarely challenges government initiatives. However, it is probably an overstatement to say Parliament does not hold ministers accountable. Punishment for erring ministers and governments may not be as swift or as severe as the conventions of ministerial responsibility seem to require, but the conventions have never been strictly followed. More importantly, erring ministers face potential punishment at election time. Ministers have historically refused to resign for administrative errors made by public servants acting in their name. This was true even when government was a simpler operation and when it might have been realistic to expect ministers to know everything happening in their departments. Given the scope and complexity of today's government departments, it remains true today. Instead of resigning, cabinet ministers are expected to work to correct problems brought to their attention and prevent their recurrence. MPs maintain ministerial responsibility and remain accountable to the voters through public processes, such as the daily question period in Commons. If cabinet ministers want to keep their seats in Parliament, they must account for their mistakes and boast of their successes before a usually critical audience of MPs. Voters, who watch question periods on television or read about them in newspapers, decide whether ministers deserve to be reelected partly on the basis of how they perform in this adversarial process. V MEMBERSHIP Canadian voters choose the members of Commons in national elections held at least once every five years. The prime minister chooses people for the Senate as vacancies arise, and the governor-general appoints them accordingly. Senators can hold office until age 75. The British sovereign appoints the governor-general on the advice of the prime minister. Although governor-generals have no term limits, most serve about five years. Canadian citizens age 18 or older elect members of the House of Commons to represent electoral districts, known in Canada as ridings. Independent commissions draw up the ridings in Canada's ten provinces and three territories so that each includes an approximately equal share of the national population. In 2006 there were 308 ridings, but the number of ridings changes with the population, as recorded by the census. Anyone who is eligible to vote in Canada is eligible to hold a seat in Commons. The candidate who receives a plurality (the most votes) for each district wins election. Candidates are generally sponsored by political parties, and they do not have to live in the district they represent. There is no fixed date for parliamentary elections. Instead, the prime minister usually determines when an election will be held. Unless the government loses the support of Parliament and an early election must be called, most Parliaments last for four years before the prime minister asks the governor-general to call an election. Turnover in Commons is high (about 40 percent at each general election), which means that many MPs learn on the job. The Senate usually has 105 members. Senate seats provide roughly equal regional representation. The four Atlantic provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador) have 30 senators in total; Québec and Ontario have 24 each; and the four western provinces (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia) have a total of 24. The three sparsely populated northern territories (Nunavut, Northwest, and Yukon) have just 1 senator each. There is a provision for up to 8 additional senators--1 or 2 extra for each of the four regions, but this is very rarely used. The governor-general appoints the senators on the prime minister's recommendation. The Senate was designed to act as a check on the popularly elected House of Commons. As a result, senators are required to be at least 30 years old and possess at least C$4,000 worth of assets. In the 19th century, when the framers of the constitution established these requirements, they presumed that property ownership would make senators less prone to rash actions than MPs, who were not required to be property owners. To ensure that the Senate also protects regional interests, senators must reside in the province or territory from which they are appointed. Senators represent their provinces at large except in Québec, where senators represent senatorial districts. VI STRUCTURE OF PARLIAMENT The Canadian Parliament has three parts: the House of Commons, the Senate, and the governor-general. The House of Commons and Senate have parallel structures, each is divided into committees that review bills and budgets. However, the presence of the prime minister and the Cabinet in Commons makes its operation distinct from that of the Senate. The governor-general's role as representative of the British sovereign is largely ceremonial. A The House of Commons At its most basic, Commons consists of two parts--the prime minister and Cabinet, which constitute the government, and the MPs. The prime minister and cabinet ministers, usually MPs themselves, function as Canada's executive branch, proposing and implementing laws and initiatives. The other MPs function as the legislative branch, passing laws. As leader of the government, the prime minister holds the most power in Commons. The prime minister is the leader of the political party with the greatest number of seats in Commons. If the party with the most seats in Commons changes leaders, the governor-general will automatically invite the new leader to form a new government. As leader of the government, the prime minister has a number of powers that can be used to influence other MPs. First, the prime minister can call for a general election any time within the five-year maximum life of each Parliament. The prime minister can use this power to put opposition parties at a disadvantage, by choosing a time when the government party is most popular. The prime minister can even stifle dissent in his or her own party, since the election of a new Parliament dissolves the old one, and MPs of all parties have to campaign to win reelection. Second, the prime minister controls several thousand appointments to positions in the Cabinet, the Senate, public agencies, the courts, and elsewhere. In the case of cabinet appointments, prime ministers are technically free to appoint whomever they want, and they usually appoint someone from among the members of their party in Commons. Prime ministers are expected to appoint a balanced Cabinet by considering criteria such as an MP's region, language (English and French are the official languages), gender, ethnic background, experience, and policy perspective. Generally the only cabinet minister from outside Commons is the leader of the government party in the Senate. The prime minister will sometimes ask additional senators to join the Cabinet if there are no MPs in the governing party to represent a particular region or language group. The prime minister decides the size and structure of the Cabinet, sets its agenda, and presides over its meetings. A majority government exists when the ruling party holds more than half of the seats in Commons. In this situation the legislative process is quite predictable, and government-sponsored bills and budgets are rarely defeated, since MPs in the government's party feel bound by party loyalty. Six of the 14 general elections between 1957 and 1997 resulted in minority governments, in which the party that won the most seats held less than half of them. When there is a minority government, the government party must rely on support from members of other parties to pass legislation. In a minority government situation, the opinions of the MPs from other parties supporting the government party carry more weight. There is a growing concern that majority governments concentrate too much power in the hands of the prime minister and Cabinet, leaving other MPs with too little influence in the national policy process. The best opportunity for MPs to influence government policies is through work in the standing committees of Commons. Committees in Commons perform three functions: they examine bills, review the estimates (budget proposals for the next fiscal year), and conduct inquiries into public policy issues. Standing committees usually have about ten members representing the parties in proportion to their respective strength in Commons. The committees consider all matters referred to them by Commons, including budgets, and they produce regular reports on the various government departments. Subcommittees form to deal with narrower topics. MPs serve on an average of two committees (cabinet ministers and leaders of opposition parties are not members of Commons committees). The government insists on tight control over the committee proceedings. However, some MPs want to create more independent committees, which would have more freedom to question or change government-sponsored bills. B The Senate The two most notable structural features of the Senate are that it is appointed and that the prime minister and Cabinet do not take part in its proceedings. The Senate has three official roles: to consider regional concerns, to be a chamber of "sober, second thought," and to protect minorities. (The framers of the constitution were referring not to ethnic minorities, but to any group whose perspective could be trampled by the majority.) Canada's founders anticipated that the Senate would play a less important role than Commons because its members are not elected. Senators rarely introduce bills but closely evaluate the ones passed up from Commons. Although the Senate can reject or defeat any bill approved by Commons, it rarely does. The Senate meets less frequently than Commons. It does not have a question period involving ministers, such as the daily event in Commons that draws most of the media attention. Most bills are introduced in Commons, so there is a delay before they reach the Senate. When examining bills, senators may point out the need for technical amendments, but when the government party has a majority in the Senate, the Senate seldom seeks to modify the substance of proposed legislation. Senators do their most significant work in the standing and special committees. Like their counterparts in Commons, Senate committees review bills, evaluate expenditures and programs, and conduct inquiries into public policy issues. Senate committees often produce more thorough reports than Commons committees for a variety of reasons: Senators do not face reelection pressures; they are less partisan in their approach; and they have more time in office than MPs. Critics insist that the Senate has failed at carrying out its official duties. They say the Senate does not provide an effective voice for regional concerns because party loyalty has taken precedence. Critics also charge that the Senate has not acted as a chamber of sober second thought and a check on government because, as appointees chosen by the prime minister, senators have endorsed the government's positions. Finally, critics say that the Senate has failed to protect the rights of minorities, again because the Senate generally follows the majority party's position. However, many political observers say the complaints about the Senate are overblown. Since senators can often be holdovers appointed by a prior government, they sometimes oppose the current government's positions for partisan reasons. Many of the Senate's shortcomings can more appropriately be attributed to its being ignored by successive governments than to a lack of commitment or effort by senators themselves. The Senate occasionally proposes substantive changes to bills, but the government often resists making these changes. For more than a century critics have called for reforms. Proposed reforms include making the Senate an elected body or one whose members are appointed by the provincial governments. But constitutional and political obstacles have prevented fundamental reforms. C The Governor-General The Constitution Act of 1867 essentially made Canada an independent nation, but stated "the executive government of and over Canada is declared to continue to be vested in the Queen." Today, Queen Elizabeth II of Britain is also recognized as the hereditary sovereign of Canada. She serves as Canada's head of state. The governor-general is the queen's representative in Canada. However, the governor-general has limited powers. No bill may become law without royal assent, but the governor-general has never withheld it. The governor-general follows the advice of the prime minister for almost everything he or she does even though the governorgeneral retains the right to encourage or warn ministers about their actions. In short, the role of the governor-general within Parliament has become largely ceremonial, such as reading the Speech from the Throne, the announcement of the government's legislative plans at the opening of a new Parliament. The governor-general can exercise his or her powers to check the prime minister and Cabinet if they flagrantly disregard the law or the unwritten conventions of the constitution, but this is very rare. VII PARLIAMENTARY SESSIONS Sessions of Parliament begin with a summons from the governor-general. The first session of each new Parliament after a general election opens with a Speech from the Throne read by the governor-general. A session lasts for about eight months, and there must be at least one session per year. In the course of a session adjournments sometimes occur, and MPs can return to their ridings during these adjournments. In practice the government controls the timing of the close of a session and this usually occurs after both houses have finished approving or rejecting all of the government's bills and estimates. The governor-general makes a speech reviewing what has happened, and then prorogues (officially ends) Parliament until the next session. If a government is defeated on a significant vote in Commons and an election is called, the governor-general dissolves the existing Parliament until a new Commons is elected. By law, campaigns for national election last 36 days. The Senate does not meet during the campaign period. The House of Commons and the Senate each meet in their own chambers, with provision to meet jointly in the Senate chamber for occasions such as the Speech from the Throne. Both houses occupy the Centre Block of the Parliament buildings in Ottawa, Ontario, with Commons at the west end and the Senate at the east end. In Commons the prime minister, cabinet ministers, and government supporters sit to the right of the Speaker, who is the presiding officer of Commons. The prime minister occupies the 13th place in the front row, and the cabinet ministers are clustered around him. Directly opposite the prime minister sit the leader of the official opposition and the members of the shadow cabinet (critics of the government appointed by the opposition leader). The official opposition is the party with the second-largest number of seats in Commons, but other parties can join the official opposition against the government and its party. The opposition is very important in holding the government accountable to the people. As a result, the opposition leaders are allotted extra salary, research funds, and other benefits to enable them to challenge the government. Members who are not part of the leadership of either the governing or the opposing parties are assigned seats in the back rows; these members are called backbenchers. Seats are assigned by the party whips, who ensure attendance and party voting. The whips are chosen by their party leader. The presiding officer of Commons is the Speaker. The first order of business when Commons meets after an election is to elect the Speaker by secret ballot. Although the Speaker is usually an MP from the majority party, he or she works to protect the rights of all members. The Speaker applies standing orders (the rules of procedure), makes rulings on points of order, puts matters to vote, and administers the operations of Commons. The Speaker also applies time limits for speeches. All speeches are formally addressed to the Speaker, but private exchanges do break out. To promote civilized exchanges, MPs are expected to refer to one another as the "honorable member," and certain types of language have been ruled unparliamentary. Successful Speakers are able to read the mood of Commons and use their authority to defuse volatile situations. Down the hall where the Senate sits, the atmosphere is less intense. While Commons meets five days a week, the Senate rarely sits for more than three days a week. A Speaker presides in the Senate, but the individual is chosen by the prime minister, not elected by Senate members. Most bills do not appear in the Senate until they have passed in Commons, and there are no question periods in the Senate. Unlike MPs, senators do not face reelection pressures and do not have to visit their districts regularly. The media has little interest in the Senate. All of these factors make life in the Senate less demanding than in Commons. VIII THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS Cabinet ministers, the prime minister, ordinary MPs, and senators all can introduce bills in Parliament. Nearly all bills introduced by the government are passed during the session in which they are introduced. MPs introduce many bills, but only a small number ever reach the floor of Parliament for debate, and even fewer are approved. Only the government can introduce estimates. Government bills and estimates pass through several parliamentary stages before becoming law. Bills must undergo three readings in Commons. All estimates are consolidated into the appropriation bill (the annual budget), which also undergoes three readings. The first reading is a formality at which point the bill is introduced and an order is given to print it. During the second reading, MPs debate the broad purposes of the bill and approve or reject it in principle. Debate at this stage can be lengthy, but the government can end it with a time allocation or a closure motion. After approval in principle, a bill is referred to a standing committee for detailed review. The committees examine and, to a limited degree, amend bills after second reading. At the report stage, committees present their findings. Often the report stage is combined with the third reading and a final vote on the bill. The bill is then sent to the Senate to be debated and perhaps amended, in a process similar to that which occurred in Commons. Normally the Senate proposes only technical changes. If a new governing party has not been able to make appointments to the Senate and does not have a majority, the Senate will occasionally strive to defeat or to amend government bills significantly. The Senate can defeat, delay, or modify bills, but it rarely opposes the majority opinion of the popularly elected House of Commons. The wording of the bills passed by Commons and the Senate must be identical. After any differences in the Commons and Senate versions of a bill are resolved, the governor-general gives royal assent to the bill in a formal ceremony in the Senate chamber, to which MPs are invited. Immediately upon royal assent, a bill becomes an act of Parliament and has the force of law, unless it contains a provision that all or part of the law will be put into effect later. When a law is proclaimed at a later date, it is done by means of an order from the government. IX INFLUENCES ON THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS Bills rarely change substantively between when they are introduced in Parliament and when they are passed into law. Before the government introduces a bill in Commons, it often considers the concerns of opposition parties, provincial governments, and various pressure groups. The government consults widely with MPs of all parties before introducing bills, to prevent substantive criticism. (After bills are presented, majority governments are often able to resist demands for major amendments because such amendments would generally be defeated in a vote in Commons.) The prime minister and Cabinet also consult with provincial governments in advance since Parliament and provincial governments share responsibility for many fields of public policy. Political parties have historically been a primary source of policy ideas. Canadian parties hold conventions at which members debate policies to be presented in elections and in Parliament. Parties adhere less to a consistent ideological position than they once did, pursuing or promoting courses of action that at times might seem at odds with historical party stances. Fewer people are involved with parties than in the past, and left-right ideological debates no longer seem as relevant. Instead, parties use polling and focus groups to shape and broaden their political messages and to maximize their appeal to loosely attached voters. Thousands of pressure groups, such as the Business Council on National Issues, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, and the Assembly of First Nations, lobby the government on a daily basis to protect and promote the interests of their members. Cabinet ministers, senior administrators of government agencies and departments, and members of Parliament meet with such groups to gather information about necessary policy changes and to gain support from the groups most directly affected by legislation. In addition, a growing number of research institutes, or think tanks issue reports on different public policies from a variety of ideological perspectives. They also promote the adoption of their ideas. The mass media, which is more adversarial than it used to be, plays a growing role in setting the agenda of government by telling voters what the most important issues are. Canadians' concept of what kind of democracy they want is changing. Better educated than earlier generations and less deferential toward elites, Canadians are showing less faith in traditional institutions of representative democracy--general elections, parties, legislatures, etc. Instead, they are insisting on more direct forms of democracy, such as referenda (elections in which people vote directly on an issue or question) and recall mechanisms (which allow the electorate to have someone removed from office). Finally, Canadian governments are constrained in their legislative actions by global economic forces and trade agreements with other countries, both of which limit their freedom of action. For example, the Liberal government led by Jean Chrétien could not introduce substantive laws changing trade with the United States and Mexico because of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that took effect in 1994. In short, the Canadian prime minister and Cabinet formulate legislation, guide its passage into law, and then implement it. In doing all of these things they are obliged to consider opposition parties in Parliament, provincial governments, pressure groups, and voters. They also have to respond to changing economic, social, and political circumstances outside of Canada. X HISTORY OF PARLIAMENT In 1791 Britain established elected assemblies in the colonies of Upper and Lower Canada. However, Britain also assigned officials who represented the crown to all of its North American colonies. These officials appointed legislative and executive councils in each of the colonies to advise them. The councils, whose members were drawn from the colonial elite, dominated government in the colonies of British North America. Upper and Lower Canada united in 1841, but the new province still lacked representative government through its new combined assembly. In 1848, after much unrest, the Canadian assembly finally gained power. The British crown ordered Governor-General Lord Elgin to appoint a government supported by the majority party in the assembly and to approve its policies whether or not he liked them. Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine, who had resigned from the assembly in 1843 when the governor-general disregarded his wishes, formed the colony's first responsible government. By 1855 all of the colonies that would form Canada had responsible governments. In 1864 delegates from the legislatures of the British colonies of Canada (now the provinces of Ontario and Québec), New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia discussed uniting as an independent nation. At conventions, those delegates (now known in Canada as the Fathers of Confederation) consciously rejected the presidential-congressional form of government, which had been adopted in the United States. The Constitution Act of 1867 declared that Canada would have a government similar to that of Britain: a cabinet-parliamentary system in which the executive and legislative branches were combined. Canada would also have a federal Parliament based on responsible government. Although the Cabinet was supposed to be accountable to Parliament, in Canada's early years it still often took its direction from the governor-general. Canada's modern cabinet-parliamentary system evolved in the 20th century, as Parliament gradually extended the right to vote to more people; originally it had been restricted to people who held property. As more people became voters, Parliament became a vehicle for holding governments accountable to the voters, rather than to the crown. In addition, organized national parties emerged, and they sought to broaden their appeal to new segments of the population and regions of a growing country. During the 20th century, the Canadian Parliament took on more responsibilities, greatly expanding social services, and grew more complex. As Parliament's responsibilities increased, there were two major consequences. First, the government bureaucracy, primarily the staffs that supported each department, grew and became more important as a source of expert knowledge and specialized information. MPs found it increasingly difficult to challenge government initiatives without access to complete department information and knowledge. They began to rely on each department to provide information, and the departments grew to accommodate the additional job. Second, prime ministers and Cabinets insisted on taking tighter control over parliamentary proceedings so they could complete the Parliament's growing volume of business efficiently. Governments insisted on party unity and enforced the rules of Parliament. MPs who were members of the governing party were discouraged from voting against or even questioning government policies and actions. If the Cabinet disagreed, the prime minister dictated government policy and the ministers had to support it. Only the presence of third and fourth parties in Commons prevented power from becoming even more centralized in the hands of the prime minister and Cabinet. These additional parties have divided the vote, periodically leading to minority governments. The minority governments in turn have had to modify their policies to win the support necessary to stay in power. The Canadian Parliament has changed over time. Through a number of constitutional changes, Canada and its Parliament gradually gained independence from the British government. Since the 1930s, Canada has conducted its own foreign policy. In the early 1950s the first native-born Canadian governor-general was appointed; previous appointees were all British citizens. This gradual process culminated in the patriation of the Canadian constitution in 1982, when the Canadian government gained total authority over its own constitution. The prime minister has grown more powerful, and the government adopted a constitutional bill of rights. Still, Parliament retains the legal framework of a parliamentary democracy, operating according to the principle of responsible government. Contributed By: Paul G. Thomas Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.