How Canadians Govern Themselves - Parlement du Canada

More documents

Recommendations

Info

How Canadians Govern ThemselvesThe Constitution provides that almostall our courts shall be provincial, that is,created by the provincial legislatures.But it also provides that the judges ofall these courts from county courts up(except courts of probate in Nova Scotiaand New Brunswick) shall be appointedby the federal government. What ismore, it provides that judges of theprovincial superior courts, which havevarious names, and of the provincialcourts of appeal shall be removableonly on address to the GovernorGeneral by both Houses of Parliament.The Acts setting up the Supreme Courtof Canada and the Federal Court havethe same provision. No judge of anyCanadian superior court has ever beenso removed. All of them are perfectlysafe in their positions, no matter howmuch the Government may dislike anyof their decisions. The independence ofthe judiciary is even more important inCanada than in Britain, because inCanada the Supreme Court interpretsthe written constitution, and so definesthe limits of federal and provincialpowers.With the inclusion of the CanadianCharter of Rights and Freedoms, the roleof the courts has become even moreimportant, since they have the tasks ofenforcing the rights and of making thefreedoms effective.Judges of the county courts can beremoved only if one or more judges ofthe Supreme Court of Canada, or theFederal Court, or any provincial superiorcourt, report after inquiry that theyhave been guilty of misbehaviour, orhave shown inability or incapacity toperform their duties.The Supreme Court of Canada,established by an Act of the nationalParliament in 1875, consists of ninejudges, three of whom must comefrom the Quebec Bar. The judges areappointed by the Governor General onthe advice of the national Cabinet, andhold office until they reach age 75. TheSupreme Court has the final decisionnot only on constitutional questions butalso on defined classes of importantcases of civil and criminal law. It dealsalso with appeals from decisions of theprovincial courts of appeal.Photo: Supreme Court of Canada /Philippe LandrevilleThe Supreme Court of Canada Building.The Rule of Law and the Courts33
How Canadians Govern ThemselvesThe Institutions of OurFederal GovernmentThe Institutions of Our Federal Government34By the Constitution Act, 1867, “theexecutive government of and overCanada is declared to continue andbe vested in the Queen.” She acts,ordinarily through the GovernorGeneral, whom she appoints, on theadvice of the Canadian Prime Minister.The Governor General normally holdsoffice for five years, though the tenuremay be extended for a year or so.Parliament consists of the Queen, theSenate and the House of Commons.THE QUEENThe Queen is the formal head of theCanadian state. She is representedfederally by the Governor General,and provincially by the Lieutenant-Governors. Federal Acts begin: “HerMajesty, by and with the advice andconsent of the Senate and the House ofCommons, enacts as follows”; Acts inmost provinces begin with similarwords. Parliament (or the provinciallegislature) meets only at the royalsummons; no House of Parliament(or legislature) is equipped with aself-starter. No federal or provincialbill becomes law without the RoyalAssent. The monarch has, on occasion,given the assent personally to federalActs, but the assent is usually given bythe Governor General or a deputy, andto provincial Acts by the Lieutenant-Governor or an administrator.The Governor General and theLieutenant-Governors have the right tobe consulted by their Ministers, and theright to encourage or warn them. Butthey almost invariably must act on theirMinisters’ advice, though there may bevery rare occasions when they must, ormay, act without advice or even againstthe advice of the Ministers in office.THE SENATEThe Senate usually has 105 members:24 from the Maritime provinces (10from Nova Scotia, 10 from NewBrunswick, four from Prince EdwardIsland); 24 from Quebec; 24 fromOntario; 24 from the Western provinces(6 each from Manitoba, Saskatchewan,Alberta and British Columbia); 6 fromNewfoundland and Labrador; and 1each from the Yukon Territory, theNorthwest Territories and Nunavut.There is provision also for 4 or 8 extraSenators: 1 — or 2 — from the Maritimeregion, Quebec, Ontario and the West;but this has been used only once,in 1990.
Page 1 and 2: 6 th EditionHow CanadiansGovern The
Page 3 and 4: iPrefaceHow Canadians Govern Themse
Page 5 and 6: How Canadians Govern ThemselvesTabl
Page 7 and 8: How Canadians Govern ThemselvesGove
Page 9 and 10: How Canadians Govern Themselveson t
Page 11 and 12: How Canadians Govern Themselvesassi
Page 13 and 14: How Canadians Govern Themselves8A F
Page 15 and 16: How Canadians Govern ThemselvesA Fe
Page 21 and 22: How Canadians Govern ThemselvesPhot
Page 25 and 26: How Canadians Govern Themselvesbe s
Page 27 and 28: How Canadians Govern ThemselvesPowe
Page 29 and 30: How Canadians Govern Themselvesmany
Page 31 and 32: How Canadians Govern Themselvesrepr
Page 33 and 34: How Canadians Govern ThemselvesCana
Page 35 and 36: How Canadians Govern ThemselvesCana
Page 37: How Canadians Govern ThemselvesThe
Page 43 and 44: How Canadians Govern ThemselvesThe
Page 47 and 48: How Canadians Govern ThemselvesIn 1
Page 51 and 52: How Canadians Govern ThemselvesThis
Page 53 and 54: How Canadians Govern ThemselvesProv
Page 55 and 56: How Canadians Govern ThemselvesVoti
Page 57: Photo: Jean-Marc CarisseSenator Eug

How Canadians Govern Themselves - Parlement du Canada

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?