What is the relationship between the executive, legislative and judicial branches of Canada’s federal political system?

What is the Role of the Executive Branch?

There are 3 branches in Canada’s Federal political system: The Executive, Legislative and Judicial Branch

Executive Branch: Made up of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet.

Prime Minister: This is the head of Canada’s government. To be a prime minister you must be the leader of a political party that wins more seats in the House of Commons than any other political party.

Cabinet

The cabinet includes individuals who are responsible for specific departments like finance, agriculture and environment. The members of cabinet are members of the political party in the house of commons with the most seats. All members of cabinet are either Senators or members of the House of Commons.

Role of Cabinet

The PM chooses cabinet ministers and he also decides what portfolios to include in the cabinet.

The cabinet proposes most of the ideas that eventually become laws.

Legislative Branch

The Legislative Branch – Made up of the elected members of the House of Commons and the appointed Senate. Also known as Canada’s parliament. The part of government that makes the laws.

House of Commons: This is the major law making body in Canada’s parliament. The MP’s debate, study and vote on bills proposed for Canada.

Legislative Branch Continued

MP’s: Each member of parliament is elected by voters from their riding. People who live in a riding and vote for MP’s are known as constituents. A riding or constituency is a geographic area. It is the body of voters or the residents of a district represented by an elected legislator or official

Most MP’s belong to political parties but we do have some independents who sit in the House of Commons. Representation in the House is by population.

The Senate

Senators are appointed by the Prime Minister. They can remain in power until age 75. Prime Ministers tend to appoint Senators that support the PM’s point of view. The Senate includes people from a variety of political parties as only a few Senate seats become vacant at a time. Senators can remain in power when Prime Ministers and government change as they are appointed.

Role of Senate

Senators represent the interests of Canada’s regions, especially Canada’s minorities.

Canada’s Constitution defines “divisions” for appointing Senators:

Western provinces 24 seats Ontario 24 seats Quebec 24 seats Maritimes 24 seats Newfoundland and Labrador 6 seats Territories 3 seats

Senate

The Senate gives a “sober second thought” or careful consideration to all legislation that is proposed in Canada. The Senate has the power to reject bills passed by the House of Commons.

Does the Senate undermine our democracy because they are an appointed position that has the power to strike down bills proposed by our elected MP’s?

Judicial Branch

The Judicial Branch – Made up of Canada’s Courts of Laws with the Supreme Court being the highest court in the land. These rules and laws are set out in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Constitution and existing laws. The part of the government that interprets and applies the law by making legal judgments.

The Relationship between the 3 branches of Government

The relationship between the three branches of government is ultimately a joint effort to listen to and act upon the concerns of the general public. The general public has different options in bringing their concerns to the government; they may approach their senator, their Member of Parliament or a cabinet minister.

Video on House of Commons

http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/aeve/movieLauncher.html?movie=smil/mptv_house_commons_cc.mov

Senate Educational Video: http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/process/S

enate/senateFilm/SenFilmToc-e.asp