Canada’s democratic process is heavily modelled after that of the United Kingdom. However, not many Canadians get a chance to learn more about our parliamentary system—outside of mandatory civics classes in high school. When the British North America Act (BNA) was enacted in 1867, the majority of the Canadian constitution and Canadian operations of government were formed and defined. While key changes were made to the BNA act in 1982 on the advice of the prime minister – including the addition of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms—a variety of fundamental systems and formations of government remained unchanged.
Primarily, Canadian Parliament consists of three basic levels: the Sovereign, the Upper House, and the Lower House.
On the Sovereign level, David Johnston—currently the Governor General of Canada – acts as Queen Elizabeth II’s representative as de facto head of state. Since Canada is still a Commonwealth nation, the Governor General is appointed and selected, on the advice of the Prime Minister, by the ruling monarch.
The Upper House, commonly known as the Senate, consists of members who are appointed by the Governor General. The Senate of Canada has 105 members who are selected based on distinct geographical regions. Both large and small regions are represented in the Senate. However, it is important to note that the Senate’s title as the Upper House does not mean that senators hold more power than members of the Lower House.
The House of Commons acts as the Lower House of the Parliament of Canada. The members of House of Commons are democratically-elected representatives from every electoral district of each province and territory. In the 2015 federal election, 338 members of the House of Commons will be elected through Canada’s first-past-the-post system.
Elections Canada explains what first-past-the-post means on their website: “Canada’s electoral system is referred to as a ‘single-member plurality’ system (also commonly called a ‘first-past-the-post’system). In every electoral district, the candidate with the highest number of votes wins a seat in the House of Commons and represents that electoral district as its Member of Parliament. An absolute majority (more than 50 per cent of the votes in the electoral district) is not required for a candidate to be elected.”