[4] The monarch, King Charles III is head of state and is personally represented by a governor general (currently Mary Simon).

Further elements of governance are outlined in the rest of the Canadian constitution, which includes written statutes in addition to court rulings and unwritten conventions developed over centuries.

[5] Constitutionally, the King's Privy Council for Canada is the body that advises the sovereign or their representative on the exercise of executive power.

This task is carried out nearly exclusively by the Cabinet, which functions as the executive committee of the Privy Council that sets the government's policies and priorities for the country[6] and is chaired by the prime minister.

In case of the governor general's absence or incapacitation, the administrator of Canada performs the Crown's most basic functions.

Much of the royal prerogative is only exercised in-council, meaning on the advice of the King's Privy Council for Canada (ministers of the Crown formed in Cabinet in conventional practice);[17][18] within the conventional stipulations of a constitutional monarchy, the sovereign's direct participation in any of these areas of governance is limited.

[32][33] The stipulations of responsible government require that those who directly advise the Crown on the exercise the royal prerogative be accountable to the elected House of Commons and the day-to-day operation of government is guided only by a sub-group of the Privy Council made up of individuals who hold seats in Parliament, known as the Cabinet.

"[35] Politicians can sometimes try to use to their favour to obscure the complexity of the relationship between the monarch, viceroy, ministers, and Parliament, as well as the public's general unfamiliarity with such.