Politics of Canada

[20][21] The country has a multi-party system in which many of its legislative practices derive from the unwritten conventions of and precedents set by the Westminster parliament of the United Kingdom.

[29][27][28][20][30] There is also a sense of collective responsibility in Canadian political culture, as is demonstrated in general support for universal health care, multiculturalism, evolution, gun control, foreign aid, and other social programs.

[35][38][39][37] The historically predominant Liberals position themselves at the centre of the political scale,[42][43][44] with the Conservatives sitting on the right and the New Democratic Party occupying the left.

[51] Likewise, Senator Lowell Murray wrote five years earlier that "the Crown has become irrelevant to most Canadians' understanding of our system of Government.

"[52] As John Robson of the National Post opined in 2015: "Intellectually, voters and commentators succumb to the mistaken notion that we elect 'governments' of prime ministers and cabinets with untrammelled authority, that indeed ideal 'democracy' consists precisely in this kind of plebiscitary autocracy.

"[53] The function of constitutional monarchy is to personify the democratic state, to sanction legitimate authority, to assure the legality of means, and guarantee the execution of the public will.

Much of the royal prerogative is only exercised in-council, on the advice of the Cabinet;[64][65] within the conventional stipulations of a constitutional monarchy, the sovereign's direct participation in any of these areas of governance is limited.

[66][67] The royal prerogative also includes summoning, proroguing, and dissolving Parliament in order to call an election and extends to foreign affairs, which include the negotiation and ratification of treaties, alliances, international agreements, and declarations of war;[68] the accreditation of Canadian diplomats and receipt of foreign diplomats; and the issuance of passports.

Currently, the Senate, which is frequently described as providing regional representation, has 105 members appointed by the Governor-General on the advice of the Prime Minister to serve until age 75.

It was created with equal representation from the three regions of Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes (originally New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, expanded in 1873 to include Prince Edward Island).

This power of additional appointment has only been used once, when Prime Minister Brian Mulroney petitioned Queen Elizabeth II to add eight seats to the Senate so as to ensure the passage of the Goods and Services Tax legislation.

The size of the House and apportionment of seats to each province is revised after every census, conducted every five years, and is based on population changes and approximately on representation-by-population.

Elections Canada cannot dictate how a federal political party should be formed or how its legal, internal and financial structures should be established.

[72] Historically, the prime minister and senators are selected by the Governor General as a representative of the King, though in modern practice the monarch's duties are ceremonial.

Federal-provincial (or intergovernmental, formerly Dominion-provincial) relations is a regular issue in Canadian politics: Quebec wishes to preserve and strengthen its distinctive nature, western provinces desire more control over their abundant natural resources, especially energy reserves; industrialized Central Canada is concerned with its manufacturing base, and the Atlantic provinces strive to escape from being less affluent than the rest of the country.

[75] Particularly in the past decade, critics have argued that the federal government's exercise of its unlimited constitutional spending power has contributed to strained federal-provincial relations.

[80] A prime example of an exercise of the spending power is the Canada Health Act, which is a conditional grant of money to the provinces.

Given the narrow federalist victory in 1995, a reference was made by the Chrétien government to the Supreme Court of Canada in 1998 regarding the legality of unilateral provincial secession.

The Bloc, then, benefited (with a significant increase in seat total) from the impressions of corruption that surrounded the Liberal Party in the lead-up to the 2004 election.

In 2004, then-premier Danny Williams ordered all federal flags removed from government buildings as a result of lost offshore revenues to equalization clawbacks.

[82] On December 23, 2004, premier Williams made this statement to reporters in St. John's, They basically slighted us, they are not treating us as a proper partner in Confederation.

It's also quite apparent to me that we were dragged to Manitoba in order to punish us, quite frankly, to try to embarrass us, to bring us out there to get no deal and send us back with our tail between our legs.Western alienation is another national-unity-related concept that enters into Canadian politics.

[83][84] More recently, with the existence of strong third parties and first-past-the-post elections amongst other factors, Canada on a federal and provincial level has experienced huge swings in seat shares, where third parties (e.g. NDP, Reform) end up (usually briefly) replacing the Liberals, the Progressive Conservatives or the Conservatives as the main opposition or even the government and leaving them as a rump.

[85] According to recent scholars, there have been four party systems in [Canada] at the federal level since Confederation, each with its own distinctive pattern of social support, patronage relationships, leadership styles, and electoral strategies.

For the moment, this disbursement delay leaves the NDP and the Green Party in a better position to fight an election, since they rely more on individual contributors than federal funds.

[90] In 2007, news emerged of a funding loophole that "could cumulatively exceed the legal limit by more than $60,000", through anonymous recurrent donations of $200 to every riding of a party from corporations or unions.

[91][92][93] Two of the biggest federal political parties in Canada experienced a drop in donations in 2020, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic impact on the global economy.

[94] Ordered by number of elected representatives in the House of Commons Leaders' debates in Canada consist of two debates, one English and one French,[95] both produced by a consortium of Canada's five major television broadcasters (CBC/SRC, CTV, Global and TVA) and usually consist of the leaders of all parties with representation in the House of Commons.

The Canadian government operates the public service using departments, smaller agencies (for example, commissions, tribunals, and boards), and crown corporations.

Scholar Peter Aucoin, writing about the Canadian Westminster system, raised concerns in the early 2000s about the centralization of power; an increased number, role and influence of partisan-political staff; personal-politicization of appointments to the senior public service; and the assumption that the public service is promiscuously partisan for the government of the day.