Mrs.

Slovinsky EAL Canadian History Canada’s Government

Canada's Government
Student Name: ____________________________________________ Date: _________________
History of Canada's Government
Canada first belonged to the Aboriginal People. There were many tribes with different
languages and cultures. Each of these tribes had their own government. Then the French came to
Canada, and they claimed it for their own. The government was a French colonial government. Then,
France and Great Britain had a war, and Britain won, so they took Canada as a colony for
themselves. At that point, the government became a British colonial government. This lasted for
many years. In 1867, Canada became an independent country, but we kept many of the British ways
of doing things, including how we made our government.
Canada's Queen
Today, Canada's government still looks a
lot like the British government. We even have
the same queen!! Her Royal Highness Queen
Elizabeth II is the Queen of all of Great Britain,
but she is also the queen of Canada, Australia,
and New Zealand. All of these places used to be
colonies of Britain.
The queen is our head of state, which
means she is the highest authority in the
country. She is not our head of government. That person is our Prime Minister. The queen has no
power in Canada. She cannot tell us what to do or make laws, and she must obey the laws of
Canada. The queen's power is controlled by our constitution. I'll talk more about that later.
The queen does not live in Canada, but she needs to sign all of our important political
documents, like laws. It would take too much time for us to send all these documents to Great Britain
to get her to sign it. Instead, she chooses someone in Canada to represent her. This person is called
the Governor General.

1
Mrs. Slovinsky EAL Canadian History Canada’s Government

The Federal Government

Canada has a federal government. This
means that we have one government that
controls the whole country. We also have
provincial governments that control the different
provinces, and municipal governments that
control each town and city. The federal
government has the most power.
The federal government has two groups
of people who make our laws. One is called the House of Commons, and the other is called the
Senate.

The House of Commons

Any citizen of Canada can run for office. This means that they can try to get elected to the
House of Commons. The people who are elected are called Members of Parliament, or MPs for
short.
The House of Commons has 308 members - about one representative for every 100,000 people
in Canada. All the MPs work in Ottawa, the capital of Canada. Their job is to represent the needs of
the people of Canada.
Not all the members of parliament are members of the government. In Canada, the
government is the political party that has the most members (or, seats) in the House of
Commons. The political party with the second most seats becomes Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition, or
the opposition, for short. Any member of the House of Commons, no matter what political party they
belong to, can propose bills. Bills are ideas that are being proposed as laws. The job of the opposition
is to ask questions of the government so that the government stays honest.
The head of our government is the Prime Minister. In Canada, the Prime Minister is the head
of the party that has the most seats in the House of Commons. We do not vote directly for our Prime
Minister. Instead we vote for the political party of which he or she is the leader.

2
Mrs. Slovinsky EAL Canadian History Canada’s Government

The Prime Minister needs people to advise him or her, so some members of parliament are
promoted to Ministers. A minister is a member of parliament who is in charge of one part, or
department, of the government. The department are public servants who make sure that all the things
that are needed for people to follow the rules are in place. They also help the people in that industry
to do their jobs better. For example, the
Department of Agriculture will help
farmers transport their wheat by making sure
that the railroads are clear and safe to
use.

The

Senate
The Senate is also called the Upper House and its members are appointed by the government.
This means that they are not elected by the people, but chosen by the Prime Minister. The senators
are men and women who are chosen because
they have been in some industry or service for
a long time and have a lot of wisdom about
how things should work. They are supposed to
provide a "sober second thought" to all the bills
that are passed by the House of
Commons. They read the bills and might
suggest changes that should be made, they
might like the bill and pass it, or they might think the bill is terrible and refuse to pass it (but this hardly
ever happens). The senators must always represent the needs of the Queen and the Government.

3
Mrs. Slovinsky EAL Canadian History Canada’s Government

How a Bill Becomes a Law in Canada

A bill is an idea for a law. It can be suggested by any member of the House of Commons, but
usually, bills are proposed by the government. In the first reading, the bill is simply read out to the
House (that’s our short way of saying House of Commons). After this, the bill goes to a committee
which researches all the aspects of the bill and make changes to it. Then the bill gets a second reading
in the House of Commons. At this time, all the members of the House of Commons debate the
bill. This means that any MP can ask questions about the bill, they can argue against the bill, or they
can argue in favour of the bill. After the debate, the bill goes back to the committee and any changes
needed are made to it. Finally, the bill gets a third reading. Again, the bill gets debated, but after the
debate, the MPs vote on the bill. If most MPs vote for the bill, it is sent to the Senate. If most MPs
vote against the bill, then we say the bill has died and it will not become a law.
If it passes in the House of Commons, it goes to the Senate. Here, the same process is
used. After the third reading in the Senate, the Senators vote on the bill. If they do not like the bill,
they will usually make suggestions for changes to it, and send it back to the House of Commons. If this
happens, the whole process starts all over again. If they do like the bill and they vote in favour of it,
then it gets sent to the Governor General of Canada.
Remember, the Governor General is the Queen's representative in Canada. The last stage in
the process is that the Governor General has to sign the bill. Once it is signed, it becomes a law in
Canada.

4
Mrs. Slovinsky EAL Canadian History Canada’s Government

Canada's Government Questions

Student Name _________________________________________ Mark _______/27

1. Before Canada became an independent country, who controlled the government?

1. First _______________________________________________________________________
2. Second ____________________________________________________________________
3. Third ______________________________________________________________________
2. In what year did Canada become an independent country? _________________________________
3. What is the name of Canada’s Queen? _________________________________________________
4. Who has more power in Canada, the Queen, or the Prime Minister? _________________________
5. What controls the Queen’s power? ____________________________________________________
6. What is the job of the Governor General? _______________________________________________
7. Does a federal government control a city, a province, or a country? __________________________
8. In Canada, who can become a Member of Parliament? ____________________________________
9. How many people does each MP represent? ____________________________________________
10. What is the job of the Members of Parliament? __________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
11. We have many political parties in Canada. How does one party become the government?
_________________________________________________________________________________
12. Who can propose, or suggest a bill? ___________________________________________________
13. What do we call the people who advise the Prime Minister? ________________________________
14. Look at the diagram of the House of Commons. Tell me who sits in the spot marked:

1 ________________________________ 2 ________________________________

3 ________________________________ 4 ________________________________

5. ________________________________ 6 ________________________________

15. What is the difference between how the Members of Parliament get their jobs, and how the
Senators get their jobs? _____________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
16. What are the senators supposed to provide? ____________________________________________
17. How many times does a bill get read in the House of Commons? ____________________________
18. After which reading do the Members of Parliament vote on a bill? ___________________________
19. If the bill passes the vote in the House of Commons, where does it go to?
_________________________________________________________________________________
20. What is the last thing that has to happen before a bill can become a law? _____________________
_________________________________________________________________________________