Browse "Government"

Local government is the level of government below the provinces. The most important local governments are the MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENTS. Under the constitution, the provinces have exclusive jurisdiction over municipal affairs (see MUNICIPAL-PROVINCIAL RELATIONS).

See MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.

The term Member of Parliament (MP) refers to individuals elected to represent a single federal electoral district (or “riding”) in the House of Commons. As elected representatives, MPs have three main duties: legislating in Parliament, representing their riding and political party, and serving their constituents’ needs. MPs occupy different roles and levels of influence in government. They hold office until Parliament is dissolved — typically four year terms — and can serve infinite mandates, so long as they are re-elected. Any Canadian citizen who is at least 18 years old on election day can run for office. Most MPs are elected as a member of a political party, but some may campaign and sit as independents. There are 338 seats for Members of Parliament in the House of Commons.

Metropolitan government is a form of REGIONAL GOVERNMENT. It may be used in urban centres with a population over 100 000, known in Canada as CENSUS METROPOLITAN AREAS (CMAs).

A minority government exists when the governing party does not hold a majority of seats in the House of Commons (or provincial legislature) but is still able to command the confidence of the House. Minority governments also exist at the provincial level and in Yukon, but not in Northwest Territories or Nunavut, which do not have political parties and are governed by consensus governments.

The activities of locally elected municipal councils are administered by officials and employees organized into municipal public-service departments (see MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT).

Municipal finance is concerned with the revenues and expenditures of municipalities. Revenues are secured from local taxes (see TAXATION) and other local revenues and from provincial and federal grants.

Municipal governments are local elected authorities. They include cities, towns and villages, and rural (county) or metropolitan municipalities. They are created by the provinces and territories to provide services that are best managed under local control; from waste disposal and public transit to fire services, policing, community centres and libraries. A municipal government’s revenue is raised largely from property taxes and provincial grants.

Municipalities in Canada are similar to provincial governments in a number of important respects.

The National Energy Program (NEP) was an energy policy of the government of Canada from 1980 through 1985. Its goal was to ensure that Canada could supply its own oil and gas needs by 1990. The NEP was initially popular with consumers and as a symbol of Canadian economic nationalism. However, private industry and some provincial governments opposed it.

A federal-provincial deal resolved controversial parts of the NEP in 1981. Starting the next year, however, the program was dismantled in phases. Global economic conditions had changed such that the NEP was no longer considered necessary or useful. The development of the oil sands and offshore drilling, as well as the rise in Western alienation and the development of the modern Conservative Party of Canada, are all aspects of the NEP’s complicated legacy.

Nationalization is the takeover of ownership and control of a privately owned enterprise by the STATE.

Founded in 1961, the New Democratic Party (NDP) is a social democratic political party that has formed the government in several provinces but never nationally. Its current leader is Jagmeet Singh. In 2011, it enjoyed an historic electoral breakthrough, becoming the Official Opposition in Parliament for the first time. Four years later, despite hopes of winning a federal election, the NDP was returned to a third-place position in the House of Commons. It slipped to fourth place in the 2019 federal election, after a resurgence from the Bloc Québécois.

Confirmed as British by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, the peninsula of Nova Scotia was neglected until 1749 - a period of "phantom rule" and "counterfeit suzerainty.

An ombudsman is an independent officer of the legislature who investigates complaints from the public against administrative action and, if finding the action unfair, recommends a remedy.

The opening of Parliament may refer either to the beginning of the first session of PARLIAMENT after a general election or to the beginning of a subsequent session.

Opting-Out originated as a device by which one or more provinces choose not to participate in a federal-provincial shared cost program; instead the province receives direct payment (in cash or tax room) of funds which would have been spent there.

A federal order-in-council is a statutory instrument by which the governor general (the executive power of the governor-in-council),  acting on the advice and consent of the Queen's Privy Council  for Canada, expresses a decision. In practice, orders-in-council are drafted by Cabinet and formally approved by the governor general. Orders-in-council are not discussed by Parliament, and do not require legislation by Parliament, before being implemented.

RECENT DISCLOSURES OF MORE mad cows in our midst raise the nagging question of why Canada is not doing far more to screen the nation's cattle herds for the dreaded bovine spongiform encephalopathy, better known as mad cow disease.

The new federal law on reproductive technology tabled last week was a long time coming. A royal commission studied the subject exhaustively from 1989 to 1993.