Politics of Canada
The politics of Canada functions within a framework of parliamentary democracy and a federal system of parliamentary government with strong democratic traditions. Canada is a constitutional monarchy where the monarch is the ceremonial head of state. In practice, executive authority is entrusted to the Cabinet, a committee of ministers of the Crown chaired by the prime minister of Canada that act as the executive committee of the King's Privy Council for Canada and are responsible to the democratically elected House of Commons.
Canada is described as a "full democracy", with a tradition of secular liberalism, and an egalitarian, moderate political ideology. Extremism has never been prominent in Canadian politics. The traditional "brokerage" model of Canadian politics leaves little room for ideology, but on occasion ideologically-based parties have won representation or even dominance at the provincial level, such as in the cases of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, the Social Credit Party of Canada and the Communist Party of Canada. Peace, order, and good government, alongside an Implied Bill of Rights, are founding principles of the Canadian government. An emphasis on multiculturalism and social justice has been a distinguishing element of Canada's political culture. Canada has placed emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion for all its people.
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. The two dominant political parties in Canada have historically been the Liberal Party of Canada and the current Conservative Party of Canada. Parties like the New Democratic Party, the Quebec nationalist Bloc Québécois and the Green Party of Canada have grown in prominence, exerting their own influence to the political process.
Canada has evolved variations: party discipline in Canada is stronger than in the United States and United Kingdom, and more parliamentary votes are considered motions of confidence, which tends to diminish the role of non-Cabinet members of parliament. Such members, in the government caucus, and junior or lower-profile members of opposition caucuses, are known as backbenchers. Backbenchers can, however, exert their influence by sitting in parliamentary committees, like the Public Accounts Committee or the National Defence Committee.
Context
Canada's governmental structure was originally established by the British Parliament through the British North America Act, 1867, but the federal model and division of powers were devised by Canadian politicians. Particularly after World War I, citizens of the self-governing Dominions, such as Canada, began to develop a strong sense of identity, and, in the Balfour Declaration of 1926, the British government and the governments of the six Dominions jointly agreed that the Dominions had full autonomy within the British Commonwealth.In 1931, after further consultations and agreements between the British government and the governments of the Dominions, the British Parliament passed the Statute of Westminster, giving legal recognition to the autonomy of Canada and other Dominions. However, Canadian politicians were unable to obtain consensus on a process for amending the constitution, which was therefore not affected by the Statute of Westminster, meaning amendments to Canada's constitution continued to require the approval of the British parliament until that date. Similarly, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in Britain continued to make the final decision on criminal appeals until 1933 and on civil appeals until 1949. It was not until 1982, with the Patriation of the Constitution, that the role of the British Parliament was ended.
Political culture
Canada's egalitarian approach to governance has emphasized social welfare, economic freedom, and multiculturalism, which is based on selective economic migrants, social integration, and suppression of far-right politics, that has wide public and political support. Its broad range of constituent nationalities and policies that promote a "just society" are constitutionally protected. Individual rights, equality and inclusiveness have risen to the forefront of political and legal importance for most Canadians, as demonstrated through support for the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, a relatively free economy, and social liberal attitudes toward women's rights, divorce, homosexuality, same-sex marriage, birth control, euthanasia or cannabis use. 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.At the federal level, Canada has been dominated by two relatively centrist parties practising "brokerage politics", the centre-left leaning Liberal Party of Canada and the centre-right leaning Conservative Party of Canada. "The traditional brokerage model of Canadian politics leaves little
room for ideology" as the Canadian catch-all party system requires support from a broad spectrum of voters. The historically predominant Liberals position themselves at the centre of the political scale, with the Conservatives sitting on the right and the New Democratic Party occupying the left. Five parties had representatives elected to the federal parliament in the 2025 election: the Liberal Party who currently form the government, the Conservative Party who are the Official Opposition, the New Democratic Party, the Bloc Québécois, and the Green Party of Canada.
Polls have suggested that Canadians generally do not have a solid understanding of civics. This has been theorized to be a result of less attention being given to the subject in provincial education curricula, beginning in the 1960s. By 2008, a poll showed only 24 per cent of respondents could name the monarch as head of state. Likewise, Senator Lowell Murray wrote five years earlier that "the Crown has become irrelevant to most Canadians' understanding of our system of Government." 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." Instead under our election system, seats are allocated based on separate district contests; the prime minister is named by a party that holds majority of seats in the House of Commons or survives in that position by being supported by a working majority of multiple parties in the House of Commons; and governments remain in power only as long as they have support of a majority in the House, whether that group was elected by a majority of voters or not.
Governmental organization
; Type of government : Westminster style federal parliamentary democracy within a constitutional monarchy.; Administrative divisions : Ten provinces and three territories*: Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories*, Nova Scotia, Nunavut*, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Yukon*.
; Constitution : Westminster system, based on unwritten conventions and written legislation.
; Legal system : English common law for all matters within federal jurisdiction and in all provinces and territories except Quebec, which is based on the civil law, based on the Custom of Paris in pre-revolutionary France as set out in the Civil Code of Quebec; accepts compulsory International Court of Justice jurisdiction, with reservations.
; Suffrage : Citizens aged 18 years or older. Only two adult citizens in Canada cannot vote: the Chief Electoral Officer, and the Deputy Chief Electoral Officer. The Governor General is eligible to vote, but abstains due to constitutional convention.
Monarchy
; Head of state:, of Canada.; Viceroy: Mary Simon, Governor General of Canada.
Canada is a constitutional monarchy, wherein the role of the reigning sovereign is both legal and practical, but not political. The monarch is formally vested with all powers of state, which are in practice exercised only by the various institutions of government acting under the sovereign's authority. The executive is thus formally referred to as the King-in-Council, the legislature as the King-in-Parliament, and the courts as the King-on-the-Bench.
Though the person who is monarch of Canada is also the monarch of 14 other countries in the Commonwealth of Nations, he nevertheless reigns separately as of Canada, an office that is "truly Canadian" and "totally independent from that of the monarch of the United Kingdom or the other Commonwealth realms." On the advice of the Canadian prime minister, the sovereign appoints a federal viceregal representative—the governor general —who, since 1947, is permitted to exercise almost all of the monarch's royal prerogative; though, there are some duties which must be specifically performed by the monarch themselves. In case of the governor general's absence or incapacitation, the administrator of Canada performs the Crown's most basic functions.
Royal assent is required to enact laws. As part of the royal prerogative, the royal sign-manual gives authority to letters patent and orders-in-Council. 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; the accreditation of Canadian diplomats and receipt of foreign diplomats; and the issuance of passports.
Despite the wide theoretical extent of the sovereign's powers, in actual practice he or she exercises them only through or with the advice of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Within the constitutional conventions of the Westminster system, the sovereign's freedom of action or personal choice in any area of governance is quite limited.