Prime Minister (Canada)
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The Prime Minister of Canada ( English Prime Minister of Canada , French Prime ministre du Canada ) is the leading minister of the Crown ( Minister of the Crown, Ministre de la Couronne ), chairman of the cabinet and thus head of government of Canada . The office is not specified in any of the documents that make up the written portion of the Canadian Constitution . Formally, executive power rests with the Canadian monarch , who is represented by the governor general . Rather, the office of prime minister is part of common law .
The prime minister is almost always the leader of the political party that holds the most seats in the lower house . When he takes office, he receives the title The Right Honorable (French: Le Très Honorable ) and retains it for a lifetime. The current incumbent is Justin Trudeau of the Liberal Party , who was appointed 23rd Prime Minister by Governor General David Johnston on November 4, 2015 .
Requirements and choice
On behalf of the monarch, the Prime Minister is appointed by the Governor General along with the other Cabinet Ministers. According to customary constitutional law, however, the governor general is committed to political stability and will almost always appoint the leader of the party most represented in the lower house to form a government.
Any Canadian citizen who is at least 18 years of age and therefore eligible to vote can become Prime Minister. It is a prerequisite that the prime minister must also be a member of the lower house. Exceptions were John Abbott and Mackenzie Bowell , who were Senate members at the time of their appointment . Both chaired the ruling parliamentary group in the Senate, succeeding Prime Ministers who died in office in the 1890s; since then, customary law has developed in such a way that an interim head of government is appointed in such a case. William Lyon Mackenzie King lost his seat in the general election in 1945, although his party won a majority; he was unable to attend the lower house meetings, but received a seat again in a by-election just under two months later.
If an incumbent prime minister is voted out, an inexperienced MP will typically step down in a "safe" constituency, thereby allowing for a by-election so that the prime minister can be re-elected. However, if the ruling party appoints a new chairman who is not a member of parliament shortly before the elections, he will wait until the general election and will not force a by-election. For example, John Turner was Prime Minister for a brief period in 1984 without a member of the House of Commons. He then won in his constituency, but his party lost a majority.
In earlier years it was a tradition for the monarch to knight any new Canadian prime minister . For this reason, several had the prefix “Sir” in front of their names. Of the first eight prime ministers, only Alexander Mackenzie rejected the knighthood. Increasingly, however, doubts arose as to whether titles of nobility were justified in a democratic society. Since the Nickle resolution was passed in 1919, but it is not legally binding, no accolade has been carried out.
mandate
A prime minister is not appointed for a fixed term. The Canadian constitution limits the length of a legislative period so that general elections must take place in each individual constituency after five years at the latest . The time limit may only be exceeded in the event of war or uprising. Usually the Prime Minister asks the Governor General to schedule new elections after four years. An amendment to the constitution passed in 2007 restricts the prime minister's ability to dissolve parliament as he sees fit. Starting in 2009, the general election must take place every four years on the third Monday in October. The only exceptions are in wars and uprisings or if the government loses a vote of no confidence .
Otherwise, in accordance with customary law, the governor general cannot refuse the request to dissolve parliament, schedule new elections on his own initiative, or dismiss cabinet members without an express wish to resign. However, he can act against the wishes of the prime minister if the prime minister is about to violate the constitution. Only once, in 1926, did the Governor General refuse to request new elections.
In general, a majority government is in office for three to five years until new elections are called. A minority government calls new elections at the first opportunity that is likely to win a majority of the seats. An incumbent Prime Minister only has to resign if an opposition party wins an absolute majority of the seats. If the ruling party wins a relative majority, the government usually remains in office.
Influence and authority
The Prime Minister plays a prominent role in most of the legislative processes that go through the Canadian Parliament . The majority of the new laws come from the Cabinet, whose members are chosen by the Prime Minister and appointed by the Governor General. The cabinet must make all decisions “unanimously”, but whether this unanimity has actually been achieved is entirely at the discretion of the Prime Minister.
Since the monarch or the governor general practically always follows the instructions of the prime minister, the latter has de facto control over the appointment of the following positions: all members of the cabinet, vacant seats in the Supreme Court , vacant seats in the senate , all heads of state companies (those of the Prime Minister can replace at any time), all senior officials in government agencies, all ambassadors, the governor general himself, the vice-governors of the ten provinces and the commissioners of the three territories as well as senior positions in the Canadian armed forces .
The prime minister's power is restricted in a number of ways. If the cabinet or the assembly of delegates of the ruling party rebels against the head of government, he usually resigns quickly. Even the threat of calling a meeting of delegates can lead to a quick resignation, as was the case with Jean Chrétien in 2003. Another limitation is the Senate, which can delay and hinder legislative processes. Since Canada is a state, the influence of the federal government is limited to the federal level. However, since the actions of the federal government and the provincial governments are often intertwined, the power of the prime minister can be drastically reduced by the united resistance of the provincial governments.
Since executive power rests with the monarch and is formally exercised by the governor general, both have the power to oppose the will of the prime minister. Senator and constitutional expert Eugene Forsey stated that a governor general must "take all necessary steps to thwart the will of a ruthless prime minister". The last Governor General to exercise this power was Lord Byng in the wake of the King Byng Affair of 1926.
residence
The Prime Minister's official residence is 24 Sussex Drive in the capital, Ottawa . Every prime minister had lived there since Louis Saint-Laurent in 1951, with the exception of Kim Campbell . The Prime Minister also owns a second residence at Harrington Lake near Gatineau .
