Introduction

Canada is a democracy, a constitutional monarchy. Our head of state is the Queen of Canada, who is also Queen of Britain, Australia and New Zealand and a host of other countries scattered around the world from the Bahamas and Grenada to Papua New Guinea and Tuvalu. Every act of government is done in the name of the Queen, but the authority for every act flows from the Canadian people. When the men who framed the basis of our present written Constitution, the Fathers of Confederation, were drafting it in 1867, they freely, deliberately and unanimously chose to vest the formal executive authority in the Queen, "to be administered according to the well understood principles of the British Constitution by the Sovereign personally or by the Representative of the Queen." That meant responsible government, with a cabinet responsible to the House of Commons, and the House of Commons answerable to the people. Except when the Queen is in Canada, all her powers are now exercised by her representative, the Governor General.

The Prime Minister

The prime ministership (premiership), like the parties, is not created by law, though it is recognized by the law. The Prime Minister is normally a member of the House of Commons (there have been two from the Senate, from 1891 to '92 and from 1894 to '96). A non-member could hold the office but would, by custom, have to get elected to a seat very soon. A prime minister may lose his (her) seat in an election, but can remain in office as long as the party keeps a majority in the House of Commons, though again, he (she) must, by custom, win a seat very promptly. The traditional way of arranging this is to have a member of the majority party resign, thereby creating a vacancy, which gives the defeated Prime Minister of non-member party leader the opportunity to run in a by-election.

The Prime Minister is appointed by the Governor General. Ordinarily, the appointment is automatic. If the Opposition wins more than half the seats in an election, or if the government is defeated in the House of Commons and resigns, the Governor General must call on the Leader of the Opposition to form a new government.

The Prime Minister used to be described as "the first among equals" in the cabinet, or as "a moon among minor stars." This is no longer so. He (she) is now incomparably more powerful than any colleague. The Prime Minister chooses the ministers in the first place, and can also ask any of them to resign; if the minister refuses, the Prime Minister can advise the Governor General to remove that minister and the advice would invariably be followed. Cabinet decisions do not necessarily go by majority vote. A strong prime minister, having listened to everyone's opinion, may simply announce that his (her) view is the policy of the government, even if most, or all, the other ministers are opposed. Unless the dissenting ministers are prepared to resign, they must bow to the decision.

⁽¹⁾ Forsey, Eugene A., How Canadians Govern Themselves, 1991. Reproduced with the permission of the Minister of Canadian Heritage and the Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada, 1996.

If you want to see a list of those who have occupied this role since Confederation, click here.

If you would like to learn more about Canada's former Prime Ministers, click on First Among Equals: The Prime Minister in Canadian Life and Politics (National Library of Canada and the National Archives of Canada)