Social Studies 9 concepts: how canada is governed

The words, first

The idea: Most wrong answers in this unit come from mixing up two of these.

Word	What it means
Governor General	The monarch's representative in Canada. By long custom, acts on the Prime Minister's advice.
Parliament	The federal lawmaking body: the monarch, through the Governor General, with the Senate and the House of Commons.
Legislative branch	Makes laws. In Canada, Parliament.
Executive branch	Carries out laws: the Prime Minister, the Cabinet ministers who run departments, and the public service.
Judicial branch	The courts, which decide what laws mean and whether they fit the Constitution.
Riding	An area that elects one Member of Parliament (MP). Also called a constituency.
First-past-the-post	The candidate with the most votes in a riding wins, even with less than half.
Senator	Appointed by the Governor General on the Prime Minister's advice; serves to age 75.
Majority government	The governing party holds more than half the seats in the House of Commons. With fewer, it is a minority government.
Bill	A proposed law.
Royal Assent	The Governor General's formal approval of a bill both houses have passed. After it, the bill is law.
Lobby group	An organized group that tries to persuade government to decide in its favour.

Three branches, three jobs

The idea: Making a law, carrying it out and deciding what it means are separate jobs held by separate people. Canada's twist is that the first two overlap.

The Crown acts on the advice of elected leaders. The dashed line is the overlap: the Prime Minister is an MP, so the executive sits inside the legislature.

One law through all three. Suppose Parliament makes it a crime to fly a drone near a runway. Parliament, the legislative branch, made the law. The executive carries it out: a federal department writes the detailed rules, and police enforce them. If someone charged argues that the law is too vague to be fair, a court — the judicial branch — decides.

The overlap. The American President is not a member of Congress, but Canada's Prime Minister and almost all Cabinet ministers are MPs. That is why a majority government can usually pass what it wants. Judges are kept apart on purpose: appointed, but never fired for a ruling the government dislikes. The Governor General signs bills, but on the Prime Minister's advice; an answer that makes the Governor General the decision-maker has the picture upside down.

Who gets a seat, and who can remove them

The idea: MPs are elected and can be voted out. Senators are appointed and cannot. Accountability questions come down to that difference.

MPs. Each riding elects one MP by first-past-the-post. In an invented riding:

Candidate A 41% · Candidate B 37% · Candidate C 22% → A wins the seat

A is the MP although 59% of voters chose someone else. Supporters say the system is simple and gives every riding one clear representative; critics note that a party can win most of the seats nationally with well under half the votes. Both are true. MPs face the voters at least every five years, and the government is questioned every sitting day in Question Period, when other parties' MPs put questions to the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Senators. There are 105, six of them from Alberta, and they serve until 75. Defenders say senators, who never campaign, can give bills a careful second look; critics say lawmakers should answer to voters. Alberta has held elections to choose Senate nominees, but no Prime Minister has to appoint the winners, and not all have.

How a bill becomes law

The idea: Both houses pass the same words, then the Governor General gives Royal Assent. Until that last step, a bill is not a law.

A bill can start in the Senate instead, unless it raises taxes or spends public money. If the Senate changes a bill, it goes back to the House: both houses must pass exactly the same words.

Worked through. A minister introduces the invented drone bill in the House of Commons. First reading: it is printed, with no debate. Second reading: MPs debate the main idea and vote. Committee: a few MPs hear witnesses — pilots, a drone club, a farmer who checks crops by drone — and exempt farm drones far from airports. Report stage and third reading: the whole House votes on that change, then on the bill. The Senate repeats the process and can pass it, amend it or, rarely, defeat it. Royal Assent makes it an Act.

Why a majority matters. MPs almost always vote with their party, so a majority government can normally pass its bills. A minority government needs another party's votes each time, which gives the smaller parties real bargaining power.

Parties, media and lobby groups

The idea: Between elections, influence reaches Ottawa through three channels, and each carries some voices better than others.

Parties pick candidates, write platforms and decide how their MPs vote, which keeps government stable but means an MP sometimes votes against their own riding. The media — newspapers, broadcasters, websites — chooses which issues get attention and digs into what government would rather keep quiet. Lobby groups bring real expertise, and anyone can start one, but a group with money and contacts is heard more easily than a person without them. That is one reason paid lobbyists must register publicly.

Source. Two invented people on the drone bill. Speaker I: “Our association represents four thousand drone pilots. We met eleven MPs this spring, and the farm exemption is in the bill because we asked for it.” Speaker II: “I live beside the runway. Nobody asked us anything. I heard the rules had changed on the evening news.”

Reading it. Speaker I's lobby group changed the bill; Speaker II heard about it on the news. Together they raise one question — does lawmaking hear all Canadians equally? — which is what a question about what the sources “most clearly suggest” wants. Two tempting wrong answers: “lobbying is illegal” (neither says so, and it is not) and “the bill should be withdrawn” (neither asks for that).

What costs marks

The idea: Four, and the first is the most common.

Mixing up the branches. Parliament makes laws, the Prime Minister and Cabinet carry them out, courts interpret them.
Thinking senators are elected. They are appointed, and serve to 75.
Calling a bill a law too early. The Senate and Royal Assent come after the House.
Choosing an answer that is true but not in the source. Pick what the source supports.