Benutzer:Da legend/test

Kanada ist eine repräsentative parlamentarische Demokratie mit einer symbolischen konstitutionellen Monarchie innerhalb des Britischen Commonwealth of Nations.

Exekutive

Elizabet II ist die Königin Kanadas und daher auch das symbolische Staatsoberhaupt. Da die Königin nicht selbst regiert ernennt sie einen Generalgouverneur, um sie zu vertreten. Dieser sucht dann den Premierminister aus. In der Praxis geht diese Position an den Führer der am stärksten vertreten Partei, welche meist eine Mehrheitsregierung bildet. Koalitionen kamen in der Kanadischen Geschichte bisher nur einmal zur Zeit des ersten Weltkrieges vor.

Political parties are private organizations that are not mentioned in the constitution. By the convention of responsible government, the prime minister and most of his cabinet are members of Parliament so they can answer to Parliament for their actions. But, constitutionally, any adult Canadian is eligible for the jobs, and prime ministers have held office after being elected leader but before taking a seat in the Commons (John Turner, for example), or after being defeated in their constituencies. The prime minister selects ministers to head the various government departments and form a cabinet. The members of the Cabinet remain in office at the pleasure of the prime minister. If the Commons passes a motion of no confidence in the government, the prime minister and his cabinet are expected either to resign their offices or to ask for Parliament to be dissolved so that a general election can be held. To avoid non-confidence voting, strong party discipline has long been an established fact of life in the Canadian parliament, in which members of a party, especially members of the ruling party, are strongly urged always to vote the "party line" or face consequences, up to expulsion from the party's caucus. While the government likes to keep strong control due to the issue of motions of no confidence in (unwritten) practice the only time it is required is when a money bill (financial or budget) does not pass. However if a government finds that it can not pass any legislation it is common to hold a vote of confidence. But the failed passage of most bills does not require a vote of confidence, contrary to how it is often portrayed. The exception would be if the Prime Minister or the government declared that if a bill did not pass they would consider it a confidence issue (hence how backbenchers are often held to strict party voting).

While a member of a governing party is free to vote their conscience, they are constrained by the fact that voting against the party line (especially in confidence votes) might lead to expulsion from their party. Such an expulsion would lead to loss of election funding and the former party backing an alternate candidate. However, in the 2004 election one independent member of parliament was elected. Chuck Cadman had sought nomination under the Conservative Party of Canada having held a seat in one of the two founding parties. He did not win the nomination but won the election for his seat. He is the first independent member of parliament to be elected in recent memory. Most independent members were elected under a party but either chose to leave it or were expelled. After the Conservative Party of Canada was formed, a number of members of the Progressive Conservative Party and the Canadian Alliance party chose to sit as independents. Carolyn Parrish was a Member of Parliament for the Liberal Party at the beginning of this government, however due to controversial statements she was kicked out of the party. This results in an interesting and unusual political situation. If there is a vote of confidence, the Liberal Party can win the confidence vote if all of the members of the New Democratic Party and both independents vote with the Liberal Party.

When there are enough seats for another party to form a government after the resignation of a prime minister, the Governor General may ask the other party to try and form the government. This became clear after the King-Byng Affair in 1926. In practice, it is unlikely there could be a separate and new alliance created.

Canada is a constitutional monarchy and a Commonwealth Realm (see Monarchy in Canada) with a federal system of parliamentary government, and strong democratic traditions. Many of the country's legislative practices derive from the unwritten practices of and precedents set by the United Kingdom's Westminster parliament; however, Canada has evolved variations. Party discipline in Canada is stronger than in the United Kingdom, and more of the votes are considered confidence votes, which tends to diminish the role of non-cabinet Members of Parliament (MPs), known as backbenchers. Backbenchers can, however, exert their influence by sitting in parliamentary committees, like the Public Accounts Committee or the National Defence Committee.