Canada/Provinces and Territories - Government

Government

Main article: Canadian federalism See also: Monarchy in the Canadian provinces and Office-holders of Canada

Theoretically, provinces have a great deal of power relative to the federal government, with jurisdiction over many public goods such as health care, education, welfare, and intra-provincial transportation. They receive "transfer payments" from the federal government to pay for these, as well as exacting their own taxes. In practice, however, the federal government can use these transfer payments to influence these provincial areas. For instance in order to receive healthcare funding under medicare, provinces must agree to meet certain federal mandates, such as universal access to required medical treatment.

Provincial and territorial legislatures have no second chamber like the Canadian Senate. Originally, most provinces did have such bodies, known as legislative councils, but these were subsequently abolished, Quebec's being the last in 1968. In most provinces, the single house of the legislature is known as the Legislative Assembly except in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador, where it is called the House of Assembly, and Quebec where it is generally called the National Assembly. Ontario has a Legislative Assembly but its members are called Members of the Provincial Parliament or MPPs. The legislative assemblies use a procedure similar to that of the Canadian House of Commons. The head of government of each province, called the premier, is generally the head of the party with the most seats. This is also the case in Yukon, but the Northwest Territories and Nunavut have no political parties at the territorial level. The Queen's representative to each province is the Lieutenant Governor. In each of the territories there is an analogous Commissioner, but he or she represents the federal government and not the monarch per se.

Federal, Provincial, and Territorial terminology compared

Canada	Governor General	Prime Minister	Parliament		Parliamentarian
			Senate	House of Commons	Senator	Member of Parliament
Ontario	Lieutenant-Governor	Premier	n/a*	Legislative Assembly	n/a*	Member of the Provincial Parliament (MPP)
Quebec				National Assembly		Member of the National Assembly (MNA)
Newfoundland and Labrador				House of Assembly		Member of the House of Assembly (MHA)
Nova Scotia						Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA)
Other provinces				Legislative Assembly
Territories	Commissioner
*There were historically provincial Legislative Councils analogous to the federal Senate in Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Manitoba, Prince Edward Island, and pre-confederation in Lower Canada, Upper Canada, Province of Canada, British Columbia, and Newfoundland. The last of these was abolished in 1968.

Each of the territories elects one Member of Parliament. Canadian territories are each entitled to elect one full voting representative to the Canadian House of Commons. With the sole exception of Prince Edward Island having slightly greater per capita representation than the Northwest Territories, every territory has considerably greater per capita representation in the Commons than every other province. Residents of the Canadian territories are full citizens and enjoy the same rights as all other Canadians. Each territory also has one Senator.