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The Canadian Government is answerable to the Lower House of Parliament, the House of Commons. However, neither the Prime Minister nor members of the Government are elected by the House of Commons. Instead, the Governor General requests the person most likely to command the support of a majority of the House of Commons (usually the leader of the party with the greatest number of seats in that House) to form a government. If no party holds a majority, it is customary to appoint a minority government rather than a coalition government. The Prime Minister then selects the members of the Cabinet, who are then formally appointed by the Governor General.
So that they may be accountable to the Lower House, the Prime Minister and most members of the Cabinet are members of the House of Commons instead of the Senate. If the leader of the largest party is not a member of the House of Commons, then he or she, by constitutional convention, seeks election to that House at the earliest possible opportunity. Normally, a junior member of Parliament who holds a safe seat resigns to allow the Prime Minister to enter the House of Commons.
The House of Commons, not the Senate, is the responsible House of Parliament, meaning that the Government is answerable to it alone. It controls the executive by passing or rejecting its Bills and by forcing Ministers of the Crown to answer for their actions, for example during " Question Period," when the Ministers are obliged to answer questions posed by members. The Lower House may attempt to bring down the Government by rejecting a Motion of Confidence or by passing a Motion of No Confidence. Confidence Motions are generally originated by the Government in order to reinforce its support in the House, whilst No Confidence Motions are introduced by the Opposition. Important bills that form part of the Government's agenda are generally considered matters of confidence. Furthermore, the confidence of the House of Commons is deemed to have been withdrawn if that House "withdraws Supply," that is, rejects the Budget.
Where a Government has lost the confidence of the House of Commons, the Prime Minister is obliged to either resign (allowing the Governor General to appoint the Leader of the Opposition to the office), or seek the dissolution of Parliament and a new general election. A precedent, however, was set in 1968, when the Government of Lester Bowles Pearson unexpectedly lost a confidence vote, but was allowed to remain in power with the mutual consent of the leaders of the other parties. Though the Governor General is theoretically permitted to refuse to dissolve Parliament (thereby forcing the Prime Minister to resign), it is highly improbable that he or she would do so.
In practice, the House of Commons' scrutiny of the Government is very weak. Since the First-Past-the-Post electoral system is employed in elections, the governing party tends to enjoy a large majority in the Commons; there is often limited need to compromise with other parties. Modern Canadian political parties are so tightly organised that they leave relatively little room for free action by their MPs. In many cases, MPs may be expelled from their parties for voting against the instructions of party leaders. Thus, defeats of majority governments on issues of confidence are very rare. The last Prime Minister to lose a confidence vote was Joe Clark in 1979. Clark, as required by convention, requested the Governor General to dissolve Parliament; his party lost in the ensuing general elections.
The powers of the Parliament of Canada are limited by the Constitution, which divides legislative powers between the federal and provincial governments. In general, provincial Legislatures may only pass laws relating to topics explicitly reserved for them by the Constitution, such as education, provincial officers, municipal government, charitable institutions, and "matters of a merely local or private nature." Under the Constitution, any matter not under the exclusive authority of the provincial Legislatures is within the scope of Parliament's power. Thus, Parliament alone can pass laws relating to, amongst other things, the postal service, the census, the military, navigation and shipping, fishing, currency, banking, weights and measures, bankruptcy, copyrights, patents, Indians, and naturalization. In some cases, however, the powers of Parliament and the Legislatures seem to overlap. For instance, Parliament regulates marriage and divorce in general, but the solemnization of marriage is regulated only by the Legislatures. Other examples include the powers of both Parliament and the Legislatures to impose taxes, borrow money, punish crimes, and regulate agriculture.
The powers of the Canadian Parliament are also limited by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Most of the provisions of the Charter may be overridden by an Act which includes a notwithstanding clause. Such a provision, however, has never been used by Parliament, though it has been employed by provincial Legislatures. Laws violating the Charter, as well as laws violating other parts of the Constitution, are invalid, and may be ruled unconstitutional by the courts.
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