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The Prime Minister of Canada, the head of the Canadian government, is usually the leader of the political party with the most seats in the Canadian House of Commons. The Prime Minister has the right to the style of Right Honourable. The current prime minister is the Rt. Hon. Paul Martin.
1 Qualifications and selection
The Prime Minister may be any Canadian citizen of voting age (18). It is customary for the prime minister to also be a sitting member of the House of Commons and able to speak French and English. If the prime minister should fail to win his or her seat, a junior MP in a safe seat would typically resign to permit a by-election to elect that leader to a seat. However, if the leader of the governing party is changed shortly before an election is due and the new leader is not a Member of Parliament, he or she will normally await the general election before running for a seat. For example, John Turner was briefly Prime Minister in 1984 without being a member of the House of Commons; he would ironically win his seat in the general election that swept him from power. The official residence of the Prime Minister is 24 Sussex Drive in Ottawa, Ontario. All Prime Ministers have lived there since Louis St. LaurentLouis Stephen St. Laurent Rank 12th Date of Birth February 1, 1882 Place of Birth Compton, Quebec Spouse Jeanne Renault Profession lawyer Political Party Liberal Party of Canada Louis Stephen St. Laurent (Saint-Laurent or St-Laurent in French)) ( February in 1951.
William Lyon Mackenzie KingWilliam Lyon Mackenzie King Rank 10th Date of Birth December 17, 1874 Place of Birth Kitchener, Ontario Marriage never married Profession lawyer Political Party Liberal Party of Canada William Lyon Mackenzie King ( December 17, 1874 July 22, 1950) was the10th Prime Minister
(1921-1926; 1926-1930; 1935-1948)
In earlier years, it was tradition that the sovereign bestow a knighthood on each new Canadian Prime Minister. As such, several carry the prefix "Sir" before their name (of the first 8 Prime Ministers, only Alexander MackenzieAlexander Mackenzie ( January 28, 1822 April 17, 1892) was the second Prime Minister of Canada from November 7, 1873 to October 8, 1878. He was born in Logierait, Scotland. He immigrated to Canada in 1842 after completing an education in public schools at refused knighthood). Since the Nickle ResolutionThe Nickle Resolution passed by the Canadian House of Commons in 1919, established the policy of not granting knighthoods and peerages to Canadians, and set the precedent for later policies forbidding Canadians from accepting or holding titles of honour f, it is against policy for the sovereign to grant titles to Canadians.
2 Term
A Prime Minister does not a have a fixed term: he is required to resign only if his government does not have the confidence of the House of Commons soon after a general election. An election for every seat in the Commons (a general election) is called at most 5 years after the previous one; however, the prime minister has the power to call a general election at virtually any time. Customarily, when a majority governmentIn the Westminster System, a majority government is one in which the government enjoys an absolute majority of seats in the legislature or Parliament. This is as opposed to a minority government where one political party only wins a plurality of seats and is in power, elections are called 3.5 to 5 years after the previous election or as a de facto referendum if a major issue is at hand (the last of these being the 1988 election, which revolved around free trade with the United StatesThe United States of America also referred to as the United States U. America ¹ or the States is a federal republic in central North America, stretching from the Atlantic in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west. It shares land borders with Canada in).
If a minority governmentFor minority regime see Apartheid. A minority government or a minority cabinet is a cabinet of a parliamentary system which does not represent a majority in the parliament or in bicameral parliaments, in that chamber whose confidence is considered most cr is in power, a vote of non confidence in the House of Commons may lead to a quick election (9 months in the case of the second-most recent Canadian minority government, the Clark government of 1979-1980).
In contrast to the British government, in which Members of Parliament have long tenure but Prime Ministers have relatively short tenures, the Canadian Prime Minister typically has a long tenure except in cases where there is a minority government.
