Home > Provinces and territories of Canada
Canada consists of ten provinces and three territories. The major difference between a Canadian province and a Canadian territory is that a province is a creation of the Constitution Act, while a territory is created by federal law. Thus, the federal government has more direct control over the territories, while provincial governments have many more competences and rights.Provinces have a great deal of power relative to the federal government, having a large measure of control over spending on social programs such as medicare, education, employment insurance, and the like. They receive "transfer payments" from the federal government to pay for these, as well as exacting their own taxes.
Prime minister Paul Martin surprised some observers in late 2004 by expressing his personal support for all three territories gaining provincial status 'eventually'. He cited their importance to the country as a whole and the need to assert sovereignty in the Arctic, particularly as global warming could make that region more open to exploitation. [1]
Provincial and territorial legislatures are unicameral, having no second chamber equivalent to the Canadian Senate. Originally a few 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 AssemblyNote: This article is about the Legislative Assemblies in the British context. For other usages, see the end of this article''. A Legislative Assembly in British constitutional thought is the second-to-top or third-to-top tier of a government led by a Gov except in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador, where it is called the House of AssemblyHouse of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral legislature, in some countries, often at subnational level. Historically, the House of Assembly in British crown colonies superseded the (usually unelected) Legislative Cou, and Quebec where it is called the National AssemblyThe National Assembly is the legislative body of the Canadian province of Quebec. It operates in a fashion similar to that of other British-style parliamentary systems. Since the abolition of the Legislative Council (an "upper house") in 1968, the Nationa. Ontario has a Legislative Assembly but its members are Members of the Provincial Parliament or MPPs. The legislative assemblies use a procedure similar to that of the Canadian House of CommonsThe House of Commons (in French, la Chambre des communes is the directly elected lower house of the Parliament of Canada which sits in the nation's capital of Ottawa, Ontario. Leadership Prime Minister and Cabinet Under the Westminster system, the prime m. 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. Each of the territories has a commissioner in the place of a lieutenant-governor. These terminological differences are summarized below.
1 Provincial and territorial terminology compared with federal
| Canada
| Governor General
| Prime Minister
| Parliament
| House of Commons
| Member of Parliament
|
| Quebec
| Lieutenant Governor
| Premier
| Legislature
| National Assembly
| Member of the National Assembly
|
| Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador
| House of Assembly
| Member of the House of Assembly
|
| Ontario
| Legislative Assembly
| Member of the Provincial Parliament
|
| Other provinces
| Member of the Legislative Assembly
|
| Territories
| Commissioner
|
