POL214Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Responsible Government
Document Summary
Members of the executive (pm and cabinet) sit in the elected legislature, the house of commons. Pm and cabinet ministers must be mps. Government departments staffed by non elected, non partisan, career civil servants (bureaucrats) Administer policies and programs which are chosen by the cabinet, and subsequently debated and approved by parliament. Ministers are accountable to parliament for all decisions made by the executive. Non elected civil servants are not directly accountable to parliament. Canada inherited the british form of parliamentary government, our head of state is still the queen. Her representative is the governor general, whom she appoints on the advice (mandatory direction) of the prime minister. Our head of government is the prime minister. Chooses the cabinet, controls the executive branch, decides when to call an election. Over 70% of canadian population is clustered within 150km of the us border.
