Reading Time: 2 minutes Disponible en français. After each decennial census – the federally run count of Canada’s total population that occurs every 10 years – the number of members of the House of Commons and the representation of each province are adjusted according… Read More ›
Constitution Act
Executive Summary – The Distribution of Legislative Powers: An Overview
Reading Time: 2 minutes Disponible en français. The distribution of legislative powers among the various levels of government is a key feature of federalism. To guide this distribution, the Constitution Act, 1867 divides legislative powers between the Parliament of Canada and the provincial legislatures. These powers are… Read More ›
Executive Summary – Transition to the 44th Parliament: Questions and Answers
Reading Time: < 1 minute Disponible en français. Canada’s founding document, the Constitution Act, 1867, established the country as a parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy. Executive authority resides with the Sovereign or that person’s representative (i.e., the Governor General of Canada). The Constitution assigns the Governor General a wide range… Read More ›
The Supreme Court of Canada’s Re-Examination of Internal Trade: The Case of Beer
Reading Time: 4 minutes (Disponible en français : Affaire Gérard Comeau : Le commerce intérieur bientôt dans la mire de la Cour suprême du Canada) About 150 years ago, Canada’s Fathers of Confederation contemplated trade across provincial boundaries when drafting section 121 of the… Read More ›
150 Years of Legislative Bilingualism in Canada: Past and Present
Reading Time: 6 minutes (Disponible en français : 150 ans de bilinguisme législatif au Canada : d’hier à aujourd’hui) This HillNote provides an historic and contemporary look at the evolution of legislative bilingualism in the Canadian parliamentary context. The genesis of a political compromise… Read More ›