COMMITTEE MINISTERS

The British North American (BNA) Act of 1867 was the statute drawn up by the Fathers of Confederation that brought the federation of provinces into existence, with sanction from the British Crown. It establishes the federal system by which Canada is governed. Canada is a constitutional monarchy and governs itself through the parliamentary-cabinet system which it adopted from the British Parliament. For Canadians, this has meant a democratic government with a Cabinet responsible to the House of Commons and the House of Commons answerable to the people. The Parliament of Canada is made up of three components: the Crown, the Senate and the House of Commons (Chart 1). Parliament exercises the legislative function of the Government, while Cabinet exercises the executive function. The judicial function is separate from Parliament and is executed by the provincial and federal courts. The House of Commons is the major law making body. It has 295 members. Each constituency or riding in Canada is represented by the candidate who gets the largest vote in an election. The regional distribution of seats i