48-670: Alexander Bell Patterson (April 22, 1911 – April 2, 1993) was a long-time Canadian member of Parliament (MP) and was briefly leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada . He was the son of an Irish father and Scottish mother who immigrated to Canada in 1901. He grew up on the family's farm until moving to Portage la Prairie to work in a grocery store. Later he attended the Salvation Army Leadership Training School in Toronto. In 1938, he married Charlotte Nice,
96-583: A Dominion, joined Confederation in 1949. Nunavut was created in 1999 from the Northwest Territories. An Imperial Conference in 1926 that included the leaders of all Dominions and representatives from India (which then included Burma , Bangladesh , and Pakistan ), led to the eventual enactment of the Statute of Westminster 1931 . The statute, an essential transitory step from the British Empire to
144-606: A Salvation Army officer from Neepawa, Manitoba. They raised four children. From 1935 until 1953, he led churches in Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. In 1953, while minister of the Church of the Nazarene in Abbotsford, British Columbia , he was elected to House of Commons of Canada in the 1953 election from the riding of Fraser Valley , British Columbia . He was defeated in
192-779: A combination of uncodified constitution , provisions of the Constitution of Canada, and provincial statutes. Overall structures of provincial governments (like the legislature and cabinet) are described in parts of the Constitution of Canada. Governmental structure of the original four provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, and Ontario) is described in Part V of the Constitution Act, 1867 . The three colonies that joined Canada after Confederation (British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador) had existing UK legislation which described their governmental structure, and this
240-614: A constitution would. This is referred to as quasi-constitutionality . Quasi-constitutionality is often applied to human rights laws, allowing those laws to act as a de facto constitutional charter of rights. For example, laws preventing discrimination in employment, housing, and services have clauses making them quasi-constitutional in ten of thirteen jurisdictions. Section 45 of the Constitution Act, 1982 allows each province to amend its own constitution. This applies, for example, to provincial statute laws like Constitution of Quebec and Constitution Act (British Columbia) . However, if
288-519: A requested exception—the Canadian federal and provincial governments could not agree on an amending formula for the Canadian constitution. It would be another 50 years before this was achieved. In the interim, the British parliament periodically passed constitutional amendments when requested by the government of Canada. This was never anything but a rubber stamp . The patriation of the Canadian constitution
336-510: A simple majority of the legislative assembly, despite section 45. For example, section 7 of the Constitution of Alberta Amendment Act, 1990 requires plebiscites of Métis settlement members before that Act can be amended. Courts have not yet ruled about whether this kind of language really would bind future legislatures, but it might do so if the higher bar was met when creating the law. Three amendments to provincial constitutions in
384-783: Is parliamentarian . There are 338 elected MPs, who each represent an individual electoral district, known as a riding . MPs are elected using the first-past-the-post system in a general election or byelection , usually held every four years or less. The 105 members of the Senate are appointed by the Crown on the advice of the prime minister . As of May 2024, the number of members was increased to 343. One riding in Ontario, three in Alberta and one seat in British Columbia. These seats will remain vacant until
432-470: Is Part I of the Constitution Act, 1982 . The Charter is the constitutional guarantee of the civil rights and liberties of every citizen in Canada, such as freedom of expression, of religion, and of mobility. Part II addresses the rights of Aboriginal peoples in Canada . It is written in plain language to ensure accessibility to the average citizen. It applies only to government and government actions to prevent
480-406: Is not exhaustive and that the Constitution of Canada includes a number of pre-confederation acts and unwritten components as well. The Canadian constitution also includes the fundamental principles of federalism, democracy, constitutionalism and the rule of law, and respect for minorities. See list of Canadian constitutional documents for details. The first semblance of a constitution for Canada
528-623: The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms . Before the Charter, various statutes protected an assortment of civil rights and obligations but nothing was enshrined in the constitution until 1982. The Charter has thus placed a strong focus upon individual and collective rights of the people of Canada. The enactment of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms has fundamentally changed much of Canadian constitutional law . The act also codified many previously oral constitutional conventions and made amendment of
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#1732856131352576-632: The Constitution Act, 1982 states that "the Constitution of Canada is the supreme law of Canada" and that any inconsistent law is of no force or effect. It further lists written documents which are included in the Constitution of Canada; these are the Canada Act 1982 (which includes the Constitution Act, 1982 ), the acts and orders referred to in its schedule (including in particular the Constitution Act, 1867 ), and any amendments to these documents. The Supreme Court of Canada has held that this list
624-520: The 1867 Canadian federal election . 308 MPs were elected during the 2011 Canadian federal election . 338 MPs were elected during the 2021 Canadian federal election . 343 MPs will be elected during the 45th Canadian federal election . Parliamentarians enjoy parliamentary privilege , as derived from common law . In 2024, the annual salary of each MP was CA$ 203,100. Members may receive additional sums by virtue of other positions or functions they hold, such as that of Prime Minister , Speaker of
672-500: The 1958 election . He ran for the party leadership at the 1961 Social Credit leadership convention but withdrew before the first ballot. Patterson returned to Parliament in 1962 . He became acting leader of the Social Credit Party in 1967 when leader Robert N. Thompson resigned citing the party's lack of financial support from its BC and Alberta wings. Once the writs were dropped for the 1968 election, Thompson sought and won
720-466: The 1972 election representing Fraser Valley East as a Progressive Conservative, and was subsequently re-elected as a Tory until his retirement from politics in 1984. Member of Parliament (Canada) A member of Parliament ( post-nominal letters : MP ; French : député , [depyte] ) is a term used to describe an elected politician in the House of Commons of Canada , the lower house of
768-582: The British North America Act, 1867) and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms . The Constitution Act , 1867 provides for a constitution "similar in principle" to the largely unwritten constitution of the United Kingdom , recognizes Canada as a constitutional monarchy and federal state , and outlines the legal foundations of Canadian federalism . The Constitution of Canada includes written and unwritten components. Section 52 of
816-729: The Canada Act 1982 , a British Act of Parliament which was introduced at the request of a joint address to Queen Elizabeth II by the Senate and House of Commons of Canada. The version of the Canada Act 1982 which is in force in Britain is in English only, but the version of the act in force in Canada is bilingual, English and French. In addition to enacting the Constitution Act, 1982 , the Canada Act 1982 provides that no further British acts of Parliament will apply to Canada as part of its law, finalizing Canada's legislative independence. As noted above, this
864-461: The Commonwealth of Nations , provided that existing Dominions became fully sovereign of the United Kingdom and any new Dominions would be fully sovereign upon the grant of Dominion status. Although listed, Newfoundland never ratified the statute so was still subject to imperial authority when its entire system of government and economy collapsed in the mid-1930s. Canada did ratify the statute but with
912-724: The Ohio and Mississippi Rivers (one of the grievances listed in the United States Declaration of Independence ). Significantly, the Quebec Act also replaced French criminal law with the English common law system; but the French civil law system was retained for non-criminal matters. The Treaty of Paris of 1783 ended the American War of Independence and sent a wave of British loyalist refugees northward to Quebec and Nova Scotia. In 1784,
960-587: The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada nomination in his riding. Bud Olson had left the party a few months before joining the Liberal Party of Canada , leaving Patterson as the acting leader of the remaining three-person Social Credit caucus into the 1968 election in which all three MPs were defeated, including Patterson in Fraser Valley East . Patterson returned to Parliament in
1008-458: The United Kingdom . Part V of this act established an amending formula for the Canadian constitution, the lack of which (due to more than 50 years of disagreement between the federal and provincial governments) meant Canada's constitutional amendments still required enactment by the British parliament after Statute of Westminster in 1931. The Constitution Act, 1982 was enacted as a schedule to
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#17328561313521056-549: The bicameral Parliament of Canada . The term's primary usage is in reference to the elected members of the House of Commons. In legislation, it can also refer to the unelected members of the Senate . In common use, however, the title senator (French: sénateur (masculine), sénatrice (feminine) ) is typically used, whereas no such alternate title exists for members of the House of Commons. A less ambiguous term for members of both chambers
1104-406: The "grandfather clause" guarantees each province has at least as many seats now as it had allocated in the 1985 Representation Act . The oath for members of Parliament has stood the same since confederation ; according to Section IX.128 of the Constitution Act, 1867 : "Every member of the Senate and the House of Commons of Canada shall before taking his Seat therein take and subscribe before
1152-462: The 2020s have been controversially framed as amendments to the Constitution Act 1867 . These are Quebec statutes purporting to add sections 90Q and 128Q and a Saskatchewan statute purporting to add section 90S. Because the Senate and House of Commons did not authorise these amendments, they would only have effect if they are amendments to provincial constitutions under the section 45 amending procedure. Constitutional scholars are divided on
1200-818: The Constitution: The existence of unwritten constitutional components was reaffirmed in 1998 by the Supreme Court in Reference re Secession of Quebec . The Constitution is more than a written text. It embraces the entire global system of rules and principles which govern the exercise of constitutional authority. A superficial reading of selected provisions of the written constitutional enactment, without more, may be misleading. In practice, there have been three sources of unwritten constitutional law: Unlike in most federations, Canadian provinces do not have written provincial constitutions. Provincial constitutions are instead
1248-431: The Crown and Indigenous Peoples (both historical and modern), uncodified traditions and conventions . Canada is one of the oldest constitutional monarchies in the world. The Canadian constitution includes core written documents and provisions that are constitutionally entrenched , take precedence over all other laws and place substantive limits on government action; these include the Constitution Act, 1867 (formerly
1296-578: The Dominion of Canada as a federation of provinces. Initially, on July 1, 1867, four provinces entered into confederation as "One dominion under the name of Canada": Canada West (former Upper Canada , now Ontario ), Canada East (former Lower Canada , now Quebec ), Nova Scotia , and New Brunswick . Title to the Northwest Territories was transferred by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1870, out of which
1344-760: The Governor General or some Person authorized by him, and every Member of a Legislative Council or Legislative Assembly of any Province shall before the Lieutenant Governor of the Province or some Person authorized by him, the Oath of Allegiance contained in the Fifth Schedule to the Act." The oath set out in said schedule is: I, [name], do swear, that I will be faithful and bear true Allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Victoria , with
1392-438: The House or a Minister of the Crown . Constitution of Canada [REDACTED] Canada portal The Constitution of Canada ( French : Constitution du Canada ) is the supreme law in Canada . It outlines Canada's system of government and the civil and human rights of those who are citizens of Canada and non-citizens in Canada. Its contents are an amalgamation of various codified acts , treaties between
1440-415: The Supreme Court, must be adopted by unanimous consent of all the provinces in accordance with section 41. In the case of an amendment related to provincial boundaries or the use of an official language within a province alone, the amendment must be passed by the legislatures affected by the amendment (section 43). In the case of an amendment that affects the federal government only, the amendment does not need
1488-420: The approval of the provinces (section 44). The same applies to amendments affecting the provincial government alone (section 45). Canada's constitution has roots going back to the thirteenth century, including England's Magna Carta and the first English Parliament of 1275 . Canada's constitution is composed of several individual statutes. There are three general methods by which a statute becomes entrenched in
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1536-444: The constitution in general significantly more difficult. Previously, the Canadian constitution could be formally amended by an act of the British parliament, or by informal agreement between the federal and provincial governments, or even simply by adoption as the custom of an oral convention or performance that shows precedential but unwritten tradition. Since the act, textual amendments must now conform to certain specified provisions in
1584-612: The desired change would require an amendment to any documents that form part of the Constitution of Canada, it would require the consent of the Senate and House of Commons under section 43. This was done, for example, by the Constitution Amendment, 1998 , when Newfoundland asked the federal government to amend the Terms of Union of Newfoundland to allow it to end denominational quotas for religion classes. A small number of statutes within provincial constitutions cannot be amended by
1632-487: The federal legislature. The general formula set out in section 38(1), known as the "7/50 formula", requires: (a) assent from both the House of Commons and the Senate; (b) the approval of two-thirds of the provincial legislatures (at least seven provinces) representing at least 50 per cent of the population of the provinces (effectively, this would include at least Quebec or Ontario, as they are the most populous provinces). This formula specifically applies to amendments related to
1680-670: The further instruction that "the name of the King or Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland for the Time being is to be substituted from Time to Time, with Proper Terms of Reference thereto." The oath reads as follows: I, [name], do swear, that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles III. Or in French: Je, [nom], jure que je serai fidèle et porterai une vraie allégeance à Sa Majesté le Roi Charles III. For those parliamentarians whose religion prohibits
1728-444: The government from creating unconstitutional laws. Instead of the usual parliamentary procedure, which includes the monarch's formal royal assent for enacting legislation, amendments to any of the acts that collectively form the constitution must be done in accordance with Part V of the Constitution Act, 1982 , which provides for five different amending formulae. Amendments can be brought forward under section 46(1) by any province or
1776-537: The legislature, and another governing procedure in the legislature. Two provinces have explicitly listed such acts as being part of their provincial constitution; see Constitution of Quebec and Constitution Act (British Columbia) . However, these acts do not, generally, supersede other legislation and do not require special procedures to amend, and so they function as regular statutes rather than constitutional statutes. A small number of non-constitutional provincial laws do supersede all other provincial legislation, as
1824-434: The next federal election. Prior to May 2024, the House of Commons had 338 members, each of whom represents a single riding. Seats are distributed among the provinces in proportion to population, as determined by each decennial census, subject to the following exceptions made by the Constitution of Canada . Firstly, the "Senate floor" guarantees that each province will have at least as many elected MPs as senators . Secondly,
1872-465: The primary document of Canadian Confederation . With the patriation of the Constitution in 1982, this Act was renamed Constitution Act, 1867 . In recent years, the 1867 document has mainly served as the basis on which the division of powers between the provinces and the federal government is analyzed. Endorsed by all provincial governments except that of Quebec, this was the formal Act of Parliament that effected Canada's full legislative independence from
1920-504: The proportionate representation in Parliament, powers, selection, and composition of the Senate, the Supreme Court and the addition of provinces or territories. The other amendment formulae are for particular cases as provided by the act. An amendment related to the Office of the King , the use of either official language (subject to section 43), the amending formula itself, or the composition of
1968-533: The province of Manitoba (the first to be established by the Parliament of Canada) was created. British Columbia joined Confederation in 1871, followed by Prince Edward Island in 1873. The Yukon Territory was created by Parliament in 1898, followed by Alberta and Saskatchewan in 1905 (all out of parts of the Northwest Territories). Newfoundland , Britain's oldest colony in the Americas and by then also
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2016-399: The swearing of oaths, there exists a compromise affirmation, first instituted in 1905: I, [name], do solemnly, sincerely and truly affirm and declare the taking of an oath is according to my religious belief unlawful, and I do also solemnly, sincerely and truly affirm and declare that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles III. 181 MPs were elected during
2064-508: The two provinces were divided: Nova Scotia was split into Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island (rejoined to Nova Scotia in 1820), Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick, while Quebec was split into Lower Canada (southern Quebec) and Upper Canada (southern through lower northern Ontario). The winter of 1837–38 saw rebellion in both Canadas, contributing to their re-union as the Province of Canada in 1841. The British North America Act, 1867 established
2112-544: The validity of an amendment to a provincial constitution framed as an addition to part of the Constitution of Canada. In 1983, Peter Greyson, an art student, entered Ottawa's National Archives (known today as Library and Archives Canada ) and poured red paint mixed with glue over a copy of the proclamation of the 1982 constitutional amendment. He said he was displeased with the federal government's decision to allow United States missile testing in Canada and had wanted to "graphically illustrate to Canadians" how wrong he believed
2160-402: The written portion of the Canadian constitution. This was an Act of the British parliament, originally called the British North America Act, 1867 . It outlined Canada's system of government, which combines Britain's Westminster model of parliamentary government with the division of sovereignty ( federalism ). Although it is the first of 20 British North America Acts , it is the most famous as
2208-532: Was achieved in 1982 when the British parliament, with the request and assent of the Canadian parliament, passed the Canada Act 1982 , which included in its schedules the Constitution Act, 1982 . The United Kingdom thus renounced any remaining responsibility for, or jurisdiction over, Canada. In a formal ceremony on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Queen Elizabeth II proclaimed the Constitution Act, 1982 into law on April 17, 1982. The Constitution Act, 1982 , includes
2256-488: Was affirmed in each colony's Terms of Union , which now form part of Canada's Constitution. The remaining three provinces (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta) were created by federal statute. Their constitutional structures are described in those statutes, which now form part of Canada's Constitution. All provinces have enacted legislation that establishes other rules for the structure of government. For example, every province (and territory) has an act governing elections to
2304-538: Was the Royal Proclamation of 1763 . The act renamed the northeasterly portion of the former French province of New France as Province of Quebec, roughly coextensive with the southern third of contemporary Quebec. The proclamation, which established an appointed colonial government, was the constitution of Quebec until 1774 when the British parliament passed the Quebec Act , which expanded the province's boundaries to
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