Federalism
...racteristic of Canadian federalism. "Equalization payments," transfers of funds to the poorer provinces out of general tax revenues, were first made in the 1950s, and the principle was entrenched in Canada's Constitution in 1982. Canada's Parliamentary System Under the parliamentary system, the executive and legislative branches of government are fused, with the prime minister and cabinet responsible to Parliament. Canada's Parliament comprises the Queen (represented by the Governor General), an elected lower chamber, the House of Commons, and an appointed upper chamber, the Senate. Parliament is supreme: if a majority of the House of Commons votes "no confidence" in the government, the Cabinet must either submit its resignation to the Governor General, who will then ask another political party to form a new Cabinet, or ask for a dissolution of Parliament and a new election. The Senate has legal powers almost equal to those of the House of Commons, although, in practice, the Commons has become the dominant body since it is elected and the government stands or falls on its support. The Senate was intended to provide "sober second thought" on legislation, which must be passed by the upper house to become law. In practice, the Senate has rarely refused to pass bills sent to it by the House of Commons, although it has delayed legislation by proposing amendments. Representation in the House of Commons is based on population. The next House will have 301 seats. Senate seats are apportioned by region, with 24 each from the Maritimes, Quebec, Ontario and the West, six from Newfoundland and one from each of the two territories. The Canadian Senate has not served the same function of regional representation as its more powerful U.S. counterpart; instead Cabinet members play such a representative role in addition to their other duties. Although, formally, Canada's head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, her powers are carried out by the Governor General, the Crown's resident representative. The Governor General gives "Royal Assent" to bills passed by the House of Commons and executes decisions of the Cabinet, as well as other duties. The first Canadian to hold the position, Raymond Massey, was appointed in 1952. Unlike the head of government, the Prime Minister, who represents a political party, the Governor General is considered to be above politics and to speak for the whole country. Lieutenant Governors fulfill a similar function at the provincial level. Thus, federalism is the result of centralising and decentralising forces which are at play at the time of the formation of the union and which continue to affect the union long after the system has been created. When the reasons to come together are extremely powerful, the tendency is to entrust the central government with large and extensive powers, indeed to make it the "main" government. When the reasons to remain apart are stronger than the reasons to come together, the result will be that the local governments will be entrusted with the largest powers. Each federation finds its balance somewhere along the line and the resulting distribution of power between the two levels of government is witness to the respective strength of the centralising and decentralising forces at the time of the union. So long as some sovereignty is deposited in each level of government, then we are dealing with a federal system. In Canada's case, federalism was, without a doubt, the result of pressures from Quebec, and to a lesser extent of the Maritime colonies. Quebec wished to share with the other colonies in the development and t...