Similar histories of democracy and British control can be found in Canada, the United States, and neighboring nations. Despite their similarities, these nations have distinct systems of government. For instance, Canada is a monarchy of the constitution with a parliament and prime minister in charge, whereas the United States is a republic with Congress and a president in charge. Because the political systems in the aforementioned countries operate in such dissimilar ways, there are significant differences between the two administrations.
The significant difference between the Canadian and American government is that the United States has a system known as a republic which has democracy while Canada is a monarchy of the constitution. The governor general is an official who represents the British monarchy which is Canada’s head of state. It is the head of state’s role to choose the head of a government that is the prime minister and has the power to restrain the prime minister’s power. The United States does not have a difference of the government’s head and the state’s head because a president is America’s head of state elected by a national vote to serve the country for four years.
Parliament and Congress
The United States Congress and Canadian parliament have functions and structures that are similar but operate differently. Congress comprises of two bodies that are the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Representatives’ House consists of voted in members and voting is done after every two years while members of the Senate are voted in after every six years. Parliament comprises of; the Senate and the Commons’ House, however, it differs from Congress because only members of the House of common are elected publicly. The elected officials are supposed to stay in office either for five years or until parliament is dissolved. In Canada, it is the governor general’s responsibility to appoint members of the Senate who are expected to work until they are of retirement age which is 75 years or until they decide to step down.
The president and the prime minister
The prime minister in Canada is the head of government just as the American president and is elected official customarily although the constitution of Canada does not require this. The political party which has majority House of common members is led by the prime minister who is chosen by the governor general. The prime minister’s position has an advantage of not having a term limit however a prime minister should leave if there is a change in the majority party. The president, however, occupies his position despite the dominant political party in Congress but is allowed to serve for only two terms (Fisher 276).
Power division
The difference between American and Canadian political systems is power divided among the bodies that govern. The principle of power division is The United States’ foundation whereby it is responsible for dividing the government into three branches. The purpose of these branches is to prevent the emergence of a very powerful branch of government by letting each branch check the rest. The system of Canada was however based on the weak consolidation concept. The prime has the power to decide government policies, override the majority opinion and is a member of parliament. It is the prime minister’s role to determine whether a member of parliament should resign at any given time ("How Canadians Govern Themselves").
Work cited
Fisher, Louis. "The legislative veto: Invalidated, it survives." Law and Contemporary Problems 56.4 (1993): 273-292.
"How Canadians Govern Themselves." Lop.Parl.Ca, 2017, https://lop.parl.ca/About/Parliament/senatoreugeneforsey/book/chapter_4-e.html.
