Canada
 Keyfacts
POPULATION (census 2006): 31,612,897
AREA: 9,984,670 sq km
CAPITAL: Ottawa
LOCAL GOVERNMENT CONTRIBUTION TO GDP4: 2.1%
CURRENCY: Canadian dollar (CAD)
HEAD OF STATE: HM Queen Elizabeth II
GOVERNOR-GENERAL: David Lloyd Johnston
HEAD OF GOVERNMENT: Prime Minister Stephen Harper
FORM OF GOVERNMENT: constitutional monarchy
PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM: bicameral
STATE STRUCTURE: federal
LANGUAGES: English and French (official)
NATIONAL ELECTIONS: last: 2008 turnout: 59.1% next: 2013
LOCAL ELECTIONS vary from province to province..
Summary
Canada is a federal bicameral parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy with a highly varied local government system. Legislation for local government is unique to each province and territory. Canada’s constitution divides powers between the federal government and the ten provincial governments, municipalities are not however recognised as a separate order of government. Provinces and territories have a number of legislative acts that govern local government within their jurisdiction. Three provinces have a multi-tiered local government system, with a regional tier, while the other provinces and territories have a singletier system. Provincial and territorial ministers with local government responsibilities oversee local government legislation. Under the ten provincial and three territorial governments are two supra-regional authorities (in Québec), 143 regional authorities and over 3,600 local governments. Real property taxes are the main source of revenue for local governments with individual municipalities determining their own property tax rate. Provincial, territorial and federal government transfers account for around one fifth of total revenue and includes both general and
specific purpose funds. Local governments are generally responsible for services within a city or region, including police and fire protection, water and sewage services, recreation services and local public transportation.
Download full profile of Canada (  128K PDF)
|
