Canadian Politics

* A constitution is the fundamental law of a political system. It is fundamental because all other laws must conform to the constitution in terms of how they are made and in terms of their substance.

* Modern government is a complex mechanism. The mechanism is often analyzed under three main functional headings: Legislature (making the law), executive (implementing the law), judiciary (interpreting the law).

* The third aspect of the constitution overshadowed by the other two for most of Canada’s history. Indeed before 1982, when the charter of rights and freedom was adopted, the relations between individuals and the state in Canada were defined by the courts mainly in terms of federal and provincial legislative powers.

* A constitution is a set of rules that govern political life. These rules may take three forms” written documents, the decisions of courts (called the common law), or unwritten conventions.

* Constitutional conventions are those practices that emerge over time and are generally accepted as binding rules of the political system.

* In Canada the first two components of the constitution- written documents and the common law-together comprise constitutional law.

* Conventions, while part of the constitution, do not have the status of conventional law, at least not in Canada.

* Constitutional functions: representation,

* Many constitutions divide the legislative power between an elected chamber and an appointed one, as in Canada, the UK, and Germany.

* The electoral process itself has a crucial influence on representation, the single-member constituency system used in Canada discourages political parties from directing their appeals at a narrow segment of the national electorate.

* A constitution therefore, provides the basis for the legitimate exercise of state power. But it also limits and divides power, at least under a democratic constitution.

* At minimum, a democratic constitution establishes the...