GOVERNMENT. By the terms of the British North America Act of 1867, the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, known also as Upper and Lower Canada, joined with the Alaritime Prov inces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to form a Federal Government under the name of the Dominion of Canada. Since that time the origi nal number of provinces has been increased to seven by the admission of Manitoba, British Columbia, and Prince Edward Island, and the public territory of the Dominion has been aug mented by the purchase of the Northwest Terri tories from the Hudson Bay Company; but the Constitution drafted in 1864 and embodied in the act of 1867 is still in force. Based upon the general principle of the definite division of powers between provincial and central govern ments, the Canadian Constitution differs from that of the United States in the fact that all powers not explicitly assigned to the provinces reserved to the central Government. Under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Federal Legislature are the administration of the public debt and property, the imposition of taxes for general pur poses, the organization of the public defense, including the militia; the subjects of banking, paper money, promissory notes, legal tender, currency, and coinage; the regulation of com merce, navigation, and shipping; the coast ser vice, the postal service, census, statistics, patents, and copyright; naturalization, aliens, and In dians; marriage and divorce. The subjects with in the scope of the provincial legislatures are, among others, those of taxation for local pur poses, the regulation of local commerce, the erec tion of municipal corporations, the borrowing of money on the credit of the province. On the questions of agriculture and immigration, the Federal and the provincial legislatures possess concurrent jurisdiction; but it is provided that in the contingen•y of a conflict of legislation. the law of the Dominion shall prevail. Although the powers of government have, in this manlier, been definitely portioned out, there has been no lack of intrusion on the part of either party into the sphere of the other. On such occasions, when compromise has been found impossible, the prin ciple of the superior authority inherent in the central Government has been adhered to. Strik ing examples of this predominance are the right given the Governor-General to disallow within a year any law enacted by the provincial legisla tures and the power of appointing the Lieutenant. Governors of the provinces.
The lawmaking power of the Federal Govern• went is vested in the King of Great Britain or his representative and the Dominion Parliament. The Parliament, the seat of which is at Ottawa, is composed of an Upper House or Senate and a Lower Douse or House of Commons. The members of the Senate, who are appointed for life by the Governor-General, must he subjects of the King, 30 years of age, residing in the province whence the} are summoned, and owning property there to the value of $4000. At present there are Si Senators, of whom 24 are from On tario, 24 from Quebec, 10 from New Brunswick. 10 from Nova Scotia, 4 from Prime Edward island, 4 from nitoba, 3 front _British Colum bia, and 2 front the Territories. The House of Commons is elected practically by manhood suf frage for a period of five years, on the basis of population. Officers of the civil service and llov ernment contractors may not sit in Parliament. It is provided that Quebec shall always have 65 representatives in the Commons, and the other provinces a number bearing the same ratio to their population as 65 bears to the population of Quebec. On the basis of the census of 1901 the
representation in Parliament comprised 92 mem bers for Ontario, 65 for Quebec, IS for Nova :Scotia, 13 for New Brunswick, 10 for Manitoba, 9 for British Columbia, 4 for Prince Edward Island, and 6 for the Territories.
The executive power is vested in the King or his representative (the Governor-General) and a Privy Council composed of a premier, thirteen heads of departments. and two ministers not of the Cabinet. The governmental departments are those of State, Trade and Commerce, Justice, Marine and Fisheries, Railways and Canals, Mili tia and Defense, Finance, Posts, Agriculture, Public Works, Interior, Customs and Internal Revenue. The principles regulating the rela tions of the executive to the legislature, and of the two branches of the legislature to each other, are the same as those that underlie the parlia mentary scheme of government in Great Britain. The Governor-General is practically guided by his ministers, who in turn are responsible to the House of Commons; and though the executive may reserve a law for the consideration of the home Government, or disallow it altogether, the latter right is in practice never exerted, and the former is employed only when a measure concerns the interests of the Empire at large and tends to affect the relation of the Imperial Government to foreign powers. Within Parliament the pre dominant power is wielded by the popular cham ber. Not only must money bills originate in the Commons, but the Senate may not even amend a bill from the Lower House; its power of rejection is seldom employed, and though it possesses the right of initiative in many matters. its share in originating legislation is quite inconsiderable.
Of the provincial governments and of the dif ferentiation between their scope of authority and that of the State, it may be said that in general they are endowed with the full power of control over local affairs, subject only to the considera tion of the general welfare of the Empire. A detailed description of provincial governments will lie found under the names of the several provinces.
The judicial branch of the Federal Government consists of a Supreme Court at Ottawa, with ap pellate civil and criminal jurisdiction through out the Dominion, and an Exchequer Court with powers of admiralty. There are no inferior Fed eral courts, but the central government avails itself of the judicial machinery in each of the provinces, which comprises a superior court, county courts, police magistrates, and justices of the peace. To be precise, however. the superior and county courts are not exclusively State tri bunals, in that their judges are by the Governor-General of the Dominica'. The peniten tiaries, too, are under the care of the Federal Government.
Army.—The King is the commander-in-chief of the naval and military forces, but the control of them is in the hands of the Dominion Parlia ment. Except a garrison of 2000 British troops at Halifax there is no regular army in Canada; the defense of the Dominion is intrusted to the militia, which comprises all British subjects be tween the ages of 18 and 60, and is divided into an active force serving for three years and a reserve force, which includes all non-active citi Zeus liable to service. The active militia is raised by voluntary enlistment or by draft, and is limited by law to 40,000 men. On June 30, 1901, the effective force numbered 38,090 officers and men. The Dominion takes no share in the naval defense of the country, which is left en tirely to the Imperial Government.