Canada and Candian News

Country Profile
Canada is a North American country consisting of 10 Provinces and 3 Territories. Located in the Northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean.

 At 9,984,670 Square kms, Canada is World's 2nd Largest Country by Total Area and its common border with USA is the longest land border in the world(8,891 kilometres (5,525 miles)
Also Canada has the longest coastline in the world, with a total length of 202,080 kilometres (125,570 miles)
Capital                              Ottawa
Currency                          Canadian Dollar
Official Language            English and French
Population                        35 Million(2011 Estimate)
Flag of Canada

History
Government
 Monarch of Canada

Canada is a Constitutional Monarchy where the Monarch is Head of State.The sovereign is Queen Elizabeth II who also serves as head of state of 15 other Commonwealth Countries and each of Canada's ten provinces and resides predominantly in the United Kingdom.
Governor General of Canada

As the Queen's representative, the Governor General of Canada carries out most of the federal royal duties in Canada.The direct participation of the royal and viceroyal figures in areas of governance is limited in practice.
David Lloyd Johnston is the current Governor General of Canada in office from Oct 01,2010
Prime Minister of Canada
Executive powers is directed by the Cabinet  responsible to the elected House of Commons and Chosen and Headed by the Prime Minister of Canada,the Head of Govt. though the governor general or monarch may in certain crisis situations exercise their power without ministerial advice.
The governor general will usually appoint as prime minister the person who is the current leader of the political party that can obtain the confidence of a plurality in the House of Commons.

Stephen Joseph Harper(Conservative Party) is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada in office from Feb 06,2006 after winning the  -
2006 Canadian Federal Election which resulted in a minority Govt led by Harper's(Conservative Party)
2008 Canadian Federal Election which again resulted in a minority Govt led by Harper's(Conservative Party)
2011 Canadian Federal Election which again resulted in a majority Govt led by Harper's(Conservative Party)
Parliament of Canada 

 

The Parliament of Canada is Bicameral -
House of Commons(Lower House)
Each of the 308 Members of Parliament in the House of Commons is elected by simple plurality in an Electoral District or Riding. General elections must be called by the governor general, on the advice of the PM, within 4 years of the previous election, or may be triggered by the government losing a Confidence Vote  in the House.
The Senate(Upper House)
The 105 members of the Senate, whose seats are apportioned on a regional basis, serve until age 75.

 Political Parties in Canada
The country has a Multi-party System with two dominant political parties in Canada being -
Liberal Party of Canada and
Conservative Party of Canada

5 parties had representatives elected to the Parliament in the 2011 elections.They are -

1)Conservative Party of Canada(Governing Party)

was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance (formerly the Reform Party of Canada) and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003.The current party leader is Stephen Harper who has been the PM of Canada since 2006.

2)New Democratic Party ( Main Opposition Party )

 was formed by the merger of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation(CCF) and Canadian Labour Congress(CLC) in Aug 1961.The current leader of the NDP is Thomas Mulcair

3)Liberal Party of Canada

 colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federal party in Canada.

4)Bloc Quebecois

is a federal political party in Canada devoted to the protection of Quebec's  interests in the House of Commons of Canada and the promotion of Quebec Sovereignity.  The Bloc was formed by Members of parliament who defected from the federal Progressive Conservative Party and Liberal Party.
BQ founder Lucien Bouchard  was a cabinet minister in the federal Progressive Conservative government of Brian Mulroney.

and
5)Green Party of Canada

The Party was founded in 1983 with with 10,000–12,000 registered members  and  the Greens advance a broad multi-issue political platform that reflects its core values of ecological wisdom, social justice, grassroots democracy and non-violence.The Party is led by Elizabeth May since Aug 2006.

In May 2011,Green Party leader Elizabeth May became the first elected Green Party MP to sit in the House of Commons.In winning her seat,Elizabeth May also became one of the few Greens world wide to be elected in a federal, single-seat election.(She won the riding of Saanich - Gulf Islands in coastal British Columbia) 


Canada is Doing Away with Penny

 

Jim Flaherty, the Finance Minister of Canada, pronounced a death sentence on the country’s penny during his budget speech on Thursday March 29,2012.The government estimated that every penny costs it about 1.6 cents to produce. Eliminating the penny’s production will reduce the government’s costs by about 11 million Canadian dollars a year.

The Royal Canadian Mint will stop distributing pennies to banks and businesses this fall. While Canadians will be allowed to continue to use pennies indefinitely, the government is hoping that they will turn in the coins for recycling as scrap metal.

As pennies disappear, cash transactions will be rounded to the nearest nickel after federal and provincial sales taxes have been added. All other transactions, including payments by check, credit and debit cards, will still be calculated to the cent. 

Britain, Australia and Norway are among the countries that preceded Canada in abandoning their smallest-denomination coins.