Canada became a country in 1867. This was called the ConfederationThis is a group of people or nations or tribes or provinces that form an "alliance"..... The provinces of Ontario, Québec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick joined together at this time (some provinces joined later on). The provinces agreed to hand certain powers over to a central government—the federal government—which was in Ottawa. The federal government ran and still runs the country.
Each province also wanted to kept some of their individual power. This is why they each have kept their own provincial governments. The federal and provincial governments have different powers:
The federal government deals with issues that are common or important to all provinces in the country, for example, tradeTrade is when we buy, sell, or just exchange goods (things, foods, etc.) or services (helping..., shipping, postal services, defense or currency.
The provincial government is in charge of healthHealth is when you are free of injury, and physically and mentally well. Healthy eating means... and education. Each province can decide how it manages the services that it is in charge of.
Both the federal and provincial leaders are elected by the people. During an election, the populationPopulation comes from the Latin populus, meaning “the people.” We say population when we talk about a group... votes the members of different political parties into power. Members elected at the federal level sit in Parliament in Ottawa, while members elected in the Quebec government sit in the Legislative Assembly in Quebec City.
In an election, citizens vote for people who represent different political parties in their riding or area. The leader of the political party that wins the most seats becomes the premier of the province. Therefore, there is a prime minister in Ottawa and a premier in each province. Both the prime minister and the premiers, who are the leaders of the party in power, appoint the ministers who will be responsible for issues such as tradeTrade is when we buy, sell, or just exchange goods (things, foods, etc.) or services (helping..., transportation, natural resourcesResources are anything taken from the earth or nature that people need, use, and are "valued"...., etc. It’s their responsibility to ensure that the laws passed by the legislature are implemented.
