Newsademic British English edition 260

part of the British Empire. It be­
came a fully self-governing country 
in 1867. Today, it is w hat’s known 
as a Commonwealth realm. The 
Canadian people elect their own 
leaders, but their country’s head 
o f state is the king or queen of 
the United Kingdom (UK). Other
Commonwealth realms are Aus­
tralia, New Zealand, Jamaica, and 
Papua New Guinea (PNG).
However, as head o f state, Queen 
Elizabeth the Second has few pow­
ers in Canada. It is the prime minis­
ter who runs the country. Like other 
Commonwealth realms, Canada has 
a governor general. Queen Eliza­
beth, with advice from the Canadian 
prime minister, appoints this person. 
He or she carries out the queen’s of­
ficial and ceremonial duties while 
she is not in the country.
P arliam ent H ill in Ottawa
Normally the prime minister 
is the person who leads the po­
litical party with the most seats 
in the country’s parliament. There 
are three main political parties in 
Canada. They are the Conservative 
Party, the New Democratic Party 
and the Liberal Party. M r Trudeau 
will take over from Stephen Harp­
er. M r Harper is a member of the 
Conservative Party. He has been 
Canada’s prime minister for the last 
nine years.
Canada’s parliament buildings 
are in Ottawa. They are known as 
Parliament Hill (or just The Hill). 
The parliament has two houses, the 
House of Commons and the Senate. 
The prime minister usually leads 
the party with the greatest number 
of seats in the House of Commons.
There are 338 members o f the House 
of Commons. Each represents an 
electoral district or constituency. (In 
Canada these areas are known as 
ridings.) To have a majority in the 
House of Commons a party must 
win at least 170 seats.
M r Trudeau became the leader of 
the Liberal Party in 2013. Then, his