Canadian parliamentary system can be explained on grounds of this scheme:

As we already know, the head of state is the Queen, nowadays Elisabeth II. She is the formal ruler and is represented federally by the Governor General (these days Adrienne Clarkson), whom she appoints on the advice of the Canadian Prime Minister. On the provincial level is the Queen represented by the Lieutenant Governor for each province. Parliament (or the provincial legislature) meets only at the royal summons; no House of Parliament (or legislature) is equipped with a self-starter (E. A. Forsey, 2003). No federal or provincial bill becomes law without the Royal Assent. The Queen can give the assent personally to federal Acts, but this is only an occasional case. The Assent is usually given by the Governor General and to provincial Acts – by the Lieutenant Governor. Both of the governors must act on their Minister’s advice, however there may be occasions when they must, or may, act without advice or even against the advice of the Ministers, but these cases are of course very rare.

The third most important person after the Queen and the Governor General is the Prime Minister. S/he is appointed by the Queen or the Governor General and normally means the leader of the party which won the largest number of seats in general election. Prime Minister is normally a Member of House of Commons and by a tradition s/he is called a “primus inter pares” (Latin for “first among equals”) (O´Driscoll, 2000, p. 84). In fact the Prime Minister is not an equal to other MPs at all, s/he is much more powerful. The monarch’s or Governor General’s power to appoint people to all kinds of jobs and to confer honours on people is a fiction and is actually the Prime Minister’s power. All appointments etc. are being realized on the “advice” of the Prime Minister, though there are really few cases when the monarch or Governor General doesn’t obey Prime Minister’s “advice” or more exactly his/her “decision”. The Prime Minister chooses the Ministers in the first place, and can also ask any of them to resign. The MPs in the House of Commons are divided into two groups: Government (Prime Minister + Cabinet) and Opposition. If the Opposition wins more than half of the seats in an election, or if the Government is defeated in the House of Commons and resigns, the Governor General must call on the Leader of the Opposition to form a new government (E. A. Forsey, 2003).
The Prime Minister is the ONE who makes choice and the rest of the Government has to go along with whatever the Prime Minister has decided (E. A. Forsey, 2003).

The Prime Minister also creates the Cabinet by choosing members of it from his/her party. All of the members of the Cabinet – called Ministers – are the leaders of some government department, for example Health, National Defence, Culture, Foreign Affairs etc. The Cabinet is quite powerful body because it can influence the decisions made by the government. In spite of the fact that every MP can present a bill in the House of Commons the major part of all bills are presented by the Prime Minister and Cabinet. All Cabinet Ministers must be or become members of the Queen’s Privy Council of Canada. Privy Councillors are appointed by the Governor General (on the advice of the Prime Minister, of course) and the membership is for life. This Council is a formal body which meets occasionally when it is called together, for example on the accession of a new king or queen. Apart of the members of Cabinet, the Privy Councillors are also the Chief Justice of Canada, former chief justices, ex-speakers, senators… The Cabinet is an operative body of the Privy Council (E. A. Forsey, 2003).

The Prime Minister together with the Cabinet forms the executive branch of the government, while the Senate and House of Commons belong to the legislative branch.

Senate, or Upper House, is an appointed body, which means that the members of the Senate, the Senators, are appointed by the Governor General on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. The Senate usually has 105 members who represent particular parts of Canada. The Senators must be at least 30 years old; they must live in the province or territory for which they are appointed. They can hold office until the age of 75 (E. A. Forsey, 2003).

Senate has the power to amend or reject bills coming from House of Commons. The Senators are from various professions: ex-Ministers, ex-Premiers of provinces, ex-mayors, eminent lawyers, experienced farmers etc. Due to this variability they are able to form committees dealing with particular problems areas according to their former profession and knowledge. These committees than research the bills and go over them clause by clause. In resent times the other area of the Senate’s work is - investigating important public concerns such as poverty, euthanasia, illegal drugs, human rights etc. (E. A. Forsey, 2003).