Her Majesty's First Minister of Canada

The Prime Minister of Canada (French: Premier Ministre du Canada) is the primary Minister of the Crown, Chairman of the Cabinet, and thus Head of Government for Canada. The Office is not outlined in any of the documents that constitute the written portion of the Constitution of Canada; Executive Authority is formally vested in the Canadian Sovereign and exercised on His or Her behalf by the Governor General. The Prime Ministership is part of Canada's Constitutional Convention tradition. The Office was initially modeled after the job as it existed in Britain at time of Confederation in 1867. The British Prime Ministership, although fully developed by 1867, was not formally integrated into the British Constitution until 1905 - hence, its absence from Constitution Act, 1867.

A Prime Minister does not have a fixed Term of office. The Constitution of Canada limits the lifespan of each Parliament to five years after which a General Election for every Seat in the House of Commons must be called; the time limit may be exceeded only in case of war or insurrection. The Prime Minister has typically asked the Governor General to issue a Writ of Election during the Government's fourth year in Office. It should be noted that the Canada Elections Act is not a part of the Constitution and could be further Amended or repealed by Parliament in the future.

Since the Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful Member of the Canadian Government, he or she is sometimes erroneously referred to as Canada's Head of State. The Canadian Head of State is Her Royal Majesty Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, who is represented by the Governor General of Canada. The Prime Minister is the Head of Government. The Office of Prime Minister of Canada is not mentioned in the Canadian Constitution. In modern-day Canada, however, his/her prerogatives are largely the duties to which the Constitution refers to as the job of the Governor General (who acts mostly as a Figure-Head). The function, duties, responsibilities, and Powers of the Prime Minister of Canada were established at Confederation, modeled upon the existing Office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Over time, the role of the Prime Minister of Canada has evolved, mainly gaining power over the years.

The Prime Minister plays a prominent role in most Legislation passed by the Canadian Parliament. The majority of Canadian Legislation originates in the Cabinet of Canada, which is a body selected by the Prime Minister, and Appointed by the Governor General, largely from the ranks of his party's MPs. The Cabinet must have "unanimous" consent on all decisions they make, but in practice whether or not unanimity has been achieved is decided by the Prime Minister.

As the Monarch or Governor General almost always follows the advice of His or Her Ministers, the Prime Minister (and the Office of the Prime Minister) essentially controls the Appointments of the following positions:

• all Members of the Cabinet;
• vacant Seats on the Supreme Court of Canada;
• vacant Seats in the Senate;
• all Heads of Canadian Crown Corporations whom the Prime Minister may replace at any time;
• all Executive positions such as the Head of the Transportation Safety Board, the President of the Business Development Bank;
• all High Commissioners within the Commonwealth
  
• all Ambassadors to Foreign Countries;
• the Governor General of Canada;
• the Chief Justice of Canada;
  
• the 10 Lieutenant-Governors of the Canadian Provinces, and the three Commissioners of the Canadian Territories ;
• plus approximately 3,100 other Government positions, the bulk of which the Prime Minister usually designates a Member of his Staff to Appoint with his concurrence.

As to the Prime Minister's broad De Facto authority over the Canadian military, see Canadian Forces.

The Canadian Crown is the controlling Authority of the Canadian Forces, evidenced in the Command structure, symbols and history of the Forces. The Monarch, Viceroys, and other Members of the Canadian Royal Family, play a more Ceremonial role in relation to the Armed Forces, many of the latter serving as Colonels-in-Chief of various Regiments and Branches of the Forces, a number of which have received a Royal prefix.

The Canadian Monarch tops the Order of Precedence, followed by the Governor General and then other Members of the Canadian Royal Family. The Provincial Viceroys fall in at sixteenth on the list, behind the Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition.

The Queen of Canada is also the Honorary Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Many Regiments of the Canadian Forces Land Force Command have been Granted the use of the prefix Royal in the Regiment's name, while others bear the name of a Member of the Royal Family.

By the Canadian Constitution, the Command-in-Chief of the Canadian Forces is vested in Her Royal Majesty Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada. Since 1904 the Monarch has allowed her Viceroy to exercise the duties ascribed to that Post, and since 1905 to hold the Title Commander-in-Chief.

Declarations-of-War fall within the Royal Prerogative and are issued as Orders-in-Council, which must be signed by either the Canadian Monarch or Governor General. Under the Westminster System's Parliamentary custom and practice, the Monarch or Viceroy must generally follow the advice of the Cabinet (Council), which includes the Minister of National Defence (MND), and is Chaired by the Prime Minister of Canada, who holds De Facto decision-making ability over the deployment and disposition of the Canadian Forces.

Below the Crown, the Military Head of the Canadian Forces is the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), the highest Ranking Military Officer in the nation, who commands the Canadian Forces from National Defence Headquarters (NDHQ) in Ottawa, Ontario. The Sovereign and a number of other Members of the Canadian Royal Family act as Colonels-in-Chief of Canadian Forces Regiments, though these positions are Ceremonial.

As Commander-in-Chief, Her Majesty The Queen is the Locus of the Oath of Allegiance taken by new recruits and newly Appointed Officers. This Oath is "the Soldier's Code of Moral Obligation." By the National Defence Act, the utterance of disloyal words towards the King or Queen is considered "Disgraceful Conduct," Treasonous, and disloyal. Such Offences may be punishable by up to seven years Imprisonment.

However, though by written Law the Monarch retains Absolute Control over the Armed Forces, via Constitutional Convention, almost always only does so on the advice of His or Her Cabinet.

The Canadian Forces (CF) (French: Forces Canadiennes [FC]) are the unified Armed Forces of Canada, governed by the National Defence Act which states: "The Canadian Forces are the Armed Forces of Her Majesty raised by Canada and consist of one Service called the Canadian Armed Forces."

The Canadian Forces is a single organization with a unified command structure, making Canada one of the few nations to have such an organization of its military forces. Unification was strongly opposed by personnel in all three services and resulted in the firing of the navy's senior operational commander, Rear Admiral W.M. Landymore, as well as forced retirements of other senior officers in the nation's military forces.

The protests of service personnel and their superiors failed and on February 1, 1968, Bill C-243, The Canadian Forces Reorganization Act became law and the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN), the Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) were combined into one service - the Canadian Armed Forces, shortened to Canadian Forces.

Though the National Defence Act stated "[t]he Canadian Forces are the Armed Forces of Her Majesty raised by Canada..." the Royal title was not bestowed upon the new unified service. Since usage of the Royal designation was executed by Royal Proclamations which have never been revoked, the Canadian Government and the Canadian Forces will be required to resume usage of the expression Royal if the expressions Canadian Navy and Canadian Air Force are again used in any Official capacity.

The public position was that unification was undertaken by the Government to achieve cost savings and provide improved Command and Control and integration of military forces. Contemporary rhetoric and accusations were made that the Liberal Ministry of Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson and his Minister of National Defence Paul Hellyer did not care for the traditions behind each service, and that the name of the new military force (in Canada's post-war modernist fashion) was easily translated to French and eliminated inconvenient Monarchist references during a contentious period in Canadian history. Paul Hellyer has since admitted that he made a mistake in taking away the distinctive uniforms.

On May 17, 2007, an online petition was issued seeking grassroots support for the Maritime Command and Air Command to be renamed as the Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Canadian Air Force, respectively, for the navy's 100th Anniversary in 2010. The proposal does not include a "de-unification" of the forces, instead only seeking that the Air and Maritime Commands be renamed. The petition is to be sponsored by Conservative Member of Parliament Laurie Hawn, himself a former Air Force Lieutenant Colonel.