House of Commons of Canada

The House of Commons (French: Chambre des communes) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. The House of Commons is an elected body, of 338 members, who are known as Members of Parliament (MPs). Members are elected for a maximum of four years at a time. Each member is elected by one of the country's federal electoral districts which are usually called ridings.

House of Commons of Canada Chambre des communes du Canada
43rd Parliament
Type
Type	Lower house of the Parliament of Canada
Leadership
Speaker	Greg Fergus, Liberal since December 5, 2019
Prime Minister	Justin Trudeau, Liberal since November 4, 2015
Leader of the Official Opposition	Pierre Poilievre, Conservative since September 10, 2022
Government House Leader	Karina Gould, Liberal since November 20, 2019
Opposition House Leader	Andrew Scheer, Conservative since September 2, 2020
Structure
Seats	338
Political groups	Her Majesty's Government   Liberal (153) Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition   Conservative (119) Parties with official status   Bloc Québécois (33)   New Democratic (25) Parties without official status   Green (2)   Independent (4)   Vacant (2)
Salary	CA$182,600.00 (sessional indemnity effective April 1, 2020)
Elections
Voting system	First-past-the-post
Last election	October 21, 2019
Next election	On or before October 16, 2023
Meeting place
House of Commons Chamber West Block - Parliament Hill Ottawa, Ontario Canada
Website
www.ourcommons.ca

The House of Commons was established in 1867, when the British North America Act 1867 created the Dominion of Canada, and was modelled on the British House of Commons. The House of Commons is sometimes called the "lower house", even though it has more power than the "upper house", the Senate. Both Houses is must agree to new laws but the Senate very rarely rejects bills passed by the Commons (though the Senate does occasionally amend bills). The Government of Canada is responsible only to the House of Commons. The Prime Minister stays in office only as long as he or she has the support of the Lower House.

The Canadian House of Commons is in the Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa, Ontario.

Unlike the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the powers of the Parliament of Canada are limited, because provincial legislatures have the sole right to pass laws about some things.

Until 1982 only the Parliament of the United Kingdom had the power to change the British North America Act, this was to protect the rights and powers of the provincial legislatures. This was changed by the Canada Act. In Canada the British North America Act is now called the Constitution Act.

A lot of the work of the House of Commons is done by committees which can spend more time investigating a subject than the whole House of Commons could

Seat distribution

The table below shows how many seats each political party has in the Parliament. Many of the MPs were elected in the 2019 election.

Party		Seats	%
	Liberal	155	45.9
	Conservative	121	35.8
	Bloc Québécois	32	9.5
	New Democratic	New Democratic	24	7.1
	Green	3	0.9
	Independent	3	0.9
Total		338	100%

Notes

List of committees

• Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development
• Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics
• Agriculture and Agri-Food
• Canadian Heritage
• Citizenship and Immigration
• Environment and Sustainable Development
• Finance
• Fisheries and Oceans
• Foreign Affairs and International Development
• Government Operations and Estimates
• Health
• Human Resources, Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities
• Industry, Science and Technology
• International Trade
• Justice and Human Rights
• Liaison Committee
• National Defence
• Natural Resources
• Official Languages
• Procedure and House Affairs
• Public Accounts
• Public Safety and National Security
• Status of Women
• Transport, Infrastructure and Communities
• Veterans Affairs