Political Régime

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Nature of the State

Quebec is one of the ten federated states composing Canada. As in every federal state, the Constitution of Canada shares matters between the Federal and provincial governments. Thus, the Canadian state is the sum of both levels of government. Since the matters are devolved to provinces by the Constitution, and not by an ordinary act of the Federal Parliament, the Provincial Parliaments are, constitutionally speaking, sovereign in their matters. The principles of nonsubordination and noninterference follows.

Political Régime

Quebec works under a regime of parliamentary representative democracy based on the British model. "Representative democracy" because the citizens gives to some representatives the mandate of exercising the power on behalf of them instead of diong so by themselves. "Parliamentary" because the executive power must have the confidence of the Parliament to remain in office. Finally, "based on the British model" because Quebec didn't inherited only from Britain's political régime, but also from it's constitutional system , among others the coexistence of a written constitution and of an "informal" constitution based on "constitutional conventions". The most striking example of such situation is the Prime Minister himself. Even if the Prime Minister is the most powerful office to be held in Quebec, the expression "Prime Minister" is not even written in the constitutional acts. Its role, powers, responsabilities and restrictions are stated by non-written customs and conventions.

Legislative

The legislative function is exerciced by the National Assembly, made up of 125 members (the Members of the National Assembly or MNAs) elected by universal suffrage on the first past the post system of votation, each one of them representing a constituency. The Parliament of Quebec, which is coposed of the National Assembly and of the Lieutenant Governor, was established in 1791 by the British Constitutional Act, and is one of the oldest parliaments of the world. It was established just after the American Congress, but at the same time as the French National Assembly.

Executive

The executive function is exerciced by the Executive Council, which is led by the Head of Government, the Prime Minister or Premier. The Executive Council or Cabinet is made of about twenty ministers appointed by the Lieutenant Governor, on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. All of them must be MNAs and are responsible to the National Assembly, as it is stated by the principle of responsible government.

The Executive Council takes on the direction of the government and of the administration of the State and defines its orientations, implements of the Acts passed by the Parliament and passes regulations. It constitutes, with the Lieutenant Governor, the government of Quebec.

Judicial

The judicial function is independent from the legislative, executive and administrative functions. It includes the courts of first instance and the Quebec Court of Appeal, with the Supreme Court of Canada as a final instance court. They apply the Code civil du Québec (Quebec Civil Code), which is a provincial matter in accordance with the Constitution, inspired by the French civil law (Coutume de Paris at the beginning, and then the Code Napoléon), and the Canadian Penal Code, which is a federal matter in accordance with the Constitution, and inspired by the British Common Law.

Since Quebec is founded on the rule of law, it applies the Quebec Charter of Human Rights, which Quebec granted itself in 1975, and respects the fundamental rights of every person, without descrimination based on race, religion, sex or ethnic origin.

Administrative

The administrative administration of the state of Quebec is made up of about twenty departments, which constitute the basic structure of the governmental organization, and of about 175 state agencies (corporations, councils, boards, commissions and administrative courts).

The civil service implements the acts and regulations of Quebec and manages public resources. This requires that the persons through whom it acts conduct themselves in a highly ethical manner. Thus, civil servants must carry out their duties in public interest, with honesty and impartiality and while avoiding conflicts of interest. They must use discretion with regard to anything that comes to their knowledge in the course of their work, and their decisions must comply with the charters of rights, that is, not be based on discriminatory grounds.

Moreover, civil servants must display a political neutrality in fulfilling their duties and be reserved in publicly manifesting their political opinions. However, civil servants may belong to a political party, like any other Quebecer, and contribute to its financing according to the rules.

The highest civil servant of Quebec is the secrétaire général du Conseil exécutif (Secretary General of the Executive Council), who is the "deputy minister" of the ministère du Conseil exécutif (Executive Council Department) and ensures its administration under the direction of the Prime Minister. He is in charge of the Secrétariat général du Conseil exécutif (General Secretaryship of the Executiive Council), with the purpose of granting the Prime Minister, the cabinet and its committees the administrative support necessary to ensure they work properly.

Sources

Bernard, André. 1996. La vie politique au Québec et au Canada. Sainte-Foy: Presses de l'Université du Québec.

Bernard, André. 1995. Les institutions politiques au Québec et au Canada. Montréal : Boréal.

Brun, Henri, et Guy Tremblay. 1982. Droit constitutionnel. Supplément 1985 en annexe. Cowansville: Éditions Y. Blais, 1987.

Last update: November 11, 2004

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