Provincial government (Canada)

In the Canadian Republic, a federation of 13 provinces and five territories, all 13 provinces possess their own provincial government (French: gouvernement provincial), which is responsible for the majority of matters of domestic public administration within the province. A provincial government is divided into three branches: the executive and legislative branches are not fully independent of one another, as governments in Canada are modelled on the Westminster system.

All provinces have a unicameral legislative assembly (called a provincial assembly), with each seat representing an electoral district of relatively equal population. Politicians currently holding a seat are referred to as Members of Assembly (MAs). General elections happen every four years: the party or coalition with the majority of seats in the provincial legislature then goes on to form executive government, and its leader declared premier (head of government) of the province by the deputy president of the province. The new premier then selects other MAs (typically within his/her own party/coalition) to serve in his/her cabinet, known as the Executive Council.

By contrast, each province's judicial branch/judiciary is completely independent of the other branches, and forms the backbone of the Canadian justice system, as the great majority of both civil and criminal cases are handled by provincial courts. While the Criminal Code of Canada was passed in the federal Parliament of Canada and can only be altered via federal legislative proceedings, the actual judicial interpretation of the Criminal Code is almost entirely the purview of provincial/territorial courts, and law enforcement mostly the purview of provincial law enforcement agencies. In fact, the only permanent federal courts are the Supreme Court of Canada and the Federal Court of Appeal, the former of which hears only the most extreme, nationally relevant cases and the latter of which hears only appeals of provincial and territorial supreme courts' verdicts.

Less serious criminal matters which nonetheless fall under federal jurisdiction are typically handled by a temporary federal tribunal set up by the Supreme Court of Canada, which can be presided over by either a Supreme Court puisne justice or a provincial justice warranted to preside over a federal tribunal. Verdicts of the Federal Court of Appeal can also be appealed for a final time in the Supreme Court of Canada, whose rulings are final and fully binding at all levels of government.