Commissioner (Canada)


 * Not to be confused with the rank of commissioner, the highest rank of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

In the Canadian Republic, the commissioner (French: commissaire) is the official title of the representative of the President of Canada (Canada's head of state) in any one of Canada's five territories; the de facto (but not de jure) equivalent office in each of Canada's 13 provinces is the deputy president. A similar office exists in Ottawa, the federal capital of Canada, which is the only Canadian locality outside the jurisdiction of any province or territory, and which possesses its own devolved government led by the popularly elected Mayor of Ottawa; the Mayor–Commissioner of Ottawa, by contrast, is appointed by the President of Canada, and represents the federal government to the Mayor of Ottawa on behalf of the President of Canada.

Because provinces have significantly more autonomy than territories (as provinces are federated states while territories are devolved administrative divisions), the primary difference between a deputy president and a commissioner is that while a deputy president is formally appointed by the President of Canada on advice of the province's premier (head of government), a commissioner is appointed directly by the President of Canada, and only represents the President in the territory in the President's capacity as head of state, rather than being an actual separate ceremonial head of state like the deputy presidents of the provinces are.