Provincial government (Canada)

In the Canadian Republic, the largest sovereign state in the Western Hemisphere by area and second-largest in the world (after the Russian Federation), 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 respective province. Like the Canadian federal government, provincial governments are each 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 deliberative assembly (called a provincial assembly), with each seat representing a different riding (electoral district) of the respective province, each of which is more or less equal in population to the other ridings. Politicians currently holding a seat in a provincial assembly are offially known as Members of Assembly (MAs). Provincial general elections (PGEs) are held every four years: the party or coalition with the majority of seats in the provincial assembly following a general election proceeds to form the executive government, the leader of the governing party/coalition nominated as premier (provincial (head of government) by the provincial assembly, and officially confirmed as such by the province's deputy president. The new premier then selects other MAs (typically within his/her own party/coalition) as well as some unelected members of his/her political party to serve in the 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.