Canada is an independent constitutional monarchy and has three tiers of government: federal, provincial, and municipal (for towns and cities).

1. The Federal Government
   
   Canada is a Parliamentary Monarchy with Monarch-Head of the Commonwealth- as its Head of State having well defined powers in its Constitution. Canada's head of state is the Queen of England. She is represented by the Governor General in Canada and has a mainly symbolic role. The Government of Canada - is responsible for things that affect the whole country, such as citizenship, national Defence and trade with other countries. There is a clear separation in roles between the Head of State and the Head of Government. Head of State is represented in Canada by the Governor General appointed by Monarch known as The Sovereign on the advice of the Prime Minister. The Head of Government is the Prime Minister who is the leader of the biggest party-elected by the citizens of Canada- in the lower house known as House of Commons of the bicameral parliament. The Constitution of Canada divided the responsibilities of the Governance to The Federal Government situated in Ottawa the capital city of the country and is headed by the Governor General of Canada on the advice of the Prime Minister. Its responsibilities includes defense, criminal law, employment insurance, postal service, census, copyrights, trade regulation, external relations, money and banking, transportation, citizenship, Indian affairs and other aspect of national interest.
   
   The political party with the most elected members forms the federal government and its leader becomes the Prime Minister. The party with the second largest number of elected members becomes the Official Opposition, and its role is to offer constructive criticism to the government.
   
   The four best known political parties are:
   
   

   1. The Progressive Conservative Party
   
   
   
   2. The Liberal Party
   
   
   
   3. The New Democratic Party
   
   
   
   4. The Conservative Alliance
   
   
   

2. Provincial and territorial governments
   
   Including the Province of Ontario - are responsible for such things as education, health care and highways. The provincial political party with the most elected members forms the government and its leader becomes the Premier. The number and names of parties vary according to province. The Queen is represented in each province by the Lieutenant-Governor.





3. Municipal governments
   
   The governments of cities, towns, and villages in Ontario - are responsible for firefighting, city streets and other local matters. Officials are elected for the City Council, and various other boards such as Education and Parks and Recreation. If there is no local government, services are provided by the province. The leader of a municipal government is called a mayor, and other representatives are called councilors.