Politics of Manitoba - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Like all Canadian provinces, Manitoba

Manitoba

Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...

is governed by a unicameral legislature

Unicameralism

In government, unicameralism is the practice of having one legislative or parliamentary chamber. Thus, a unicameral parliament or unicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of one chamber or house...

, the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba. The executive branch

Executive (government)

Executive branch of Government is the part of government that has sole authority and responsibility for the daily administration of the state bureaucracy. The division of power into separate branches of government is central to the idea of the separation of powers.In many countries, the term...

is formed by the majority party

Two-party system

A two-party system is a system where two major political parties dominate voting in nearly all elections at every level of government and, as a result, all or nearly all elected offices are members of one of the two major parties...

; the party leader

Party leader

In politics, the party leader is the most powerful official within a political party.The party leader is typically responsible for managing the party's relationship with the general public. As such, he or she will take a leading role in developing and communicating party policy, especially election...

is the Premier of Manitoba

Premier of Manitoba

The Premier of Manitoba is the first minister for the Canadian province of Manitoba. He or she is the province's head of government and de facto chief executive. Until the early 1970s, the title "Prime Minister of Manitoba" was used frequently. Afterwards, the word Premier, derived from the French...

, the head of the executive branch. The head of state, Queen Elizabeth II

Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom

Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...

, is represented by the Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba

Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba

The Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba is the viceregal representative in Manitoba of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, who operates distinctly within the province but is also shared equally with the ten other jurisdictions of Canada and resides predominantly in her oldest realm, the United...

, who is appointed by the Governor General of Canada

Governor General of Canada

The Governor General of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II...

on advice of the Prime Minister

Prime Minister of Canada

The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...

. The head of state is primarily a ceremonial role, although the Lieutenant Governor has the official responsibility of ensuring that Manitoba always has a duly constituted government. Manitoba is represented in federal politics by fourteen Members of Parliament

Canadian House of Commons

The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...

and six Senators.

The Legislative Assembly of Manitoba was established on July 14, 1870. After the control of Rupert's Land was passed from Great Britain to the Government of Canada in 1869, Manitoba attained full-fledged rights and responsibilities of self-government as the first Canadian province carved out of the Northwest Territories. The Legislative Assembly consists of the fifty-seven Members elected to represent the people of Manitoba. Manitoba's primary political parties are the New Democratic Party of Manitoba

New Democratic Party of Manitoba

The New Democratic Party of Manitoba is a social-democratic political party in Manitoba, Canada. It is the provincial wing of the federal New Democratic Party, and is a successor to the Manitoba Co-operative Commonwealth Federation...

(NDP), the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba

Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba

The Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba is the only right wing political party in Manitoba, Canada. It is also the official opposition party in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba.-Origins and early years:...

and the Manitoba Liberal Party

Manitoba Liberal Party

The Manitoba Liberal Party is a political party in Manitoba, Canada. Its roots can be traced to the late nineteenth-century, following the province's creation in 1870.-Origins and early development :...

.

The current premier of Manitoba is Greg Selinger of the NDP, who replaced Gary Doer

Gary Doer

Gary Albert Doer, OM is a Canadian diplomat and politician from Manitoba, Canada. Since October 19, 2009, he has served as Canada's Ambassador to the United States...

to lead the NDP majority government of thirty-six seats. The Progressive Conservative Party holds nineteen seats, and the Liberal Party has two seats but does not have official party status in the Manitoba Legislature. The last general election was held Tuesday, May 22, 2007. Historically, political parties first appeared between 1878 and 1883, with a two-party system (Liberals and Conservatives). The United Farmers of Manitoba

Progressive Party of Manitoba

The Progressive Party of Manitoba, Canada, was a political party that developed from the United Farmers of Manitoba, an agrarian movement that became politically active following World War I...

appeared in 1922, and later merged with the Liberals in 1932 to form the dominant political party. Other parties, including the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), appeared during the Great Depression; in the 1950s, Manitoban politics became a three-party system, and the Liberal party gradually declined in power. The CCF became the NDP, which came to power in 1969. Since then, the Conservatives and the NDP have been the dominant parties.

Manitoba's judiciary consists of three courts: the Court of Appeal

Manitoba Court of Appeal

The Manitoba Court of Appeal is the highest Court of Appeal in the Canadian province of Manitoba. It was established in 1906. It is located in the Old Law Courts building at 408 York Avenue in Winnipeg, the capital city of Manitoba...

, the Court of Queen's Bench

Court of Queen's Bench of Manitoba

The Court of Queen's Bench of Manitoba is the superior court of the Canadian province of Manitoba...

, and the Provincial Court

Provincial Court of Manitoba

The Provincial Court of Manitoba hears cases relating to criminal law and family law and other statutes.- Current Judges:- Former Judges:-External links:*...

. The Provincial Court is primarily a criminal court; 95% of criminal cases in Manitoba are heard in this court. The Court of Queen's Bench is the highest trial court in Manitoba. It has four jurisdictions: family law

Family law

Family law is an area of the law that deals with family-related issues and domestic relations including:*the nature of marriage, civil unions, and domestic partnerships;...

(child and family services

Child and family services

Child and family services is a government and/or non-profit organisation designed to better the well being of individuals who come from unfortunate situations, environmental or biological. People who seek or are sought after to participate in these services, usually do not have stable homes and no...

cases), civil law

Civil law (common law)

Civil law, as opposed to criminal law, is the branch of law dealing with disputes between individuals or organizations, in which compensation may be awarded to the victim...

, criminal law

Criminal law

Criminal law, is the body of law that relates to crime. It might be defined as the body of rules that defines conduct that is not allowed because it is held to threaten, harm or endanger the safety and welfare of people, and that sets out the punishment to be imposed on people who do not obey...

(for indictable offence

Indictable offence

In many common law jurisdictions , an indictable offence is an offence which can only be tried on an indictment after a preliminary hearing to determine whether there is a prima facie case to answer or by a grand jury...

s), and appeal

Appeal

An appeal is a petition for review of a case that has been decided by a court of law. The petition is made to a higher court for the purpose of overturning the lower court's decision....

s for Provincial Court decisions. The Court of Appeal hears appeals from both the Court of Queen's Bench and the Provincial Court; decisions of this court can only be appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada

Supreme Court of Canada

The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court of Canada and is the final court of appeals in the Canadian justice system. The court grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants each year to appeal decisions rendered by provincial, territorial and federal appellate courts, and its decisions...

See also